2025 Season in Review: History & Big Moments
Published on October 3, 2025 under Texas League (TL)
Northwest Arkansas Naturals News Release
The 2025 Naturals were an exciting group of players throughout the year. They set a few team records while putting on a show everywhere they went, throwing a no-hitter, hitting the ball out of the yard, and racking up strikeouts. Let's take a look at some of the big moments the Nats gave us in 2025.
Wild Opening Night Win
The Naturals started the season on the road, visiting their North Division rivals, the Tulsa Drillers, at ONEOK Field on April 4th, 2025. The Nats' jumped out to an early lead in the opening frame before the Drillers put up four runs in the bottom of the first with two more in the second to take a 6-1 lead. NWA scored again in the fourth, but Tulsa plated runs in the fifth and sixth before scoring three in the seventh to open what seemed to be an insurmountable, 11-2 lead.
We say "what seemed" because what happened in the eighth tied a team record and was only the second time it's ever happened. Connor Scott led off with a single to right but came around to score with a pair of errors in the field. Dustin Dickerson walked, and Gavin Cross singled. Carter Jensen struck out, but Jac Caglianone followed with a single to left center that scored Dickerson and moved Cross to third base. Spencer Nivens lifted a sac fly to right that scored Cross, making it an 11-5 game. Brett Squires cut it to a four-run game with a two-run homer to right, increasing the Naturals' chances of winning to 1.3%.
Needing one out to get clear of the inning, the Drillers swapped pitchers, but the results weren't any better for Tulsa. Peyton Wilson was hit by a pitch and Jack Pineda hit a ground-rule double to right-center. Scott doubled to right, scoring both Wilson and Pineda to make it a two-run game. Dickerson walked, and Gavin Cross singled to load the bases. Jensen smacked a single past third to score Scott and Dickerson, thanks to a throwing error, tying the game with a nine-run inning. The Drillers went back to the bullpen again, but Caglianone grounded a ball to second and reached on an errant throw, scoring Cross to give NWA their second 10-run inning in club history, while coming back from an 11-3 deficit to take a 12-11 lead.
Ryan Hendrix and Brandon Johnson threw clean innings in the eighth and the ninth to give the Nat's an Opening Day, come-from-behind win unlike any other in Naturals history.
No-Hitter
Over the first five seasons of Naturals baseball, three no-hitters were thrown, and they were done in consecutive seasons. A pair of future big leaguers threw the first one on July 19, 2011, with Will Smith and Kelvin Herrera blanking the Arkansas Travelers 1-0. Less than a year later, on May 10, 2012, Greg Holland, Chris Dwyer, Brandon Lafferty, and Kendal Volz nailed down a 2-0 no-hit win over the Springfield Cardinals. Then in 2013, the lone complete-game no-hitter in team history was thrown by Brooks Pounders with an 11-0 win over the Midland RockHounds.
On April 15, 2025, the nearly 12-year stretch without a no-hitter came to an end. Ryan Ramsey started the game at Nelson Wolff Stadium in San Antonio, Texas, trying to get the Nats two games over .500. The southpaw chucked 5.2 innings without allowing a run or a hit while walking one and striking out six. Lefty Chazz Martinez followed him out of the bullpen, but Missions hitters had the same answer over 1.1 innings with Martinez keeping the bases clear with a strikeout. Ryan Brady, a right-hander, threw a perfect inning with a pair of strikeouts before Brandon Johnson stormed in out of the bullpen. Johnson, in his second year with the Naturals, walked one with a strikeout to secure the team's fourth no-hitter in club history with a 3-0 win over the Missions.
Homer Log
The Naturals hit 95 home runs during the 2025 season, but some meant more than others.
Dustin Dickerson's bomb on June 8 against Wichita might have meant the most. The shortstop came to the plate in the series finale on a Sunday afternoon with Javier Vaz and Cross aboard and a 5-3 deficit, down to their final out. The right-handed hitter smoked a 3-1 pitch just over the left fielder's glove to give the Naturals a 6-5 walk-off win, securing a series split in the process. Dickerson's walk-off homer was the 17th in team history and the first since Diego Hernandez's two-run shot on August 26, 2022. It was also the Nats' first walk-off homer against the Wind Surge.
NWA also hit three grand slams this season, the first of which belonged to Jac Caglianone in San Antonio on April 19. Cross connected with another at home against Wichita on June 7, and Royals' rehabber, Mark Canha, blasted a second-inning granny on August 8 as part of a 9-5 win in Wichita.
Five players went deep twice in a game this season, too. Caglianone did it at home against Wichita on May 6, while Cross did the same just one day later. On May 18, Sam Ruta had the first multi-homer game of his career, and Isan Diaz accomplished the feat in his short tenure with the Nats, blasting a pair on July 13 against Midland. Spencer Nivens had the final multi-homer game of the season for the Naturals with two in Amarillo on August 31.
Kudrna & Williams Mow
RHP Ben Kudrna and RHP Henry Williams were dominant in stretches for the Naturals, each logging 10+ strikeout games this year. Kudrna had two, the first of which was on April 12 against the Frisco RoughRiders. The Royals' prospect lasted just 4.2 innings in the start, striking out 10 while holding the RoughRiders to two runs despite seven hits. In July, Kudrna set the team-high with 11 punchouts, masterfully holding the Arkansas Travelers to one hit over 6.0 innings of work while coming within two of the team record.
Williams' start at home against Springfield on September 6 was equally impressive. The righty k'd 10 over 6.0 shutout frames in a no-decision, walking two while allowing four hits. The total set a new career-high for Williams, surpassing the eight strikeouts he earned against the Cedar Rapids Kernels in 2024.
In the next installment of our 2025 in Review series, we'll take a deeper look at how the hitters fared during the Naturals' 17th season
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