TEXAS LEAGUE

Cisnero, Hooks stop Naturals

Corpus Christi pitcher Jose Cisnero pitched around trouble and the bullpen closed out the Northwest Arkansas Naturals as the Hooks earned a 3-1 victory Friday at Whataburger Field in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Cisnero allowed 8 hits and 2 walks in 6 innings - but helped to strand nine runners on base with the Hooks’ bullpen, which pitched three scoreless innings.

After allowing his lone run in the second, the righthander left the bases loaded by getting Rey Navarro to fly out to end the inning. Cisnero then stranded runners on second and third base in the third and the sixth innings.

He also worked around a leadoff single by Navarro in the fifth inning. Cisnero added five strikeouts to give him 88 in 82 innings this season and lowered his ERA to 3.62.

The Naturals scored their run in the second inning when a two-out single by Alex Mc-Clure moved Eric Duncan, who reached on a walk, to third base. Julio Rodriguez then took advantage of the opportunity with a RBI single to right field for a 1-0 lead.

But that’s all the offensethe Naturals could get off Cisnero (5-6) and the bullpen duo of Henry Villar and Jason Stoffel.

Villar pitched two scoreless innings while striking out two and Stoffel nailed down his 12th save of the season by working around a Mario Lisson single in the ninth.

Corpus Christi tied it up in the fourth inning when Drew Locke led the inning with a walk and moved to third base on a single by Kody Hinze. Andrew Simunic hit his seventh double of the year to score Locke and make it 1-1.

The Hooks then took the lead in the sixth inning when Naturals starter Chris Dwyer started the inning witha strikeout of Locke but the left-hander was pulled after a double from Hinze.

Naturals reliever Ethan Hollingsworth then gave up a single to Andrew Simunic, which allowed Hinze to score and take a 2-1 lead.

Dwyer, who had 13 strikeouts, 2 earned runs and 2 walks in 14 innings during his past two starts, pitched 52/3 innings, allowing 5 hits, 2 earned run and 3 walks while striking out 3.

Corpus Christi added another run in the eighth inning off Northwest Arkansas reliever Jon Keck, who allowed a Jair Fernandez single to score Jonathan Singleton to extend the lead to 3-1. Nick Van Stratten threw out Hinze at the plate to prevent further damage to end the inning.

The Hooks took the first game of the three-game series with help from the bottom of their order, having the bottom four hitters in Hinze, Simunic, Fernandez and Drew Muren the lineup go 7 for 13 with 3 RBI.

Center fielder Yem Prades put together two hits atop the lineup for the Naturals, but Northwest Arkansas didn’t solve Corpus Christi’s pitchers, hitting two for nine with runners in scoring position.

THURSDAY’S GAME Texas League All-Star Game at Tulsa North 3, South 1 FRIDAY’S GAMES Corpus Christi 3, NW Arkansas 1 San Antonio 3, Tulsa 0 Springfield 6, Frisco 2 Arkansas 10, Midland 2 SATURDAY’S GAMES All times Central Frisco at Springfield, 6:08 p.m.

NW Arkansas at Corpus Christi, 7:05 p.m.

Tulsa at San Antonio, 7:05 p.m.

Midland at Arkansas, 7:10 p.m.

Up next NW ARKANSAS AT CORPUS CHRISTI WHEN 7:05 p.m. Central WHERE Whataburger Field, Corpus Christi, Texas RADIO KQSM-FM, 92.1, in Northwest Arkansas INTERNET nwanaturals.com PITCHERS Naturals: Noel Arguelles (LHP, 2-7, 6.12 ERA); Hooks: Bobby Doran (RHP, 1-0, 9.00 ERA) NATURALS WEEK AHEAD TODAY at Corpus Christi, 7:05 p.m.

SUNDAY at Corpus Christi, 6:05 p.m.

MONDAY at San Antonio, 7:05 p.m.

TUESDAY at San Antonio, 7:05 p.m.

WEDNESDAY at San Antonio, 5:05 p.m.

THURSDAY vs. Corpus Christi, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY vs. Corpus Christi, 7 p.m.

Sports, Pages 17 on 06/30/2012

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