Odom’s 2 HRs help Travs erase 4-run hole

TRAVELERS 7, ROUGHRIDERS 5

Three home runs helped the Arkansas Travelers overcome a 4-0 deficit to beat the Frisco RoughRiders 7-5 before an announced crowd of 2,387 on Tuesday at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.

Trailing 4-0 going into the bottom of the second inning, Joseph Odom came up after Joey Curletta walked and Dario Pizzano struck out. Odom took an 0-2 delivery from Frisco starter Wes Benjamin over the left-field wall to pull the Travelers to within 4-3. Benjamin allowed 3 runs on 4 hits in 12/3 innings on 44 pitches.

Odom took reliever WeiChieh Huang’s first delivery of the fourth inning over the right-field wall to tie the game 4-4.

Curletta put the Travelers ahead 6-4 in the fifth inning when he hit his 22nd home run of the season over the center-field wall off Huang after Chris Mariscal was hit by a pitch.

Frisco closed to 6-5 in the sixth inning when Destin Hood singled off Travelers reliever Matt Walker to score Josh Morgan.

The Travelers added a run in the seventh when Kyle Lewis’ sacrifice fly scored Eric Filia.

Odom led the Travs by going 2 for 4 with 2 home runs and 4 RBI. Starter Nathan Bannister (7-8) picked up the victory despite allowing 5 runs on 7 hits in 5 innings. Matt Festa allowed one hit in the ninth but recorded his 15th save.

Luis Mendez led the RoughRiders by going 2 for 4 with 3 RBI, including a threerun home run in the second that gave Frisco a 4-0 lead. Huang (0-1) allowed 3 runs on 3 hits with 2 walks in 22/3 innings to take the loss.