SPRINGDALE — The Tulsa Drillers used a late power surge to rally past the Northwest Arkansas Naturals 5-4 in Texas League baseball Friday night before 5,870 at Arvest Ballpark.
First baseman Kiel Roling hammered a 3-2 pitch from Naturals reliever Sam Runion deep over the left-center fi eld fence to turn a 4-3 defi cit into a one-run lead in the top of the eighth. It was his fourth homer of the season. Dustin Garneau, who fi nished 3-for-4 with two RBIs, hit a solo shot in the seventh to pull the Drillers within 4-3.
The Naturals jumped to a 3-1 lead after 2 innings, but two of those runs scored on wild pitches by Tulsa starter Tim Gustafson. Manny Pina drove in the Naturals’ fourth run with a groundout as Northwest Arkansas led 4-2.
THE LINGO
“We had to hit and run and create some opportunities that gave us a chance to have the lead. We didn’t have a lot of great at-bats today and didn’t have a lot of scoring opportunities.”
BRIAN POLDBERG
NWA Naturals manager
SHORT HOPS
! Kansas City Royals general manager Dayton Moore and Royals assistant GM J.J. Picollo were on hand at Arvest Ballpark on Friday. Both their sons were playing on the same youth baseball team which was participating in a tournament in Fort Smith over the weekend.
! Tulsa’s Kyle Parker, who started at quarterback for Clemson in 2009, hit a 97-mile per hour fastball from Yordano Ventura over the right fi eld fence
! More than 1,000 Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts were on hand at Arvest Ballpark on Friday night. Many also camped out overnight at the ballpark.
Extra Bases: Brett Eibner led off the game with a double and had two of the Naturals’ four hits, but struck out to end the game. … Naturals starting pitcher Yordano Ventura threw 77 pitches through four innings, but 38 were in the fourth inning.
Royals Pipeline: Bubba Starling, the fifth overall pick by the Royals in the 2011 First-Year Player Draft, went 1-for-3 with a double, an RBI and a run scored in Lexington’s 8-0 win over Greenville on Friday.
On Deck: The Naturals will take on the Drillers in the third game of their four-game series at 7:05 p.m. today at Arvest Ballpark. The Naturals haven’t announced a starting pitcher, but Tulsa will start left-hander Tyler Matzek (0-0, 2.08).
Today’s Promotion: The first 2,000 fans through the gates will get a 2013 Texas League All-Star game cap.
On The Air: KQSM-FM 92.1
On The Web : www. nwanaturals.com.
Tulsa 010 100 120 — 5 8 1 NW Arkansas 210 001 000 — 4 4 1
Gustafson, Frazier (5), Solback
(8), Hensley (8) and Garneau;
Ventura, White (5), Sulbaran (6),
Runion (8), Keck (8) and Pina.
W-Frazier, 1-0. L-Runion, 0-1. Sv-Hensley (1). HRs-Tulsa, Parker (4), Garneau (1), Roling (4).