Texas Rangers Minor League Report - July 19th

*** Texas Rangers Minor League Report - July 19th *** From The Sports Network

OKLAHOMA REDHAWKS - The RedHawks played an abbreviated schedule last week due to the Class-AAA All-Star Game, splitting their four games. Still, Oklahoma has a firm grip on first place in the Pacific Coast League's Eastern Division as it leads second-place Nashville by 9 1/2 games. Chad Allen, who leads the league in hitting at an impressive .405, went 8-for-16 for the week, knocking in seven runs and scoring seven more. Brian Jordan hit .400 with six RBI, while Jeff Pickler went 6-for-17 with six runs scored. Marshall McDougall hit just .105 for the week, while Adrian Gonzalez turned the trick at just a .167 clip. Ryan Snare won his second straight start on July 15th, allowing just one run on two hits over six innings in a 7-4 decision over Albuquerque. He is now 7-4 with a 4.33 ERA for the season. Bart Miadich and Brad Clontz each appeared in two games, refusing to allow a run in a combined 6 1/3 innings. FRISCO ROUGHRIDERS - Frisco won four of its seven games for the week, moving two games over .500 here in the second half of the Texas League season. The RoughRiders are currently in third place in the league's East Division, but trail front-running Wichita by just 2 1/2 games. If the team is going to mount a takeover bid for the top spot it will need to get continued production from Will Smith, who hit .300 last week with a home run and nine RBI, as well as Jason Bourgeois and Tydus Meadows, each of whom drove in six runs. Others like Brian Esposito (1-for-13), Edgar Gonzalez (4-for-24) and Mike Curry (4-for-31) will need to raise their overall level of play. Starting pitcher Chris Young improved to 6-5 on the year by tossing five innings of shutout ball in a 3-2 win over Arkansas on July 15th, while reliever Luis Marcano made three trips to the hill last week, refusing to allow a run over a combined four innings of work. Travis Hughes was even better, however, not permitting a run in a combined five innings spread out over four appearances. STOCKTON PORTS - One of the hottest teams in the California League, Stockton has climbed to within a game of first place in the North Division. The Ports have won seven of their last 10 games, including six of seven in the last week. Joshua Hoffpauir, Adam Fox, Joaquin Arias, Ben Margalski and Jeremy Cleveland all hit better than .300 for the week, with Arias collecting a team- high 10 hits. Patrick Boyd led the club in run production, tallying six RBI, while Cameron Coughlan scored a team-high eight runs. Starting pitcher Nick Masset was brilliant in his two trips to the mound last week, yielding just two earned runs over a combined 10 innings of work. He is now 3-2 with a 3.68 ERA this season. Phil Akens appeared in two games, making one start, and went 1-0 with a 1.35 ERA after permitting just one run on five hits in a combined 6 2/3 innings. CLINTON LUMBERKINGS - With seven wins in their last 10 games, the LumberKings are tied for first-place with Kane County in the Midwest League's Western Division standings. The team got solid play from a host of players in the last week, including Kevin Richardson (.462, one home run, six RBI) and Andrew Wishy (.348, six runs scored, three RBI). Justin Hatcher has four hits in his last 11 at-bats, while Emerson Frostad hit .333 for the week with a homer and five RBI. Brandon Cashman drove in a team-high seven runs, but hit just .250 (3-for-12). Jose Garcia was superb in his first start for Clinton, tossing six innings of shutout ball in a 5-0 win over Dayton on July 18th. He allowed just three hits and struck out seven. Relief pitchers Chris Cordeiro and Craig Fryendall each appeared in two games last week, refusing to allow a run in a combined 7 1/3 innings. SPOKANE INDIANS - Michael Nickeas was named the Northwest League's Player of the Week after the skilled catcher hit .409 (9-for-22) and drove in seven runs. Nickeas, who is hitting at a .330 clip this season, belted four doubles and two homers in six games from July 12-18. He posted an .864 slugging percentage, a .536 on-base percentage and scored four runs. Despite their backstop's solid week, the Indians managed just a split of their six games, and find themselves an even 15-15 on the year and in third place in the league's East Division, just two games back of first-place Tri-City. Others enjoying productive weeks for Spokane included Lizahio Baez (.438, two home runs, three RBI) and Travis Metcalf (.333, three homers, eight RBI). Pitcher J.D. Croft suffered a pair of losses last week, allowing four runs in a combined 8 1/3 innings, while Clayton Jerome went 0-0 but allowed four runs in 4 2/3 innings spread out over two outings. John Bannister and Clint Brannon paired to toss seven innings of one-hit, shutout ball, while Jesse Ingram appeared in three games and didn't allow a run in 1 2/3 innings.