Today's Game Notes

LEADING OFF--The Travs conclude the first half hosting Wichita with the opportunity to clinch a playoff spot with a win.

LAST TIME OUT--An eight run third inning by the visitors spoiled the night at Dickey-Stephens Park as Wichita defeated Arkansas, 8-3 on Saturday night...with the loss, the Travs magic number to clinch the first half division title remained at one...the first 10 batters of the third inning reached for Wind Surge and the scoring in the inning was finished by a three-run double...the Wichita bullpen was nearly flawless as they did not let the Travs mount a comeback with 4.1 scoreless innings.

IT COMES DOWN TO THIS--Arkansas leads the first half division race by a half game over Springfield coming into the final day...a Traveler win or a Cardinal loss today gives the title to Arkansas...if the Travs lose and Cardinals win then Springfield takes it...the Cardinals won last night at Corpus Christi, 5-0 to reamin alive...Springfield plays tonight at Corpus Christi starting at 5:05...in the south division, Frisco won the first half division title...the first half division champs lock up the league’s first two playoff berths.

PITCH TO WIN--Over the past 28 games, the Travs have posted a 15- 13 record and it is directly traceable to the pitching staff...they have held opponents to four runs or less in 20 of those games including all 15 victories... eight times in that stretch they have surrendered five or more runs and have not won any of those games.

FORD DRIVING OFFENSE--21-year old Harry Ford is is hitting .367 (11-30) over his past eight games...had a three hit game Wednesday night... finds himself among the Texas League’s hitting leaders in several categories...he ranks 8th in OBP (.384), tied for 5th in games (63), tied for 1st in walks (42), tied for 8th in hits (62) and 3rd in stolen bases (19).

YOUNG FELLA--20-year old Cole Young had a two hit, two RBI game last night...his 26 game on base streak was snapped on Sunday afternoon but he rebounded with two hits including a two-run home run on Tuesday...leads the team with 19 multi-hit games...began the year as the youngest position player in the Texas League.

TRANSACTION TRACKER--The Mariners have made recent moves affecting the Travs...Thursday, OF Lolo Sanchez joined the club after signing a minor league free agent deal with Seattle and RHP Jarod Bayless was placed on the Development List...on Tuesday, RHP Logan Gragg returned to the squad from Tacoma and OF Jared Oliva was placed on the Injured List.

PROSPECTING--The Travelers active roster boasts eight of the Mariners top 30 prospects from the mlb.com rankings...topping the list are INF Cole Young, top ranked in the system and #26 overall in baseball and C Harry Ford, second in the system and #27 overall...also among Seattle’s top 30 are INF Ben Williamson (15), RHP Logan Evans (19), RHP Jimmy Joyce (21), OF Alberto Rodriguez (22), RHP Troy Taylor (26) and LHP Reid VanScoter (29).

DUST IN THE WIND--The Wichita Wind Surge (Minnesota Twins) are in fifth place in the North Division...managed by Ramon Borrego for the fourth consecutive season...MLB Pipeline ranked Minnesota as having the 15th best farm system in baseball before the season...the Wind Surge feature nine of the Twins top 30 prospects as ranked by mlb.com...players on Wichita’s roster ranked among Minnesota’s top prospects include RHP Marco Raya (6), INF/OF Luke Keaschall (9), INF Tanner Schobel (10), RHP Cory Lewis (12), RHP Andrew Morris (17), RHP Zebby Matthews (19), C Andrew Cossetti (22), C Noah Cardenas (24) and INF Ben Ross (26).

Starting Pitcher - LHP Reid VanScoter (3-5, 4.04 ERA)

Reid VanScoter makes his 14th start of the season...ended a three game losing streak with a win in the series opener on Tuesday afternoon working five innings and allowing a run on three hits with two walks and five strikeouts...suffered a defeat on 5/12 at Tulsa despite working 5.2 innings (5 H, 2 R, ER, 2 BB, 7 K)...earned his second win of the season with a quality start on 5/25 in Corpus Christi (6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, BB, 4 K)...netted first Double-A win on 4/18 holding Frisco to one run on one hit (a homer) over six IP...has pitched six innings on three occasions this season but just once since April
VanScoter has pitched twice against the Wind Surge going 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA over 10 IP...has allowed nine hits, two walks and punched out 10
Reid pitched last season at the High-A level with the Everett AquaSox...selected as the Northwest League Pitcher of the Year and an NWL postseason All- Star...started all 25 of his appearances tossing 143.1 innings, tied for seventh most in minor league baseball...went 10-6 record with a 3.27 ERA, 157 Ks, 35 BB, a .255 OBA and 6 HR allowed...won an NWL Pitcher of the Week Award in April following six shutout frames on one hit with 7 Ks
Drafted out of Coastal Carolina where he graduated in 2022 with a degree in communications...closed college career by going 9-4 with a 3.65 ERA to earn the Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year Award and 1st team All-Sun Belt honors...the first Chanticleer to ever win Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year...spent five seasons in college, the last three at Coastal...played first two college seasons at Binghamton University...missed most of 2019 and all of 2020 with an injury and surgery
25-year old is a native of Livonia, New York, a town of about 1,500 located 30 miles south of Rochester...went 31-1 with a 0.40 ERA in his HS career

Starting Pitcher - RHP Bryan Woo (2-2, 2.08 ERA)

Bryan Woo makes his 9th start of the season and at the Double-A level...started on Tuesday and took the loss despite allowing just two runs over five innings... did have a season high in walks (3) and a season low in strikeouts (4)...picked up his second straight win on 5/17 in Wichita dealing a strong six innings (7 H, R, BB, 10 K, HR)...threw a career-best seven innings (on only 74 pitches) in a shutout effort on 5/11 vs. NW Arkansas giving up just two hits while striking out seven and earning his first win of the season...retired the first 18 hitters of that game before an surrendering an infield hit to start the 7th inning...pitched on 5/5 at Springfield and was saddled with the loss (4 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 5 K, HR)...dominated Tulsa on 4/29 authoring five shutout innings with eight strikeouts while giving up just one hit...made Double-A debut in home opener on 4/11 throwing four shutout innings (H, BB, 7 K)
Woo also faced Frisco on 4/22 and took no decision after a solid four innings of work...gave up just one run on three hits and two walks with seven strikeouts
Bryan was named Texas League Pitcher of the Week for May 8-14...threw career best 7 IP in win vs. NWA (2 H, 7 K)...retired first 18 hitters of the game
Split last season between High-A Everett, Class-A Modesto and the Arizona Complex League...was held out of game action until June...pitched three times for the ACL Mariners (5.2 innings)...made six starts for Modesto going 0-1 with a 3.98 ERA over 20.1 innings with 29 strikeouts and six walks...made seven starts with Everett to close out regular season posting a 1-3 record with a 4.78 ERA...struck out 46 and walked 16 in 32 innings...earned first pro win on 8/2/22 with Everett vs. Hillsboro giving up just an unearned run on four hits over five innings with a walk and five strikeouts...struck out a career best 11 on 8/19/22 in a six inning start vs. Vancouver and earned Northwest League Pitcher of the Week honors for that performance
Closed his 2022 campaign by pitching in the Arizona Fall League making five starts for the Peoria Javelinas making up for lost innings during the season... allowed just one run over his 10.2 innings of work in the Fall League...took home an AFL Pitcher of the Week Award as well
Did not pitch in 2021 after being drafted...sat out while recovering from UCL replacement (Tommy John) surgery on his right elbow at the end of April
Started just six of 31 games in college over three years at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo with an cumulative ERA of 6.36
23-year old is a native of Alameda, California...went to Alameda High School and was named the West Alameda County Conference MVP

Travs Digital Scorecard

Arkansas Travelers vs. Frisco RoughRiders (TEX)

Record: 0-0 (36-32)

Record: 0-0 (44-25)

Today's Game Notes