Three Naturals combine for 11 strikeouts in shutout

Three Northwest Arkansas pitchers combined on a nine-hit shutout while striking out 11 Saturday night as the Naturals defeated Springfield 4-0 in front of 5,522 at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale.

Christian Binford (3-1) went the first 6 1/3 innings, limiting the Cardinals to 7 hits while striking out 6. Sam Selman pitched 1 2/3 innings, giving up 1 hit and striking out 4, including striking out the side in the eighth, while Ali Williams finished things off by giving up the final hit and recording the team's 11th strikeout.

The Naturals scored single runs in the third, fourth, fifth and seventh innings while matching the Cardinals' nine hits.

Angel Franco extended his hitting streak to 11 games with his RBI single in the third that scored Justin Trapp.

Cheslor Cuthbert and Hunter Dozier lined back-to-back one-out doubles in the fourth to give the Naturals a 2-0 advantage.

Northwest Arkansas had its chances to score more in the fifth but had to settle for just one run. Trapp led off with a double and moved to third on Ethan Chapman's single. Chapman stole second but Franco popped out on a bunt attempt and Orlando Calixte struck out. Trapp scored on a wild pitch by Springfield starter Kurt Heyer (3-9) who then got Jorge Bonifacio to fly out to end the inning with the Naturals leading 3-0.

Trapp, who went 3 for 3, singled to begin the seventh then scored his third run of the game on Calixte's sacrifice fly to right field for a 4-0 Naturals lead.

The Cardinals went 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners on base, while the Naturals were 4 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left five on for the game.

It was the second consecutive victory over the Cardinals for the Naturals who go for the four-game series victory today before heading to North Little Rock to begin a three-game series with the Arkansas Travelers on Monday at Dickey-Stephens Park.

Sports on 07/27/2014

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