Thursday, June 21, 2012

POMONA, N.Y. – The Grand Prairie AirHogs rebounded from the end of their 10-game winning streak on Wednesday with a comprehensive 8-3 win over the Rockland Boulders at Provident Bank Park on Thursday to take the series from the Boulders 3-1.

It took a while for the AirHogs (22-11) to get going against Rockland starter Pat Moran (2-2), stranding seven runners in the first three innings while picking up just one run on Greg Porter’s two-out infield single in the third.

But Porter walked with the bases loaded in the fourth to bring in another run, and Moran departed after that frame, having thrown 97 pitches to get 12 outs, allowing five hits and five walks with four strikeouts.

Grand Prairie got to work against the Rockland bullpen, leaving a man on in the sixth but scoring three times in the seventh after two were out against Nicolas Blanco and two more in the eighth off MacKenzie King on Chris McMurray’s sixth home run of the year and Keanon Simon’s RBI single

Rookie hurler Teddy Nowell (1-0) worked six more shutout innings to earn his professional win, pitching around a walk and a single in the first with a pair of pickoffs, and getting around two more walks and only two hits the rest of his outing. Rockland (14-17) nicked a two-out run off Cody White in the seventh, and another on Ryan Scoma’s home run off Jakob Cunningham leading off the ninth, but Griffin Bailey came on with the bases loaded and one out to finish the Boulders off, allowing a sacrifice fly to Chris Valencia before getting Qualon Millender to fly out to end the game.

Notes: Andres Rodriguez left the game in the sixth with an apparent leg injury while trying to go first-to-third on a hit by Porter. His status for Friday is unknown…All 10 AirHogs reached base safely at least once and all but Rodriguez had at least one hit…Yasutsugu Nishimoto had three more hits and finished the series 10-for-17 (.588)…Brian Myrow had three hits and three walks (one intentional)…Porter also had three singles as the AirHogs notched 17 hits overall…This was the first series this year for Grand Prairie that did not end in a sweep or a four-game split…Grand Prairie did leave 17 men on base…Rockland did not record a 1-2-3 inning in the game…Kenny Held replaced Rodriguez in the order and had a two-run single in his first at-bat.

The 2011 American Association Champion Grand Prairie AirHogs continue their 10-game trip through the Can-Am League with a three-game series against the New Jersey Jackals, starting Friday, June 22, at 7:05 p.m. The next home game at QuikTrip Park is Friday, June 29, at 7:05 p.m. against the Amarillo Sox. That night is QuikTrip Night, with free ticket vouchers available at local QuikTrip stores. All games are aired live and for free on Ustream by clicking on the link on the AirHogs’ home page or visiting http://www.ustream.tv/channel/airhogs-baseball with selected contests aired on Time Warner Cable’s Texas Channel. For information on tickets, promotions, advertising, and other opportunities with the AirHogs, check out the Web site at www.airhogsbaseball.com, or call the QuikTrip Park office at (972) 504-9383.