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TL1 Northwest Arkansas Naturals

Naturals Power Past Corpus Christi in Series Opener

August 14, 2015 - Texas League (TL1)
Northwest Arkansas Naturals News Release


SPRINGDALE, AR - Ramon Torres and Raul Mondesi began the game with back-to-back home runs to power the Naturals (18-29, 58-59) past the Corpus Christi Hooks (26-22, 74-44) by the score of 8-1 in front of 7,323 fans at Arvest Ballpark on Friday night.

Facing LHP Brian Holmes of Corpus Christi, the Naturals bats were hot right from the start. Torres, the Naturals' lead-off hitter, has been on a tear of late as he has hit safely in 15 of 21 games while batting .311 (23-for-74) during that stretch. He continued that form on Friday night as pounded a 3-2 pitch over the wall in left and into the visitor's bullpen for a leadoff home run. Raul Mondesi followed suit with a home run of his own over the left field wall and into the Bud Light Bullpen Cafe for a 2-0 advantage. The offense wouldn't stop there though as the Naturals would put together a two-out rally against the Hooks. Jorge Bonifacio roped a single through the hole at shortstop before moving over to second base on a Hunter Dozier walk bringing up Zane Evans. Evans laced the very first pitch he saw to left-center field for an RBI single. Bonifacio scored on the hit and then Dozier come around to score on the play as Leo Heras would misplay the ball in center for the Hooks. After the smoke cleared, the Naturals had staked themselves to an early 4-0 lead.

The Hooks would get a run back in the top of the third as the aforementioned Heras would connect on a 2-1 pitch for a solo home run down the right-field line to make it a 4-1 game. However, the Naturals would immediately respond with a run of their own in the home half of the frame behind some more two-out offense. Back-to-back singles by Dozier and Evans set the stage for Frank Schwindel. In a 3-1 hitter's count, the Naturals' first baseman ripped a RBI single to left to score Dozier and push the lead to 5-1.

In the bottom half of the fifth, the Naturals offense would put the game on ice. Consecutive singles by Alex Liddi and Bonifacio started the inning and Dozier followed with a walk to load the bases. Evans continued his big night with a RBI single to right field to score Liddi. A pitching change by the Hooks would follow; however, Schwindel would greet the new Hooks' pitcher, Ruben Alaniz, with a two-run double down the left field line that would score Bonifacio and Dozier to extend the lead to 8-1, the eventual final score. The Naturals pounded out 16 hits and received multi-hit games from Torres, Mondesi, Bonifacio, Scwhindel, and a 4-for-4 night from Zane Evans.

While the offense was doing their damage, Naturals' starting pitcher Luke Farrell (3-3, 3.23 ERA) went about his business shutting down the high-powered Corpus Christi lineup. Entering the tonight, Farrell had registered a 2.29 ERA over his last eight appearances while holding opponents to a .236 average. The tall right-hander out of Northwestern continued his fantastic form as he earned the win, his second in a row, with 6.0 strong innings of work and limited the Hooks to one run on five hits while striking out four.

Northwest Arkansas will meet the Corpus Christi Hooks, the Double-A Houston Astros, again tomorrow night for Game 2 of this 3-game series. Saturday, August 15 is our Yordano Ventura #LetsThrowFire Bobblehead Giveaway courtesy of Cox Communications.

The Naturals will send RHP Christian Binford (4-6, 4.98 ERA) to the hill on Saturday night and he'll be opposed by RHP Kyle Westwood (7-6, 4.77 ERA) of the Hooks. Tune in with the Voice of the Naturals, Benjamin Kelly, at 5:50 p.m. for the Indigo Sky Casino Pre-Game Show leading up to first pitch at 6:05 p.m. on the Naturals' flagship station KQSM 92.1 - FM, the Ticket.

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

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Texas League Stories from August 14, 2015


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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