Homers, Pitching Lead Travelers to Victory
Published on May 15, 2013 under Texas League (TL1)
Northwest Arkansas Naturals News Release
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A pair of home runs and solid pitching pushed the Arkansas Travelers past the Northwest Arkansas Naturals 5-1 on Wednesday afternoon at Dickey-Stephens Park. With today's victory, the Travelers clinch a series win with one game remaining.
Travis Witherspoon hit his second home run of the series in the bottom of the first inning to give the Travs a 1-0 lead. Although Witherspoon is batting .186 this season, he is four-for-nine with two home runs, three RBI and three runs scored in the first three games of the series. C.J. Cron hit his third home run of the season in the third inning to give Arkansas a 2-0 lead.
Northwest Arkansas cut the deficit in half in the fourth, with Angel Franco crossing the plate on a Rey Navarro groundout. Franco led off the inning with a single. The Naturals had runners on first and second with no outs in the fifth, but a pair of lineouts and a strikeout ended the threat.
A three-run eighth inning gave the Travelers a bit of breathing room. Trevor Hairgrove made his first Double-A hit one to remember, driving in a run with a single to left field off of Edwin Carl. Hairgrove and Drew Heid scored on a Rolando Gomez single with two outs.
Franco, Navarro, Manny Pi̮̱a and Orlando Calixte each singled for the Naturals, who finished with four hits on the day.
Brandon Hynick picks up his third win of the season, allowing one run on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts in five innings. Hynick earned his first win of 2013 against the Naturals on May 4. Nick Maronde, Elvin Rodriguez and Michael Cisco didn't allow a hit in four innings of relief.
Sugar Ray Marimon is charged with his fifth loss of the year. Marimon allowed two runs on five hits with three walks and seven strikeouts in six innings. Santiago Garrido fired a scoreless seventh, with Nick Rogers retiring the only batter he faced in the eighth.
The Travelers and Naturals conclude their four-game series at 7:10 p.m. tomorrow. Yordano Ventura (3-0, 1.57 ERA) gets the ball for the Naturals. Matt Oye (3-2, 5.67 ERA) is the scheduled starter for Arkansas.
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