Game Report: Frisco 15, Corpus Christi 0

FRISCO --  The RoughRiders fought through having the 'Famous Chicken'  spending several innings as their first base coach to secure the Texas League South's first-half divisional championship, scoring 15 runs before an overstuffed Dr. Pepper Ballpark crowd.

But  the most important and most exciting thing happening in the ballpark went almost completely unnoticed by at least 9,000 of the more than 10,000 fans (almost none of whom had ever heard of Elvis Andrus and who were generally far more interested in libations than crafty lefties).

Southpaw starter Michael Ballard (5-3;  4.20)  painted a masterpiece.   And if his past performances hold, he's set to put together an excellent second half.

The University of Virginia alum got through seven innings in a remarkably efficient 86 pitches (that's 12.28 per inning folks), blanking the Hooks on five hits and a walk, punching out five.

Ballard kept Corpus hitters off balance all night with his assortment of a high-80's fastball, a mid-70's change and high-60's 12-6 yakker.   He worked with enormous confidence, throwing any pitch in any count for strikes.

Ballard is not going to blow anyone away with his stuff, but -- and this comes as no surprise given his alma mater -- he's an extremely intelligent pitcher who has proven that he does a better job of adjusting to a league's hitters than they do adjusting to him.

Like John Danks before him, Ballard's record of constantly figuring out how to succeed after first struggling in a league is a sign of more good things to come, so long as people don't jump to any conclusions too soon.

In 2007,  Ballard spent three months with Clinton, posting a 5.12 ERA in April (.316 opponents average), a 4.37 ERA (.284 opponents average) in May and a 2.11 ERA in June (.250 opponents average).

He then moved on to Bakersfield where he posted a 6.10 ERA in two June starts,  a 5.63 ERA in six July starts and a 3.48 ERA in five August starts.   Cal Leaguers hit .314 against him in July and then only .227 in August.

Ballard's Texas League career got of to a great start in April, but he struggled mightily in May.   Halfway through June, however, he's the clear front-runner for Texas League pitcher of the month with a 0.83 ERA while giving the Riders 21.2 innings through three starts.