TL1 Northwest Arkansas Naturals

Naturals pour it on late, defeat Missions 5-2

Published on April 18, 2009 under Texas League (TL1)
Northwest Arkansas Naturals News Release


SPRINGDALE, AR- Chris Hayes cruised through the final four innings as the Northwest Arkansas Naturals defeated the San Antonio Missions 5-2 at Arvest Ballpark. The Naturals scored five unanswered runs as they go on to win the first series of their home schedule.

Blake Wood's second start of the season got off to a rough start. Wood was pulled after three innings due to reaching his pitch count. He gave up three hits, two earned runs, three walks and two strikeouts in his first appearance at Arvest Ballpark in 2009.

San Antonio (4-5) jumped out to a 2-0 in the top of the first thanks to a Mike Baxter double that plated Luis Durango and Eric Sogard. San Antonio would be held scoreless for the final eight innings of play.

Nathan Culp dominated the Naturals for the first four innings as he retired the first 12 batters he faced. Corey Smith awoke the Arvest crowd with a double to begin the fifth inning thus ending a possible no-hitter. Brian McFall would bring in Smith and pick up his league leading 14th RBI to end the shutout. Missions' pitcher Nathan Culp would not return to the mound after a 50 minute rain delay. Jordan Parraz and Jeff Howell would later add RBI's as Northwest Arkansas (5-4) took their second series in a row.

While the Naturals starters are still looking for their first win, the bullpen provided the much needed relief. Chris Hayes and Chris Nicoll combined for six shutout innings, only allowing four hits and striking out two. Hayes picked up his second win of the season, and second win of the three game series. Through nine games this season the Naturals bullpen has posted a 2.57 ERA.

On the evening the Naturals had more runs (5) then hits (4). Jose Duarte's seven game hit streak was snapped as he went 0-4 from the leadoff spot. Shortstop Mario Lisson added a single in the sixth inning to improve his hitting streak to seven games.

Tonight's win marked the first time in five tries that the Naturals had ever won a series against the Missions. In each of the preceding four times they'd faced each other, the Naturals had lost two games of the three-game series

Next up for the Naturals are the Corpus Christi Hooks. Last week Northwest Arkansas took two out of three from Corpus Christi in Texas. RHP Matt Kniginyzky (0-0, 5.40) will square off against RHP Brad James (0-0, 5.40 ERA). These two met in their previous start, and Northwest Arkansas prevailed 8-4.

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 April 18, 2009


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