SPRINGDALE -- The force was with Lane Adams on Saturday night.
Adams hit two home runs and Matt Murray provided stellar relief to lead Northwest Arkansas to a 3-2 victory over Arkansas on Star Wars Night at Arvest Ballpark.
Today’s game
ARKANSAS AT NW ARKANSAS
TIME 2:05 p.m.
WHERE Arvest Ballpark, Springdale
RADIO KARN-AM, 920, in central Arkansas; KFAY-AM, 1030, in Springdale
WEBSITE travs.com, nwanaturals.com
PITCHERS Travelers: Kyle McGowin (RHP, 4-3, 4.94 ERA); Naturals: J.C. Sulbaran (RHP, 4-4, 3.30)
TICKETS $12 super premium, $10 premium, $8 reserved, $7 grass berm.
PROMOTIONS Kids eat free and the first 1,500 fans receive a Kansas City Royals-themed Naturals cap.
THE WEEK AHEAD
TODAY at NW Arkansas, 2:05 p.m.
MONDAY at NW Arkansas, 7:05 p.m.
TUESDAY at NW Arkansas, 12:05 p.m.
WEDNESDAY at Tulsa, 7:05 p.m.
THURSDAY at Tulsa (DH), 5:05 p.m.
FRIDAY at Tulsa, 7:05 p.m.
SATURDAY at Tulsa, 7:05 p.m.
A crowd of 7,512 watched the game on night when the Naturals wore Star Wars-themed jerseys as part of a promotion and a few fans dressed as characters from the series of popular science-fiction movies.
Balbino Fuenmayor added two doubles and Bubba Starling had an RBI double for the Naturals, who were outhit 7-6 by the Travlers. Adams hit a home run in the third inning before he broke a 2-2 tie in the eighth with his fourth home run of the season off reliever Chris O'Grady.
"We needed Lane to come up big for us, and he was," Northwest Arkansas Manager Vance Wilson said. "He's an incredible player, obviously."
Adams' second home run made a winner of Murray (5-1), who pitched five scoreless innings in relief of starter Miguel Almonte. Wilson sent Murray back to the mound in the ninth after Arkansas reached him for two hits in the eighth.
Those were the only two hits off Murray, who struck out two and did not walk a batter.
"Hopefully that shows [Murray] how much we believe in him," Wilson said. "That sinker is hard to hit. For him to back up Almonte like that was huge."
Arkansas took a 2-0 lead before the Naturals tied in the seventh inning on a double by Fuenmayor and a run-scoring single by Starling. Arkansas held the lead most of the game behind Nate Smith, who held the Naturals to 1 run and 3 hits through 6 innings. Smith was replaced by O'Grady after Smith threw 105 pitches in 6 2/3 innings.
Brian Hernandez put Arkansas ahead 2-0 with a home run in the third off Almonte. Blake Gailen had an RBI single in the first against Almonte, who pitched four innings before Murray took over.
Blake Gailen was the only player with two hits for the Travelers, who beat Springfield 15-12 on Friday.
Sports on 06/14/2015