If fans went Arvest Ballpark on Tuesday night looking for runs, they went to the wrong place.
The Midland RockHounds and the Northwest Arkansas Naturals combined for eight runs in their doubleheader, but it took 20 innings for them to reach that total.
Midland defeated Northwest Arkansas 1-0 in seven innings in the opening game, and neither team managed another run until the 11th inning of the second game, when both teams scored a run to extend the game again.
Midland eventually broke through in the 13th inning, scoring five runs off Naturals first baseman Jared Schlehuber - who came in off the bench in relief of Noel Arguelles - to complete a doubleheader sweep with a 6-1 victory.
Midland (7-4) set the tone in the opening game as two Rock-Hound pitchers combined to hold the Naturals (2-9) to one hit. Starter Drew Granier (1-1) gave up the only hit allowed by the RockHounds while striking out four in six innings. Reliever Seth Frankoff closed out the victory with another hitless inning.
Northwest Arkansas’ pitchers were almost as good in the opener, as three combined to give up three hits.
Starter Jason Adam (0-2) gave up 2 hits and took the loss, striking out 4 and walking 3. Andrew Triggs didn’t allow a hit in 2 innings, and Scott Alexander allowed 1 hit in 1 inning of work.
Midland scored the only run it would need in the second inning. Beau Taylor walked to lead off the inning and moved to third on Colin Walsh’s line drive to right field. After Chad Oberacker struck out, Billy Burns hit a sacrifice fly to center field to drive in Adams.
Northwest Arkansas’ best chance to get something going offensively came in the fifth inning.
Angel Franco led off by reaching base on a throwing error and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Parker Morin. Justin Trapp followed with the Naturals’ lone hit, a single to center field, to advance Franco to third, but Lane Adams was called out on strikes and Whit Merrifield struck out swinging to end the threat.
That was it for the Naturals, who were retired in order in the sixth and seventh innings.
The second game was more of the same as the teams remained scoreless until the 11th inning.
Noel Arguelles came in on relief for the Naturals and gave up a lead off single to Dusty Coleman. Walks to Max Muncy and Josh Whitaker loaded the bases, and Miles Head delivered a sacrifice fly for the first run of the game.
The Naturals answered with their first run of the night in the bottom half of the inning. Franco led off with a single to center and a Jorge Bonifacio single to left moved him to third before Cheslo Cuthbert tied it up with a sacrifice fly to center field.
The RockHounds finally put it away with five runs in the 13th inning.
Schlehuber gave up a single to Muncy and a double to Josh Whitaker to put runners on second and third. Miles Head followed with a walk to load the bases for Colin Walsh, whose line-drive single to center drove in Muncy and Head.
Jose Chavez followed with a double to drive in Head, and Billy Burns’ sacrifice fly scored Walsh to give the RockHounds a 5-1 lead. Chad Obertracker drove in the final run with another sacrifice fly to right field.
Ryan Dull (2-0) gave up a double to Bonafacio in the bottom half of the inning, but that was all the Naturals could muster as they lost their eighth consecutive game.
TUESDAY’S GAMES Midland 1-6, NW Arkansas 0-1 (2/13) Tulsa 2, San Antonio 0 Springfield 2, Corpus Christi 1 Frisco 3, Arkansas 0
TODAY’S GAME NW Arkansas at Tulsa, 7:05 p.m.
Sports, Pages 25 on 04/16/2014