The RoughRiders played in front of a Fourth of July crowd big enough to become part of the night itself, the largest in franchise history, but the game gave that crowd little time to settle in.
Midland put Frisco in a five-run hole before the RoughRiders had sent six batters to the plate, then kept the offense pinned down in an 8-2 loss Saturday at Riders Field. Frisco finished with two runs, one hit and one error, with Malcolm Moore’s fifth-inning double serving as both the first hit and the only hit of the night.
The damage started quickly against Ben Anderson. After Brennan Milone lined out to open the game, Devin Taylor lifted a ball the other way to left-center that kept carrying beyond Marcus Lee Sang. One batter later, Leo De Vries sent another fly ball to a similar part of the yard, and the RockHounds had gone back-to-back before the inning had fully taken shape.
It did not stop with the two swings. Cole Conn doubled, Davis Diaz walked and Clark Elliott singled before Bobby Boser shot a grounder through the right side to score Diaz. Midland’s three-run first made the rest of the night feel uphill for a Frisco lineup that never found traction.
The RockHounds added two more in the second without another extra-base hit, using a Cameron Leary double, two walks and run-scoring groundouts from De Vries and Conn to stretch the lead to 5-0. Anderson took the loss after allowing six earned runs over five innings with four walks and no strikeouts.
Taylor supplied the next loud swing himself. In the fourth, he jumped the first pitch and drove it out toward right-center, onto the berm, for his second homer of the night and a 6-0 Midland lead. He finished 2-for-3 with two home runs, two walks and two RBIs. De Vries went 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs.
For Frisco, the offensive opening finally arrived in the fifth. Moore drove a 3-2 pitch into the left-center gap, rounded first and pushed into second with the RoughRiders’ first hit. Arturo Disla grounded out, Julian Brock walked and Lee Sang followed with another walk to load the bases and end Henry Baez’s night.
The inning produced two runs, but no hit to bring them in. Moore scored on a wild pitch during Max Wagner’s at-bat, and Brock came home on another wild pitch before Frainyer Chavez lined out to right to end the threat. Baez was charged with two earned runs over 4 1/3 innings while striking out seven, and Frisco’s lineup struck out 13 times overall.
That fifth was as close as the Riders came to turning the game into something more complicated. Stevie Emanuels got Midland out of the bases-loaded jam and worked into the sixth, Jake Garland followed with two scoreless innings to improve to 4-0, and Will Johnston handled the ninth.
Midland widened the margin in the seventh against Zach Bryant. Taylor walked, moved up on a groundout and scored when Diaz singled through the middle. Clark Elliott walked, and Diaz stole third and came home when the throw got away, with Elliott taking second on the same play to make it 8-2. Bobby Boser walked before Cole Stasio entered and struck out Luke Mann.
From there, the night belonged mostly to the bullpens. Bryan Magdaleno struck out two in a scoreless sixth for Frisco, Stasio added three strikeouts across 1 1/3 innings, and Anthony Susac worked around an infield single in the ninth. The RockHounds finished with 10 hits and drew seven walks, enough traffic to make the early hole hold up all night.
The announced crowd was 12,198, a record-setting audience for Riders Field. It got fireworks and a holiday night at the ballpark. It did not get much mystery from the game itself, not after Midland’s first two innings and not with Frisco held to one hit the rest of the way.