SPRINGDALE -- Glenn Sparkman picked a good time to have his best outing of the season.
The Northwest Arkansas right-hander pitched six solid innings and the Naturals banged out 14 hits to claim an 8-4 victory over Frisco in front of 4,157 fans on a sunny Tuesday at Arvest Ballpark.
Sparkman (1-2) had struggled in his first two starts of the season, losing both and compiling a 5.63 ERA in the process. Last season he led all of minor league baseball with a 1.56 ERA while pitching for Class A advanced Wilmington. On Tuesday, he overcame an early deficit by striking out five and allowing just three hits.
"This was his best outing, no question," Naturals Manager Vance Wilson said. "He's stretched out now and he's added a couple more pitches. We gave up that cheap run there in the first, but he settled down and got on a roll there in the second inning. He was in the zone."
Frisco (5-7) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Chris Garia led off with a towering fly to shallow center field that fell in between three Naturals defenders for a double. Garia scored on Luis Mendez's single, but Sparkman limited further damage.
The Naturals (6-6) benefited from two Frisco errors in the bottom of the first inning to score four runs. RoughRiders shortstop Menzed booted what should have been a routine double-play ball that allowed the Naturals to load the bases. Naturals third baseman Alex Liddi made Frisco pay with a two-run single, and shortstop Dusty Coleman ripped a two-run double one batter later for a 4-1 lead.
"Any time you allow four runs, it's not good," Frisco Manager Joe Mikulik said. "That's not the way we drew it up, obviously."
The Naturals, who have won four of their past five games heading into a short road trip this week, added two more runs in the second inning on Jorge Bonifacio's fourth home run of the season, a rocket to left field. Northwest Arkansas added two more runs in the third inning, which proved to be plenty for Sparkman.
The former 20th-round draft pick settled in with three consecutive scoreless innings and did not allow another hit until the fifth inning.
"Sparkman pitched well," Mikulik said. "He kept us in check pretty much the whole game. His breaking ball was better today. It was effective."
Wilson was ejected in the ninth inning after arguing that Drew Robinson's fly to deep right-center that was ruled a home run did not go out. Robinson's home run came after Nick Williams also homered to almost the identical spot.
Both times the ball barely cleared the top of the wall and bounced back onto the playing field but were ruled home runs by first base umpire Mike Cascioppo.
"They got the first one right," Wilson said. "The second one wasn't a home run."
Naturals lead-off hitter Lane Adams was 3 for 4 with a double, and Angel Franco was 2 for 4 and raised his average to .343.
Bonifacio's home run was his fourth of the season, which is tied with Robinson for the Texas League lead. The shot to left field traveled about 390 feet, clearing the visiting team's bullpen before coming to a rest against the fence surrounding the ballpark next to Watkins Road.
Sports on 04/22/2015