Sports stats



TL1 Northwest Arkansas Naturals

Naturals thrash Drillers Saturday

August 29, 2009 - Texas League (TL1)
Northwest Arkansas Naturals News Release


SPRINGDALE, AR- Northwest Arkansas capitalized on three Tulsa errors in the second inning, scoring two runs and never looking back as they thrashed the Tulsa Drillers 13-2 Saturday night at Arvest Ballpark. The win moved the Naturals into sole possession of first place in the Texas League North with nine games left on the schedule.

Ed Lucas was plunked by Tulsa starter Brandon Durden to lead off the second inning. David Lough followed and reached on a bobble by Tulsa second baseman Danny Sandoval, the first of the three Drillers miscues. Corey Smith followed and reached another error by Sandoval to load the bases. Jeff Howell brought in Lucas with a sacrifice fly for the game's first run. Marc Maddox followed and grounded to third, but Tulsa third baseman Darin Holcomb's throw went wild of the second base bag. Smith slid into second safely and Lough came around to score. Durden got out of the jam, however, when he got Jose Duarte on strikes and retired Jarrod Dyson on a groundout to end the frame and limit the damage to a pair of unearned runs.

The Naturals broke out the big sticks in the third, however, putting the game squarely out of reach. With two out, Ed Lucas homered to left. David Lough and Corey Smith followed with consecutive singles, and Howell delivered an RBI single for the 4-0 lead. Marc Maddox followed and took Durden deep into the right field berm as the Naturals opened a seven run lead.

Northwest Arkansas tagged Durden with a three-spot in the fourth and put up another three in the fifth as they chased the left-hander, who had a 2.79 ERA on the season entering the evening. Durden (7-3) completed 4 1/3 innings, and was tagged with ten hits and 12 runs (10 earned). He walked two and fanned two as his ERA rose nearly a run, to 3.65. The last Naturals run in the fifth was charged to Drillers' reliever Tommy Baumgardner.

The recipient of all the run support was right-hander Blake Johnson (8-8), who was effective in a 5 1/3 inning outing. He allowed five hits and a run. He walked two, fanned four, and got some spectacular plays behind him on defense.

Naturals' left fielder David Lough was the principal factor on two of those. In the top of the second, he leapt up and robbed Tulsa's Brad Corley of a home run. Replays indicated the ball would have cleared the top of the left field fence, below the Bullpen Café, but although Lough was unable to come up with the catch, he did succeed in keeping the ball inside the park, holding Corley to a double.

Two highlight reel plays came one inning later. Anthony Jackson led off the third for Tulsa and sent a fly ball into the gap in shallow left-center. David Lough had a read on it and came up with a spectacular sliding catch, and one play later, Naturals' shortstop Jeff Bianchi gobbled up a hot grounder off the bat of Tulsa's Darin Holcomb, and, from his knees, threw Holcomb out by a step. Both plays brought an Arvest Ballpark crowd of nearly 6,300 fans to their feet in standing ovation.

Northwest Arkansas (33-28, 69-62) gave the crowd plenty to cheer at the plate. Ed Lucas (3-for-3, 3R, HR, BB) and Jarrod Dyson (3-for-6) led a troupe of six Naturals who recorded multi-hit games, while four had multiple RBI, led by Jeff Howell (2-for-4, R, 3 RBI) and Marc Maddox (2-for-5, R, 3 RBI). Lucas and Corey Smith also recorded two RBI in the rout.

Tulsa (32-29, 70-61) got two runs late on an RBI single by Darin Holcomb in the fifth and an RBI single by Daniel Carte in the eighth. Anthony Jackson, Rex Rundgren, and Brad Corley had two hits apiece for the Drillers, who dropped their third straight.

The Naturals now have a one game lead in the Texas League North Division. Game two of the series is Sunday at 2:30 P.M. Right-hander Chaz Roe (7-3, 3.27) will start for Tulsa opposite southpaw Everett Teaford (3-7, 5.91).

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



Texas League Stories from August 29, 2009


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.

OurSports Central