Today's Game Notes

LEADING OFF--The Travs play the penultimate game of a six game homestand against their in-state rivals.

LAST TIME OUT--Three Northwest Arkansas pitchers combined on a two hit shutout as they beat Arkansas, 2-0 on Friday night...Lunider Avila worked the first six innings on only 70 pitches and earned the win...both Arkansas hits were inning starting doubles but they could not cash either one...Logan Evans pitched well (5.2 IP, 2 R, 6 K) but was saddled with the loss.

QUACK ATTACK--The Travs are playing under their alternate identity this week as the Arkansas Mad Mallards...the alternate name is in its second year of use...the team will be wearing dark green or camo uniforms with the Mallards logo and bright orange hats this week...last season the team went winless in six games during Mad Mallards week.

WALK IT OFF--Arkansas walked off twice in the first three games of this series, their first two walk-offs of the season...Tuesday night, Cole Young singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning... Thursday night, Spencer Packard connected for a two-run home run in the bottom of the 12th inning with the Travs down to their last strike.

WHO TURNED OUT THE LIGHTS--For the second time in three nights, the Travs were shutout last night...ironically, both games have had 3-0 final scores...Arkansas has been blanked four times this season, all at home.

OH BOY, ALBERTO--Alberto Rodriguez posted consecutive multi-hit games earlier this week...had four hits Tuesday, his most ever at the Double-A level...last week he had three hits and two doubles in consecutive games on Friday and Saturday...is 13-31 (.419) over his last six games with five doubles...hit 38 doubles last season, eight with Arkansas and 30 with Everett.

TALE OF TWO HALVES--Arkansas has fared well early in games this season but struggled in the late innings...from the 1st to the 5th, the Travs have outscored their opponents by 25 runs...from the 6th inning on though, they are minus-22 in run differential.

TRANSACTION TRACKER--The Seattle Mariners have made recent transactions affecting the Travs...Wednesday, INF Ben Williamson joins the club up from High-A Everett and RHP Logan Gragg was placed on the Development List...Tuesday, RHP Troy Taylor joined the Travs from Everett while LHP Ben Onyshko was released by the Mariners organization.

PROSPECTING--The Travelers active roster is populated with nine of the Mariners top 30 prospects based on the MLB.com rankings...topping the list are INF Cole Young, top ranked in the system and #28 overall in baseball and C Harry Ford, second in the system and #29 overall...also among Seattle’s top 30 are 1B Tyler Locklear (8), INF Ben Williamson (15), RHP Logan Evans (19), RHP Jimmy Joyce (21), OF Alberto Rodriguez (22), RHP Troy Taylor (27) and LHP Reid VanScoter (30).

ALL NATURAL--The Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Kansas City Royals) are currently in third place in the Texas League North Division... took four of six games from Springfield last week...managed by Tommy Shields for the second straight season...in the preseason, mlb.com ranked the Royals as having the 28th best farm system in baseball...the Naturals have nine of mlb.com’s top 30 Royals prospects on their active roster...the ranked players include Greenbrier native and former Razorback 3B Cayden Wallace (#2), RHP Mason Barnett (#5), OF Gavin Cross (#7), RHP Chandler Champlain (#11), INF/OF Javier Vaz (#15), 2B Peyton Wilson (#22), RHP Eric Cerantola (#25), LHP Tyson Guerrero (#28) and RHP Luinder Avila (#29).

Starting Pitcher - LHP Reid VanScoter (1-0, 2.77 ERA)

Reid VanScoter makes his fifth start of the season...last pitched Wednesday at Springfield taking no decision after five innings of work (4 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K)...earned first Double-A win on 4/18 holding Frisco to one run on one hit (a homer) over six IP...shutout the Drillers for 4.2 innings on 4/12 in Tulsa despite allowing four hits and four walks...has thrown at least 73 pitches in each of his past three starts topping out with as many as 84
VanScoter 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
Reid was 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 Mad Mallards vs. Northwest Arkansas Naturals (KC)

Record: 21-16

Record: 18-18

Today's Game Notes