Sunday, May 20, 2012

Grand Prairie shut out for first time in 2012

LAREDO, Texas – Just like in Thursday night’s season-opener, the Grand Prairie AirHogs wasted runners on base throughout the game, as the Laredo Lemurs stranded seven baserunners and shut the AirHogs out 6-0 at Uni-Trade Stadium on Saturday night.

It did not take long for the Lemurs (2-1) to jump on top in the game, with Anthony Scelfo taking Lance Janke’s fifth pitch over the left field wall for the first home run in Lemurs history.

In the third, Scelfo started more trouble for Janke (0-1) when he lined a ball to left-center that Keanon Simon ran down but then saw pop out of his glove. Simon’s throw then skipped out of play and Scelfo was awarded home plate to make it 2-0. Yunesky Sanchez then crushed a solo home run to left to give the Lemurs a three-run lead, and they added one more in the inning on an RBI single by Ernie Banks, Jr. to go up by four.

Janke held the Lemurs off the scoreboard for the next three innings, with John Allen’s homer and Jimmy Mojica’s RBI single off Mark Herrera in the eighth providing the final runs for Laredo, but Grand Prairie (1-2) could not get anything going against Matt Way (1-0) and three Lemurs relievers.

The AirHogs had the leadoff man on base in five of the nine innings, but had only three other baserunners. Grand Prairie had two on in the fifth and a leadoff triple in the eighth but could not take advantage of either situation.

Notes: Simon went 3-for-4 with a triple, while the rest of the AirHogs went 2-for-26...Simon’s errors were the first two by either team this season…Four Lemurs had two hits and seven had at least one…The AirHogs struck out 10 times against the four Lemurs hurlers…None of the 15 outs recorded by Way were to outfielders, as he got 11 groundouts, a popout and three strikeouts.

The 2011 American Association Champion Grand Prairie AirHogs conclude their four-game series against the Laredo Lemurs on Sunday, May 20, at 7:30 p.m. The 2012 home opener is Monday, May 21, at 7:05 p.m. against the El Paso Diablos with a Championship Ring Ceremony presented by the Grand Prairie Parks & Recreation Department and Balfour. 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.