Stowers, Crim pace Riders in big home-finale win

FRISCO, Texas (September 11, 2022) – The Frisco RoughRiders dominated the Tulsa Drillers 18-3 in the final home game of the 2022 regular season on Sunday night. Josh Stowers led the way offensively, going 3-for-4 with two home runs and six RBIs.

Box score

The Drillers (26-36, 66-63) jumped out in front first with a leadoff homer from Leonel Valera to begin the game, making it 1-0.

Tulsa then added on with two more runs in the top of the second inning when Jeren Kendall stole home as part of a double steal and Valera added an RBI single to push the lead to 3-0.

That lead was erased by Riders (35-27, 71-60) outfielder Stowers slammed a three-run blast, his ninth of the year and his first at home, to tie the game.

The game remained tied until the Riders exploded in the bottom of the fourth for six runs. Stowers began the scoring with an RBI single prior to Frainyer Chavez plating a run with a fielder's choice. Scott Kapers then launched his first Riders Field homer - and his second in Double-A. A three-run shot increased the lead to 8-3. Blaine Crim added the sixth run of the frame with an RBI single.

In the fifth, Stowers connected on his second home run for Frisco, a two-run blast, to pump the score to 11-3. It gave him a new career-high six RBIs and it was his second multi-home run game of the season and his fourth of his career.

Luisangel Acuna doubled in another run for the Riders in the sixth before Chavez added on with a sacrifice fly and Kellen Strahm knocked in the Riders 14th run with a bases-loaded walk.

In the bottom of the eighth, Crim added an exclamation point with a grand slam, his 24th home run of the season, to make it 18-3. It was Crim's eighth home run in his last 10 games. He finished the night 4-for-5 with five RBIs.

On the mound, Ricky Vanasco made his Riders debut and allowed three runs over 3.1 innings before the bullpen tossed shutout baseball the rest of the way. Josh Smith (4-0) earned the win with his 0.2 innings. Grant Wolfram highlighted the bullpen with 2.0 scoreless innings.

Alec Gamboa (10-4) was saddled with the loss for Tulsa, as he allowed six runs over his two innings.

The RoughRiders head on the road on Tuesday, September 13th to begin their final series of the regular season. They take on the Kansas City Royals affiliate, the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, at 7:05 p.m. on Tuesday for the series opener.

For tickets and more information about the Frisco RoughRiders, visit RidersBaseball.com or call 972.731.9200.

About the RoughRiders

The Frisco RoughRiders are the Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. The team was founded in 2003 and has finished first among all Double-A franchises in attendance for 15 consecutive seasons (2005-2019). In August 2014, the RoughRiders were purchased by an ownership group led by Chuck Greenberg. Since then, the new ownership group, together with the City of Frisco, has spearheaded numerous major franchise enhancements, investing over $8 million in a wide array of facility upgrades and improvements, including a state-of-the-art HD video board, sound system, Bull Moose Saloon, InTouch Grille, Riders Outpost Team Store and the world's largest water feature in a sports facility, the massive Lazy River. These enhancements earned the Riders and the City of Frisco Ballpark Digest's prestigious "Best Ballpark Renovation" award for two consecutive years (2015 and 2016). More than 170 former RoughRiders players have gone on to play Major League Baseball. For more information on the Frisco RoughRiders, please visit RidersBaseball.com or contact [email protected].