Bullpen effort unravels late in Travelers’ loss

MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL AMARILLO 4, ARKANSAS 1 (12)

Things fell apart for the Arkansas Travelers on Friday.

Through the first 11 innings, it was all tied up. The Travelers and Amarillo Sod Poodles had one run each and were struggling to string together enough hits to produce a second.

Then came the 12th. With a runner starting the inning on second base, Amarillo’s Nick Delasandro hit a ground-rule double to break the tie. Roby Enriquez would add 2 runs in the following at-bat with a home run to right field.

The Travs couldn’t find any offense in the bottom half of the 12th, losing 4-1 at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.

Amarillo got the scoring started in the fifth inning on Blaze Alexander’s solo home run to right field.

The Travs would tie it in the seventh when Jack Larsen beat out a would-be double-play, which allowed Patrick Frick to score, making it 1-1.

It was a pitchers duel early on with both starters pitching into the sixth inning.

Arkansas’ Levi Stoudt (4-3) pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing 1 run on 3 hits, striking out 8. Amarillo’s Slade Cecconi (2-2) would edge Stoudt, pitching 6 scoreless innings, striking out 3 and allowing 3 hits with 2 walks.

Both teams would continue to get chances to score, with a combined 22 runners being left on base. But neither team could find the needed hit to bring one of the base runners across to score.

Having pitched a game completely with relievers Thursday, the Travs were short on arms but managed to keep the Sod Poodles off the scoreboard for the six innings following Stoudt’s departure. The highlight of that stretch came from Travis Kuhn, who struck out 3 in 2 innings of work — working around a walk and a hit allowed.

Amarillo’s bullpen went toe-to-toe with that of Arkansas. After Ty Tice surrendered the first run of the game, the Sod Poodles’ bullpen combined to throw five scoreless innings — including Junior Garcia recording his fifth save.

Jake Scheiner led Arkansas at the plate — reaching base four times with a double, a single and two walks. The Travs’ offense combined for 5 hits and 7 walks.