Northwest Arkansas blew its chance Saturday night to match its longest winning streak of the season.
Frisco scored seven runs in the top of the ninth inning and then held off a last-gasp attempt by the Naturals to defeat Northwest Arkansas 10-7 in front of 5,002 at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale.
Northwest Arkansas led 6-3 going into the ninth inning and was looking to extend its winning streak to four games, but relievers Scott Alexander and J.C. Sulbaran couldn’t close it out for the Naturals, who are 6-4 in the second half of the Texas League season.
Alexander, the Naturals’ third pitcher of the night, came in with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning and picked up the final twoouts, but he ran into trouble immediately in the ninth.
Alexander gave up a single to Ryan Strausborger to lead off the inning. He struck out Odubel Herrera on a called third strike before giving up a double to Zach Zaneski on a sharp line drive to right field that allowed Strausborger to move to third.
Hanser Alberto followed with a single to short that drove in Strausborger as the RoughRiders (5-5) cut the Naturals’ lead to 6-4. Teodoro Martinez’s single to right brought Zaneski home and chased Alexander from the game.
Sulbaran was greeted with a single to left by Guilder Rodriguez that loadedthe bases. Brett Nicholas singled to right field to drive in Alberto, but Martinez was thrown out at home as he tried to score the go-ahead run from second base.
Sulbaran uncorked a wild pitch to Alex Buchholz that allowed Rodriguez to advance to third, and Buchholz followed that with a single to third that allowed Rodriguez to come home for a 7-6 lead. A walk to Chih-Hsien Chiang loaded the bases, and Strausborger followed with a linedrive triple to left field that drove in all three runners for a 10-6 lead.
The Naturals put one last scare into the RoughRiders in the bottom half of the inning, loading the bases with one out with cleanup hitter Matt Fields - the Texas League’s home run leader with 20 - at the plate, but they couldn’t pull off the comeback.
Whit Merrifield singled to open the inning and moved to second on a wild pitch by reliever Alex Claudio, who came on in the ninth. After Brett Eibner was called out on strikes, Orlando Calixtesingled to left field to move Merrifield to third. A single to third by Brian Fletcher loaded the bases, and the RoughRiders brought in Randy Henry to replace Claudio.
Fields greeted Henry with a sacrifice fly to center that scored Merrifield to make it 10-7, but Henry retired Cheslor Cuthbert on a groundout to close out the victory.
Justin Miller (1-0) allowed 1 run off 1 hit in 1 inning of work to earn the victory. Henry, the sixth pitcher the RoughRiders used in the game, earned his first save.
Sulbaran (2-4) blew his second save opportunity of theseason and took the loss, giving up four runs - all earned - on four hits in two-thirds of an inning.
The loss ruined a strong start by Jason Adam, who gave up 1 earned run on 2 hits with 5 strikeouts in 7 innings. He left with a 5-1 lead.
Roman Hernandez went 2 for 4 with 2 RBI and 1 run scored to lead the Naturals. Brett Eibner was 2 for 5, including his fifth triple of the season, as the Naturals finished with 14 hits.
Strausborger finished 2 for 5 with 3 RBI and 1 run scored for Frisco, which had 13 hits.
Today’s game FRISCO AT NW ARKANSAS WHEN 6 p.m.
WHERE Arvest Ballpark in Springdale RADIO KQSM-FM, 92.1, in Fayetteville WEBSITE nwanaturals.com PITCHERS Naturals: Sugar Ray Marimon (RHP, 4-8, 4.78 ERA); Roughriders: Carlos Pimentel (RHP, 7-5, 4.29 ERA) TICKETS $12 super premium, $10 premium, $8 reserved, $6 grass berm PROMOTIONS Free children’s clinic and Kids Eat Free Family Sunday. A baseball clinic for children will be held from 2 p.m.
to 4 p.m. All children 12 and younger attending the game will receive a free hot dog, bag of chips and small soda.
Children also are eligible to serve as the public address announcer for select innings, and will be allowed to run the bases following the game.
THE WEEK AHEAD TODAY Frisco, 6 p.m.
MONDAY Frisco, 7 p.m.
TUESDAY Off WEDNESDAY at Midland, 7 p.m.
THURSDAY at Midland. 7 p.m.
WEDNESDAY at Midland, 7 p.m.
THURSDAY at Midland, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY’S GAMES Arkansas 2, Midland 1 Frisco 10, Northwest Arkansas 7 Tulsa 3, Corpus Christi 1 San Antonio 5, Springfield 3 TODAY’S GAMES All times Central Frisco at Northwest Arkansas, 6 p.m.
Springfield at San Antonio, 6:05 p.m.
Tulsa at Corpus Christi, 6:05 p.m.
Midland at Arkansas, 6:10 p.m.
MONDAY’S GAMES Springfield at San Antonio, 11:05 a.m.
Frisco at Northwest Arkansas, 7 p.m.
Tulsa at Corpus Christi, 7:05 p.m.
Midland at Arkansas, 7:10 p.m.
Sports, Pages 21 on 06/30/2013