TL1 Northwest Arkansas Naturals

Another balanced attack snatches series with Travs

Published on June 29, 2009 under Texas League (TL1)
Northwest Arkansas Naturals News Release


SPRINGDALE, AR- The Naturals grabbed an early 4-0 lead and, with the assistance of five relievers, kept the Travs at bay for their third straight win over the Arkansas Travelers, a 5-2 victory Monday afternoon.

For the third consecutive game the Naturals scored in the first inning to take the early lead. Jarrod Dyson hit a leadoff single and advanced to second base when a pitchout popped out of Hank Conger's mitt for his first passed ball of the season. Dyson advanced to third on a chopper to short by Ed Lucas and scored when Mendoza skipped a pitch in front of the plate for a wild pitch.

Travs' starter Tommy Mendoza retired the first two batters of the second inning, but Cody Strait whacked a double into right-center then Cody Clark followed with his fourth homer of the year to put the Naturals up 3-0.

Leading off the bottom of the fourth, Naturals designated hitter Vance Wilson doubled to right-center and advanced to third base on a slow groundout by Strait. Mendoza then walked Clark and Jose Duarte bunted off the mound on the third base side for an RBI single knocking in Wilson for a 4-0 NWA lead.

Held to just two base hits over four innings, the Travs finally brought in a run in the fifth. Wil Ortiz singled to left field with one out and advanced to third when Brendan Florence hit a double to the right-field corner. Hainley Statia's groundout to second base against reliever Chris Nicoll plated Ortiz, but Peter Bourjos struck out to end the inning.

The Naturals got that run back in the bottom of the fifth as Mendoza (5-4) issued a leadoff walk to Lucas who scored when Corey Smith doubled off the left-field wall. Mendoza took the loss, allowing season highs in runs (5) and base hits (9) over seven innings.

Northwest Arkansas (4-1, 40-35) used five pitchers on a day when they didn't use a pitcher out of their starting rotation. Major League veteran Chad Orvella pitched three shutout innings in his first outing since Kansas City signed him to a minor league deal over the weekend. Right hander Chris Nicoll (6-0) earned the win with three shutout innings. Left hander Ben Swaggerty earned his first save of the season with one scoreless frame of work.

Nicoll pitched a perfect sixth inning, but Mark Trumbo led off the seventh with a single and advanced to second on a two-out single by Brenden Florence. Statia followed with a line drive single to center that Dyson played on a bounce. Trumbo came around third and abruptly stopped halfway to the plate as Naturals shortstop Jeff Bianchi threw home to catch Trumbo in an inning-ending rundown.

The Travs (2-4, 30-46) had the makings of a rally in the ninth inning as Carlos Sencion loaded the bases with no outs on two walks and a single by Trumbo. Swaggerty was summoned from the bullpen, and he got Wil Ortiz on a comebacker with Val Majewski scoring from third base to cut the Naturals lead to 5-2. He then got Florence to fly out to right and Statia to bounce to short to end the game.

Texas League teams are off the next two days for the All-Star break. The All-Star game is scheduled for Wednesday night in Frisco, TX. Thursday evening the Naturals begin a six-game road trip to San Antonio and Corpus Christi with three games in San Antonio against the Missions.

The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are the Double-A Texas League affiliate of the Kansas City Royals and play at state-of-the-art Arvest Ballpark, located in Springdale. The Naturals have a toll-free ticket hotline (1-877-444-2637) for fans to purchase Naturals tickets. Our website, nwanaturals.com offers fans the opportunity to purchase tickets online and avoid lines at the ticket windows by printing their tickets at home or at the office.

Check out the Northwest Arkansas Naturals Statistics

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Texas League Stories from June 29, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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