Miller Handcuffs Hooks, Travs Take Series

Box Score

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, AR – Bryce Miller struck out 14 and carried a perfect game through five innings Saturday night as the Travelers beat the Hooks, 8-2, before 6,592 fans at Dickey-Stephens Park.

Arkansas secured the series win by taking four of the first five games. The 2022 finale is set for Sunday at 1:35 PM.

Miller retired the first 15 Corpus Christi hitters Saturday, striking out 10. Cesar Salazar accounted for the first Hooks base runner with a lead-off single in the sixth.

Quincy Hamilton reached via a one-out, four-pitch walk in the fifth. Joe Perez then hit a first-pitch fastball from Miller for a two-run home run to left.

Perez has now gone deep in each of the last two games.

Miller, a standout from Texas A&M, then retired the next two batters to finish seven frames for the first time in his young career.

Hooks starter Spencer Arrighetti struck out six while facing one over the minimum through three innings. Arkansas rallied to send seven men to bat in the fourth, scoring three times with two coming on a triple by Zach DeLoach.

The Travs then posted a four-spot against Matt Ruppenthal in the fifth. Joe Rizzo plated three via a bases-clearing double to left-center as Arkansas marched nine men to the plate.

Corpus Christi was held to two hits and two walks while striking out 18 times, matching the season high. Blake Weiman and Collin Kober teamed to dispatch six of seven in relief for the home club.