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TL1 Northwest Arkansas Naturals

Drillers Walk-Off on Naturals in Opener, 3-2

September 1, 2015 - Texas League (TL1)
Northwest Arkansas Naturals News Release


TULSA, Okla. - The series opener between the Naturals and the Tulsa Drillers went down to the wire Tuesday night as the home team walked-off a 3-2 winner over Northwest Arkansas at ONEOK Field. Peter Lavin's two-run single into right-field trumped the Naturals pre-established 2-1 advantage as the Drillers found late offense to fuel the rally.

Naturals' third baseball Alex Liddi gave Northwest Arkansas starter Brooks Pounders some early run support by smacking his 13th home run of the season, a two-run shot that brought along Jorge Bonifacio in the fourth inning. Bonifacio drew a walk to start the one-out rally.

Pounders maintained the lead through seven scoreless innings holding the Drillers to three hits throughout the night. The right-hander induced a pair of double plays while catcher Zane Evans threw out two of the walks allowed by Pounders in the first two frames to set the tone defensively.

After Tulsa (58-75/28-36) cut into the Northwest Arkansas (27-36/67-66) lead in the eighth inning with an RBI single off Aroni Nina making it 2-1, right-hander Malcom Culver (2-5, 3.78) was handed the responsibility of the ninth inning.

Culver worked two-thirds of the innings allowed a hit, two walks and a pair of strikeouts before handing over the bases-loaded jam to left-hander Daniel Stumpf to face the left-handed hitting Lavin. The lead-off man for the Drillers rolled a ball through the infield into right-field to plate two runs and give the Drillers a 3-2 walk-off win.

Shortstop Ramon Torres singled in his final at-bat to extend his hitting streak to eight games - a season-high for the infield - recording one of the Naturals' six hits on the night. Edward Salcedo executed his first career hit as a Natural with a sharp base-hit in the eighth inning.

The Naturals turn to right-hander Kyle Zimmer (2-4, 2.44) for game two of the set against right-hander Deck McGuire (4-2, 3.55) for the Drillers. First pitch from ONEOK Field is slated for a 7:05 p.m. first pitch.

Tune in with the Voice of the Naturals, Benjamin Kelly, for the Indigo Sky Casino Pregame Show leading up to first pitch on the flagship station of the Naturals, 92.1-FM the Ticket.

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