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TL Northwest Arkansas Naturals

Northwest Arkansas Ends June on Strong Note with Doubleheader Sweep over Springfield

July 1, 2021 - Texas League (TL)
Northwest Arkansas Naturals News Release


The Northwest Arkansas Naturals finished the month of June as best they could, sweeping a doubleheader with the Springfield Cardinals on Wednesday night, by scores of 5-4 and 5-2, ending the month on a three-game winning streak.

After a historic 19-4 win the night before, the Naturals bats cooled down but good pitching allowed the team to stay ahead of Springfield in both games.

Derrick Adams struck out three in three innings of two-run baseball over his second start of the season, but the middle relievers shined as Andres Nunez earned his team-best fifth win of the season with a scoreless fourth and Collin Snider struck out five in two scoreless innings of work after Nunez.

In the second game, Austin Cox (MLB Pipeline's No. 10 Royals' prospect) made arguably his best start of the season, striking out five while not walking a batter across 4.2 scoreless frames.

Stephen Woods Jr. earned his third win of the season, pitching the final 2.1 innings out of the bullpen with two more strikeouts.

Northwest Arkansas scored five runs on eight hits in both games and combined for three home runs after not hitting a long ball the night before.

Clay Dungan and Brhet Bewley hit their sixth and second of the season respectively in the first game, tying the Naturals with the Cardinals in the third on Dungan's blast, then giving them the lead in the fourth on Bewley's homer.

Dairon Blanco connected on his fourth of the season in the fourth inning of the doubleheader's second game, the first inside-the-park homer of the season. The two-run homer proved to be important insurance, at the time making the score 4-0 in what ended up being a 5-2 final.

In the first game, each of the eight hits came from a different batter in the order, with Travis Jones scoring two of the five runs.

In the second game, three different players had two-hit nights, each Bobby Witt Jr. (MLB Pipeline's No. 7 prospect in baseball), Brewer Hicklen (MLB Pipeline's No. 24 Royals' prospect) and Blanco.

MJ Melendez (MLB Pipeline's No. 13 Royals' prospect) doubled in each game, while Jones doubled in the first and tripled in the second, his second triple of the year.

While the Cardinals scored two in the first inning of Game 1, the Naturals stayed even-keeled, scoring single runs in each the second, third, fourth, sixth and seventh innings.

The second game, which got underway at 9:13 p.m. in Springfield, saw the Naturals score two in the first, two in the fourth and an additional run in the sixth.

The Naturals now maintain sole possession of third place in the Double-A Central North Division, 3.0 games out of first place behind the Wichita Wind Surge, who they face next week. The club sits with a 25-23 record, two games above .500 for the first time since wrapping up their last series with the Cardinals on May 23, when they were 9-7.

Northwest Arkansas has won three straight games for just the third time this season and will look for its first four-game win streak Thursday as the calendar flips to July at 7:05 p.m. against the Cardinals at Hammons Field.

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