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TL1 Northwest Arkansas Naturals

Late Rally Falls Short in 9-7 Loss to the Hooks

August 21, 2015 - Texas League (TL1)
Northwest Arkansas Naturals News Release


CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - After some early offense in the contest, the Naturals' bats came back alive in the ninth inning with Frank Schwindel belting a pinch-hit three-run homer off Aaron West cutting the deficit to 9-7, but that is all the closer Northwest Arkansas got dropping the series opener to the Corpus Christi Hooks on Friday night at Whataburger Field.

Schwindel stepped in to pinch-hit for Jorge Bonifacio with runners on the corners and two outs in the ninth. The Livingston, N.J. native took Hooks' reliever, West's, strike-one pitch and blasted the offering well beyond the left-field wall to make it a two-run trailing margin.

Northwest Arkansas (60-63/20-33) opened the scoring the top of the second as Alex Liddi extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a lead-off double in the frame. Two batters later, Lane Adams traded spots with Liddi, doubling home the Naturals' first baseman taking a 1-0 advantage.

After the Hooks tied the game at a run a piece in the home half of the second, the Naturals plated two more tallies to take a 3-1 lead in the third. Bonifacio contributed an RBI double to chase home Terrance Gore from second while Raul Mondesi scored from third two pitches later on Lidd's run-scoring sacrifice fly.

Right-hander Matt Murray lasted just 3.1 innings as he was lifted in the fourth with a 3-2 lead, but had runners at first and second base. Left-hander Sam Selman followed and the Hooks took advantage of walks and ended the fourth frame leading 4-3. Murray (5-3, 4.43) allowed four runs on five hits with a pair of walks and strike out taking his third losing decision of the season.

Corpus Christi (78-46/30-24) scored three more in the last of the fifth inning taking a five-run lead before Adams belted his 10th home run of the season making trimming the margin to four. Leo Heras answered in the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run for the ninth Hooks' run of the night.

Adams finished a triple shy of the cycle going 3-for-3 with two runs batted in, a walk and a run scored while Liddi ended his night with a pair of doubles giving him a new single-season career-high of 34 for the season.

A total of four Naturals finished with two-hits or better as Northwest Arkansas out-hit the opposition tonight 13-12.

Right-hander Aroni Nina worked his sixth-straight scoreless outing tossing a clean eighth inning striking out the final two batters faced.

The Naturals turn to right-hander Brooks Pounders (1-3, 2.31) for Saturday night's game at Whataburger Field as Northwest Arkansas looks to even the series against Corpus Christi. Right-hander Michael Feliz (6-2, 2.16) will counter for the home team.

Tune in with the Voice of the Naturals, Benjamin Kelly, with a 5:50 p.m. pregame show leading up the 6:05 p.m. first pitch on the flagship station of the Naturals, 92.1-FM, the Ticket.

Follow the Northwest Arkansas Naturals on Twitter @nwanaturals throughout the year by using the hashtag #NaturalPastime for all of our up-to-date information on tickets, groups, promotions, and team-related information.

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Texas League Stories from August 21, 2015


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