Frisco RoughRiders Week 7 Standouts
A look at some of the best performers for the Riders during their home series with Amarillo.
It was quite the turnaround in Week 7 for the Frisco RoughRiders. After getting swept by the Wichita Wind Surge the week prior, the Riders looked like a completely different team, winning four of six against the Amarillo Sod Poodles.
Pitching had a particularly good week in Frisco (17-21). The Riders’ staff held Amarillo (17-22) to four runs or fewer in five games. It seems like giving up 54 runs last week got to them because they gave up 19 total runs to the Sod Poodles.
Frisco got to add a new name back to their lineup with Aaron Zavala coming back from a torn UCL and getting off to a good start.
With that, here are this week’s standouts.
Batter: INF Nick Tanielu .333/.368/1.056/1.424
“The Tanimal” was unleashed this week. The nickname Nick Tanielu received from his teammates certainly described the 30-year-old against Amarillo. He hit — and he hit with some serious power.
Tanielu slashed four home runs across three games, including two in one inning on Wednesday. The veteran presence Tanielu brings to the team was evident in his timely longshots.
He started scoring for the Riders twice and recorded a team-high seven RBIs for the week.
Starting Pitcher: RHP Tekoah Roby 10.1 IP, 11 K, 1.78 ERA, 0.396 WHIP
It was a great week for the starting rotation. With the exception of a just-returning Ricky Vanasco, the Riders’ starters not only kept scores low but made lengthy starts.
For the week, Tekoah Roby was the hands-down standout. Roby got the two starts against Amarillo and made a lot with them. The series-opener Roby took a no-hitter into the 7th with eight strikeouts. He’d allow a two-run homer before exiting, but starred nonetheless.
Closing out the series, Roby only went four innings. This time, the 21-year-old didn’t allow a hit, conceding just one walk while striking out three batters.
Honorable Mention: Jack Leiter, Ryan Garcia
Relief Pitcher: RHP Alex Speas 3 IP, 4 K, 0.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP
Another case where the reliever of the week could’ve been almost anyone. The bullpen allowed five total earned runs over the six games.
Alex Speas put in three strong performances, the most appearances of any reliever from the Riders. Speas is only in his first season back from a brief retirement and he’s reaching 100 mph on his fastball and 93 mph on his slider.
Speas was hit hard last week in his only appearance but — just like the rest of the bullpen — he got right back to business.
Honorable Mention: Antoine Kelly, Nick Starr
Utility: C Liam Hicks .267/.353/.533/.886
One of the most impressive weeks came off of what Liam Hicks had to do. The plan was certainly not for Hicks to play the first three games of the series behind the plate, but injuries in each of the first two games to Scott Kapers and Cooper Johnson led to Hicks taking over in both.
Despite not getting a chance to even game plan with Tekoah Roby or Jack Leiter, he helped them through strong starts before catching his own gem with Ryan Garcia on Thursday.
Although his hitting wasn’t off the charts throughout the week, he was a major factor in Frisco’s comeback win on Saturday, going 3-for-5 with a grand slam in the 6th inning.