 April 24, 2002 - Jay Peden
Midland Reporter-Telegram
That's the unlikely-seeming scenario that came to be Tuesday night at First American Bank Ball Park. The Midland RockHounds put Adam Morrissey from New South Wales out there at second base, and the Arkansas Travelers countered with Trent Durrington, a former Midland Angel from Queensland.
Durrington and his mates got the best of the battle, winning 7-1. Durrington singled and drew three walks, and he scored the first two runs of the game. Morrissey got one of the RockHounds' four hits.
"You could say it's pretty rare," Durrington said of he and his countryman playing in the same game. "But there are a lot more Aussies being signed. There are a lot of guys at a lot of levels."
Durrington estimates there are about 40 Australians spread throughout American professional baseball. He is one of a handful of Aussies who have played Major League Baseball, getting in nearly 50 games for the Anaheim Angels in 1999 and 2000. He played for the Midland Angels in 1998.
Batting second, Durrington provided a spark for the Travelers. He walked with one out in the first inning, stole second and eventually scored on Mike O'Keefe's RBI groundout.
In the third inning, Durrington singled with one out and rode home on Jason Huisman's home run -- a blast that easily cleared the visitor's bullpen in left field. Later in the inning, Jason Hill added an RBI single.
Those were all the runs Travelers' starting pitcher Bobby Jenks (2-2) needed. He had a one-hitter going through five innings. In the sixth, he got out of jam with help from reliever Jeff Hundley.
With one out in the sixth, Midland's Tim DeCinces doubled and Rusty Keith singled, sending DeCinces to third. With two outs, Jenks walked Graham Koonce and Todd Mensik to force in the RockHounds' only run. Hundley relieved Jenks then, and struck out Kirk Asche to end the threat.
Arkansas got two more runs in the eighth and one in the ninth. Mike Christensen had an RBI single and an RBI double in those innings respectively.
Hundley followed his clutch strikeout with two scoreless innings, and Joel Peralta pitched a perfect ninth inning in a non-save situation.
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