Nashville Sounds Baseball
Billy Burns Records Three Hits, Scores Team-Leading 18th Run
Round Rock, TX – The Sounds ran into a stout offensive attack from the Express on Thursday night and dropped the series opener at the Dell Diamond, 8-5.
The visitors struggled yet again with runners in scoring position, going just 4-for-17. The Sounds also left 14 runners on base and outhit Round Rock, 13-9, but dropped to 9-11 on the season.
Nashville threatened with base runners in both the first and second frames before finally jumping on top with a run in the third. Billy Burns led off with his second hit of the game and was moved to third by a Joey Wendle single. Outfielder Kent Matthes followed it a sacrifice fly, his 13th RBI of the year, and the Sounds took the lead.
After the first three batters reached against the hurler, Express first baseman Chris Gimenez took an inside pitch and drove it out to left for a grand slam.
It was the second home run Zito had allowed this season and it turned out to be costly. The veteran went 4.2 innings and allowed six runs, four earned, on six hits. He fanned two and walked three, falling to 0-2 on the year.
The Sounds did put up a fight as Jason Pridie smashed a two-run bomb in the fifth, his second of the season, Anthony Aliotti extended his on-base streak to 12 games with a RBI single in the sixth and Wendle doubled home a run in the eighth. The Express kept their foot on the pedal though, and held the lead after the four-run fourth.
The two teams are back tomorrow night at the Dell Diamond with a 7:05pm first pitch. Right-hander Kendall Graveman will make his Sounds’ debut and the Express will send out Ross Wolf for the second game of the series.
Box Score
Round Rock Express (13-7) 8, Nashville Sounds (9-11) 5
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nashville Sounds | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 1 | |
| Round Rock Express | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | x | 8 | 9 | 1 | |
| Nashville | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burns, CF | 6 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | .333 |
| Wendle, 2B | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .286 |
| Matthes, RF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .269 |
| Pridie, LF | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 3 | .238 |
| Roberts, R, 3B | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .250 |
| Anderson, B, C | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | .206 |
| Carrithers, DH | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | .278 |
| Parrino, SS | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | .236 |
| Aliotti, 1B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | .308 |
| Zito, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Huntzinger, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Whelan, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Rodriguez, Fe, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 37 | 5 | 13 | 5 | 7 | 13 | 30 | .268 |
| BATTING 2B: Roberts, R (1, Eickhoff), Anderson, B (4, Scheppers), Wendle (6, Patton). HR: Pridie (2, 5th inning off Eickhoff, 1 on, 2 out). TB: Wendle 3; Roberts, R 2; Pridie 4; Burns 3; Anderson, B 3; Aliotti; Matthes; Carrithers; Parrino. RBI: Matthes (13), Pridie 2 (12), Aliotti (7), Wendle (16). 2-out RBI: Pridie 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Aliotti 2; Roberts, R; Matthes; Parrino; Pridie; Burns 2. SF: Matthes. Team RISP: 4-for-17. Team LOB: 14.BASERUNNING CS: Burns 2 (2, 2nd base by Eickhoff/Telis, 2nd base by Eickhoff/Telis).FIELDING E: Parrino (5, fielding). |
||||||||
| Round Rock | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strausborger, RF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .231 |
| Telis, C | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .329 |
| Choice, LF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .206 |
| Hoying, CF | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .279 |
| Field, 2B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .304 |
| Lucas, 3B | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .313 |
| Gimenez, 1B | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .310 |
| Adams, T, DH | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .231 |
| Alberto, SS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .235 |
| Eickhoff, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Fujikawa, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Scheppers, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Patton, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Edwards, J, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 34 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 11 | .276 |
| BATTING 2B: Choice (4, Zito). HR: Gimenez 2 (3, 4th inning off Zito, 3 on, 0 out; 7th inning off Whelan, 0 on, 2 out), Strausborger (2, 6th inning off Huntzinger, 0 on, 0 out). TB: Lucas; Gimenez 9; Choice 2; Adams, T; Field; Strausborger 4; Telis. RBI: Gimenez 5 (10), Adams, T (3), Strausborger (2). 2-out RBI: Adams, T; Gimenez. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Field; Alberto 2; Telis. Team RISP: 3-for-10. Team LOB: 6.BASERUNNING SB: Strausborger (6, 2nd base off Zito/Anderson, B).FIELDING E: Telis (3, pickoff). |
||||||||
| Nashville | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zito (L, 0-2) | 4.2 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5.96 |
| Huntzinger | 1.1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3.60 |
| Whelan | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 10.13 |
| Rodriguez, Fe | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.38 |
| Totals | 8.0 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4.08 |
| Round Rock | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eickhoff (W, 2-0) | 5.0 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 3.38 |
| Fujikawa (H, 3) | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5.06 |
| Scheppers (H, 1) | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Patton | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1.08 |
| Edwards, J (S, 6) | 1.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2.35 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 13 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 13 | 1 | 4.21 |
Game Scores: Zito 31, Eickhoff 44.
WP: Eickhoff, Fujikawa.
Balk: Eickhoff.
HBP: Matthes (by Eickhoff), Hoying (by Zito).
Pitches-strikes: Zito 96-53, Huntzinger 19-14, Whelan 19-14, Rodriguez, Fe 8-5, Eickhoff 89-53, Fujikawa 22-11, Scheppers 23-16, Patton 18-12, Edwards, J 28-16.
Groundouts-flyouts: Zito 9-3, Huntzinger 1-1, Whelan 2-0, Rodriguez, Fe 1-1, Eickhoff 0-5, Fujikawa 2-0, Scheppers 1-0, Patton 1-0, Edwards, J 0-0.
Batters faced: Zito 25, Huntzinger 6, Whelan 4, Rodriguez, Fe 3, Eickhoff 24, Fujikawa 6, Scheppers 5, Patton 5, Edwards, J 6.
Inherited runners-scored: Huntzinger 2-1.
Umpires: HP: Ryan Goodman. 1B: Roberto Ortiz. 2B: Chris Segal. 3B: A.J. Johnson.
Weather: 79 degrees, clear.
Wind: 3 mph, Varies.
T: 3:06.
Att: 7,229.
Venue: Dell Diamond.
April 30th, 2015
