Naturals Rally Past Cardinals

Hooker's Wild Pitches Help Northwest Arkansas Finish Off Sweep

Orlando Calixte, left, of Northwest Arkansas spins around to look at home after making an attempt to tag Springfield’s Mike O'Neill out during Sunday’s game at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale.
Orlando Calixte, left, of Northwest Arkansas spins around to look at home after making an attempt to tag Springfield’s Mike O'Neill out during Sunday’s game at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale.

SPRINGDALE — Two was much better than one for the Naturals on Sunday night.

After scoring one run in three separate innings and remaining one run behind the Cardinals heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Northwest Arkansas Naturals got two in the final inning to win 5-4.

The Naturals loaded the bases on three straight singles and then received some help from the opposing pitcher, Deryk Hooker, who threw two wild pitches to give the home team the game and its first four-game series sweep since June 2012.

Minor League Baseball

Northwest Arkansas 5, Springfield 4

Springfield 000 040 000 4 5 0

Northwest Arkansas 000 111 002 5 8 2

Petrick, Thomas (6), Stoppelman (8), Hooker (9) and Rasmus. Pounders, Bergmann (6), Keck (8) and Pina. W - Keck, 1-3. L – Hooker, 1-4. HRs – None.

The Cardinals’ only scoring inning came in the fifth when they scored four runs with the help of two walks and an error.

The Lingo: “We had the one bad inning … the guys battled, we got one here and one there, and then to go into the ninth inning with (Deryk) Hooker who is one of the better pitchers in the league and battling … a little bit of luck and a little bit of hard work … We’ll take it anyway that winning run can cross the plate.”

Brian Poldberg

NWA Naturals Manger

SHORT HOPS

With the Naturals’ win as well as the Travelers’ victory against Tulsa on Sunday, the two Arkansas teams remain tied for first place in the second half of the season with records of 17-13.

Rey Navarro’s infield single in the sixth inning extended his hitting streak to 16 games, which ties Naturals teammate Brian Fletcher for longest streak in the Texas League this season. Navarro went 2-for-4 in the game with two singles.

With Xavier Scruggs’ four strikeouts in his four at-bats, he is just one strikeout shy of tying Matt Fields’ Texas League record of 127.

Extra Bases: Three of the Naturals’ five runs were scored on wild pitches ... Whit Merrifield finished the series going 6-for-11, including a triple, single and run scored in Sunday night’s game … Seven pitchers were used in the game.

Royals Pipeline: Former Natural Anthony Seratelli hit his 10th home run of the season for the Omaha Storm Chasers on Sunday night.

On Deck: A leader in the Texas League North will be decided tonight when the Naturals host the Arkansas Travelers for the first of the three-game series beginning at 7 p.m. Jason Adam will start for Northwest Arkansas and Manny Correa will take the mound for the Travelers.

Today’s Promotion: Tonight’s game will feature $1 hot dogs presented by Tyson Foods. On the Air: KQSM- 92.1 FM On the Web: nwanaturals.com

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