Ashur Tolliver enjoyed a stellar Dickey-Stephens Park debut Wednesday night. The Arkansas Travelers, however, had little else to celebrate in North Little Rock.
Tulsa's Matt Beaty, who is second in the Texas League with a .326 batting average, went 2 for 4 and drove in two runs as the Drillers posted a 5-2 victory over the Travelers.
With approximately 75 family members and friends in attendance, Tolliver, a 2006 Sylvan Hills graduate, retired five of the six batters he faced including back-to-back strikeouts to open the eighth inning.
"It's always fun whenever your family gets to come out and watch you do what you love," Tolliver said. "After playing so far away the last 10 years, they've gotten to come out and see me, but not as much as they would like. It's pretty cool for them to walk out the back door and be able watch me pitch instead of having to travel 15 to 20 hours."
Tolliver entered Wednesday's game in the seventh inning with one out and a runner on second. Beaty greeted Tolliver with a hard-hit infield single. Tolliver threw a wild pitch that allowed Drew Jackson to score, but the Travs reliever got Andre Ethier -- a two-time Major League All-Star who is on rehab assignment -- and Yusniel Diaz to pop out weakly to shortstop Chris Mariscal.
Tolliver pitched a perfect eighth inning, getting Kyle Garlick and Peter O'Brien on swinging strikeouts. Tolliver's went 1 2/3 innings and lowered his ERA with the Travs from 18.00 to 6.75.
"It's just a Wednesday night in minor league baseball and nothing too crazy, but to get to pitch in front of [family and friends] is pretty fun," Tolliver said. "A lot of guys don't get the opportunity to play professional baseball, so it's cool for my parents to get to come out and watch me. It's been going on since I was 4, but I know they still love it."
Winning pitcher Andrew Sopko (4-6) and three Tulsa relievers limited the Travs to six hits.
Offensively for the Travs, Braden Bishop hit a line drive to center field in the third inning which fell in front of a diving Johan Mieses and skipped to the warning track for a triple. Bishop, however, was left stranded.
Mariscal increased his hitting streak to eight games with a single in the sixth. He later scored on Dario Pizzano's single. Mariscal also drove in a run with an eighth-inning ground out.
Today's game
Travelers vs. Drillers
WHEN 7:10 p.m.
WHERE Dickey-Stephens Park, North Little Rock
RADIO KARN-AM, 920, in central Arkansas
WEBSITE travs.com
PITCHERS Travs:RHP Bryan Evans (2-1, 4.34 ERA); Drillers: RHP Mitchell White (0-0, 1.80 ERA).
TICKETS $13 box, $9 reserved ($6 kids). $7 general admission ($5 kids). Gates open one hour before the start of the game.
PROMOTIONS Clunker Car Night, presented by the Arkansas State Police.
THE WEEK AHEAD
TODAY vs. Tulsa, 7:10 p.m.
FRIDAY vs. Tulsa, 7:10 p.m.
SATURDAY at NW Arkansas, 6:05 p.m.
SUNDAY at NW Arkansas, 2:05 p.m.
MONDAY at NW Arkansas, 7:05 p.m.
TUESDAY at Springfield, 6:30 p.m.
WEDNESDAY at Springfield, 6:30 p.m.
Sports on 08/24/2017