TEXAS LEAGUE

Travs 'stick to the process' for DH sweep

Arkansas Travelers' catcher Joseph Odom said he wasn't thinking about being the hero when he came to bat in the bottom of the seventh inning during the first game of Wednesday's Texas League doubleheader at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.

"The past couple of games I've been scuffling a little bit, swinging at pitches outside my zone," said Odom, who came into the game hitting .232. "I was just trying to get a good pitch more than anything and try not to do too much."

Which is exactly what Odom did with runners on first and third, two outs and the game tied against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals.

"Luckily, the barrel found the ball," he said. "And we won."

Odom lined a single to left off Naturals reliever Gabe Speier to score Logan Taylor and give the Travelers a 5-4 victory.

Odom was mobbed by teammates, a memorable moment for the 27-year-old catcher, and the Travs celebrated on the field again less than three hours later after scoring two in the seventh -- on a bases-loaded fielder's choice and subsequent throwing error -- to win 3-2.

The victories extended Arkansas' winning streak to a season-high six games, improved their record to a Texas League-best 29-15, and kept their North Division lead at 51/2 games over the Tulsa Drillers.

Arkansas' first-half dominance started with a 7-1 start to the season, with six of those victories coming on the road, and Manager Mitch Canham's team has not slowed down.

"That's just numbers," Canham said. "As long as we go about our day, focus on our process, prepare the right way. It's just being relentless. Each guy's trying to be a spark plug. Stay in the moment and keep executing."

A big part of the process is making it difficult for the opponent to get on base, and Travelers pitchers have yielded a league-low 101 walks.

"Our philosophy is controlling the strike zone, on the mound and at the plate," Canham said. "Trying to stick to the process."

The Travelers don't wow with their offensive statistics -- they rank last in the Texas League with 199 runs scored (4.5 per game) and are second-to-last with a team batting average of .241 -- but it's their run prevention that has them on top in the standings.

Arkansas' team ERA (3.30) is a half run lower than the next stingiest Texas League team.

And while the Travelers don't score a lot of runs, they score enough.

Wednesday's sweep improved their record to 11-3 in games decided by one run. The Travelers are also 22-4 when scoring at least four and 20-5 when scoring first.

Odom said the success of the Travelers' pitching staff is a source of pride for him.

"I catch a lot more balls than I'll ever hit," Odom said. "Those guys have great arms out there. Everyone's been on top of their games. We've been sticking to our game plan, and we've been executing."

It's the same on the offensive side.

"One through nine, every guy has a chance to do it," Odom said. "Everyone brings something different. We have some speed, we have some power. We all have confidence in each other, just try to pass it on to the next guy."

The Travelers scored first Wednesday, then rallied from a 4-1 deficit with two runs in the bottom of the third, one run in the sixth to tie and another in the seventh to win.

Part of the game plan, according to Odom and Canham, is getting the starting pitchers to throw strikes and extend their starts.

Canham said Odom did a good job of sticking to the process, working with starting pitcher Ricardo Sanchez, who allowed 4 earned runs in 5 innings, and reliever Wyatt Mills, throwing out a runner at second and knocking in the winning run.

The second-game walk-off wasn't as clean as the first-game victory.

The Travelers loaded the bases with no outs against Naturals reliever Franco Terrero, but they were still down 2-1 after Kyle Lewis struck out, bringing Taylor to the plate.

Taylor hit a ground ball to second baseman Gabriel Cancel, who flipped to shortstop Angelo Castellano to force Jake Fraley at second.

Castellano tried to get Taylor at first, but the throw sailed high and wide of first baseman Travis Jones, who recovered the ball by the Travs dugout.

Donnie Walton scored the tying run on the grounder, and Evan White raced the plate ahead of Jones' throw to give the Travs the doubleheader sweep.

FIRST GAME

NW ARK AB R H BI ARKANSAS AB R H BI

Heath, cf 4 1 2 0 Walton, ss 4 1 2 0

Burt, lf 4 1 3 0 White, 1b 3 2 1 1

Cancel, 2b 3 1 1 2 Fraley, dh 4 0 2 2

Rivera, 3b 3 1 1 2 Lewis, cf 4 0 0 1

Jones, 1b 3 0 1 0 Taylor, 3b 3 1 1 0

Ftherston, dh 3 0 0 0 Cowan, 2b 4 0 1 0

Fernandez, c 3 0 0 0 Zmmarelli, rf 3 1 2 0

Peterson, rf 3 0 0 0 Odom, c 4 0 2 1

Castellano, ss 3 0 2 0 Knapp, lf 1 0 0 0

TOTALS 29 4 10 4 totals 30 5 11 5

NW Arkansas 004 000 0 -- 4 10 1

Arkansas 102 001 1 -- 5 11 0

E -- Rivera. DP -- Northwest Arkansas 1, Arkansas 2. LOB -- Northwest Arkansas 4, Arkansas 8. 2B -- Cancel, Zammarelli, Fraley. HR -- Rivera. SAC -- Napp. CS -- Jones.

NW Arkansas IP H R ER BB SO

Garabito 5 7 3 3 2 3

Speier L, 0-1 12/3 4 2 2 1 1

ARKANSAS IP H R ER BB SO

Sanchez 5 8 4 4 0 4

Mills W, 3-0 2 2 0 0 0 2

WP -- Garabito. HBP -- by Speier (Taylor). Umpires -- Home: Carroll; First: Gorman; Third: Olson. Time -- 2:27. Attendance -- NA

Second Game

NW ARK AB R H BI ARKANSAS AB R H BI

Heath, rf 3 0 1 0 Walton, ss 2 1 0 0

Lee, cf 1 0 0 1 White, 1b 2 1 0 0

Cancel, dh 4 0 0 0 Fraley, cf 4 0 3 1

Rivera, 3b 2 0 1 0 Lewis, dh 4 0 0 0

Miller, lf 3 1 0 0 Taylor, 3b 4 0 1 1

Ftherston, ss 2 0 0 0 Cowan, 2b 3 0 1 0

Viloria, c 1 0 0 0 Zmmarelli, rf 1 0 0 0

Jones, 1b 3 0 0 0 DeCarlo, c 3 0 0 0

Burt, 2b 3 1 2 0 Knapp, lf 3 1 1 0

TOTALS 22 2 4 1 totals 26 3 6 2

NW Arkansas 001 100 0 -- 2 4 1

Arkansas 001 000 2 -- 3 6 0

E -- Featherston. LOB -- Northwest Arkansas 7, Arkansas 8. 2B -- Burt, Fraley. SAC -- Heath. SF -- Lee. SB -- Lee 2, Burt 2, Heath 2, Taylor.

NW ARKANSAS IP H R ER BB SO

Gomez 5 5 1 1 2 6

Ogando 1 0 0 0 1 1

Terrero L, 2-3 2/3 1 2 1 2 1

ARKANSAS IP H R ER BB SO

McClain 4 2 2 2 2 7

Tenuta 2 1 0 0 2 1

Anderson W, 3-0 1 1 0 0 1 2

WP -- Gomez, McClain 2. HBP -- by McClain (Featherston); by Gomez (Walton). Umpires -- Home: Gorman; First: Olson; Third: Carroll. Time -- 2:38. Attendance -- 4,720

Today’s game

ARKANSAS TRAVELERS VS. SPRINGFIELD CARDINALS

WHEN 7:10 p.m.

WHERE Dickey-Stephens Park, North Little Rock

RADIO KARN-AM, 920, in central Arkansas

WEBSITES travs.com

PITCHERS Travs: TBD; Cardinals: TBD

TICKETS $12 box seats, $8 reserved seats, $6 general admission. Gates open one hour before first pitch.

PROMOTION Bark in the park.

TRAVS WEEK AHEAD

TODAY vs. Springfield, 7:10 p.m.

FRIDAY vs. Springfield, 7:10 p.m.

SATURDAY vs. Springfield, 6:10 p.m.

SUNDAY vs. Springfield, 2:10 p.m.

MONDAY Off

TUESDAY at NW Arkansas, 7:05 p.m.

WEDNESDAY at NW Arkansas, 7:05 p.m.

Sports on 05/23/2019

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