Lerew Solid as Naturals Hold on for Win
Published on July 22, 2009 under Texas League (TL1)
Northwest Arkansas Naturals News Release
SPRINGDALE, AR- Anthony Lerew got the Naturals into the seventh inning as Northwest Arkansas held on for a 6-5 victory against the Arkansas Travelers on Wednesday.
Lerew (5-5), who went 6 2/3 innings, allowed five hits, two earned runs, and a walk while striking out six in one of his better recent outings. The Naturals made quick work on Travelers' right-hander Tommy Mendoza, scoring four runs in the first inning as they sent ten men to the plate. Jarrod Dyson singled to lead off and then stole second, his 13th stolen base on the season. Kurt Mertins followed with a walk and Jeff Bianchi singled home Dyson. After Mendoza got Corey Smith to whiff, David Lough singled to load the bases. Vance Wilson followed and laced a two-run single to right-center to put the Naturals up 3-0. Another run came in when Travelers' third baseman Wil Ortiz misplayed a hard grounder off the bat of Cody Strait. Mark Maddox's two-out walk re-loaded the bases but Jarrod Dyson, the tenth hitter of the inning, grounded out to strand all three runners.
The Travelers put up single runs in the second and the fourth. Ryan Mount's RBI single in the second scored Chris Gutierrez, and then slugging first baseman Mark Trumbo led off the fourth with a homer, a solo shot to right.
Northwest Arkansas put up some necessary insurance runs in the sixth and seventh inning. In the sixth, Cody Clark led off with a double and, after Marc Maddox struck out, Jarrod Dyson drew a walk. That brought an end to the day for Tommy Mendoza, who was lifted by the Travs' in favor of reliever David Herndon. The first batter Herndon faced, Naturals' second baseman Kurt Mertins, hit a grounder to right that was fielded by Travs' right fielder Jeremy Moore who threw Clark out at home. Jeff Bianchi followed and drove in Dyson for his second RBI on the evening. Corey Smith led off the seventh inning with his 17th home run of the season which put the Naturals up 6-2.
Northwest Arkansas (16-8, 52-42) almost watched its lead slip away in the ninth. Aaron Hartsock, on in relief of Lerew, walked Hank Conger to lead off the frame and then allowed a single to Mark Trumbo. Manager Brian Poldberg then summoned left-hander Gilbert De La Vara from the bullpen. The first batter to face the southpaw, Jeremy Moore, tripled deep to center field to score Conger and Trumbo and slice the lead in half. The fifth run for North Little Rock came in on an ensuing groundout by Chris Gutierrez, but De La Vara fanned Ryan Mount and got Flint Wipke to line out to end the game as De La Vara earned his first save of the season.
Mendoza (6-6) was saddled with the loss for the Travelers as he allowed five runs and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Jarrod Dyson, Jeff Bianchi, David Lough, and Cody Strait all had multi-hit games for the Naturals, who stranded nine runners and had two runners called out at home plate, but have now beaten the Arkansas Travelers (7-18, 35-60) 12 of the past 13 times they've faced them at Arvest Ballpark The series wraps up Thursday evening as these two teams meet in Springdale for the final time this season. Right-hander Blake Johnson (6-5, 4.80) goes for the Naturals against promising young left-hander Trevor Reckling (5-3, 2.66) for the Travs. Game time is 7 P.M.
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.
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