SPRINGDALE -- Jake Junis continued his winning ways on the pitching mound.
Janis worked in and out of trouble on several occasions Thursday while scattering seven hits over six solid innings to help lead Northwest Arkansas to a 3-0 win against Springfield in front of an announced crowd of 3,075 at Arvest Ballpark. He picked up his third win in a row while improving to 9-4 on the season with the Naturals.
Junis, who was first in the Texas League in strikeouts, second in WHIP and third in ERA entering Thursday's game, allowed at least one baserunner in all six innings of work. But he never allowed any of the Cardinals' at-bats to do any harm, as Springfield (49-40, 8-11) stranded six runners on base during Junis' six innings.
"He didn't have his best stuff, especially his fastball," Naturals manager Vance Wilson said. "But he did an incredible job of working through some stuff and kind of feasting off their aggressiveness. And again, he's a competitor and we expect that from him."
Northwest Arkansas (41-49, 12-8) got all the offense it would need off the bat of Cam Gallagher, who delivered a pair of two-out RBI hits for the winning margin. Gallagher struck first with an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth, then added a two-out RBI double in the bottom of the sixth to extend the Naturals' lead to 3-0.
"Cam obviously came up with a big two-out RBI there," Wilson said. "We had a big sacrifice bunt there on the first one and we stress situational hitting. We kind of struggled with that in June but we've have some guys explode here in July."
SHORT HOPS
• Junis has twice won three consecutive pitching decisions this season. Along with his current three-game win streak, he also accomplished the feat in starts made between May 29 and June 9.
Naturals' relief pitchers Aroni Nina and Mark Peterson combined for three innings of scoreless work, allowing no hits with four strikeouts.
Daniel Poncedeleon, who shut out Northwest Arkansas over 8 1/3 innings on June 17, took the loss for Springfield. He allowed three earned runs and five hits in five innings.
On Deck: The Naturals are home for the third of a four-game series with the Cardinals. First pitch for Friday's game is set for 7:05 p.m. Northwest Arkansas will send LHP Matt Strahm (3-7, 3.39 ERA) to the mound to face RHP Trey Nielsen (6-6, 3.49)
Promotions: Teenagle Mutant Ninja Turtles Power Night... Two members of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will be at the ballpark Friday, courtesy of Nickelodeon, posing for pictures and interacting with fans during the game. ... Postgame Fireworks presented by Cape Cod Chips.
On The Air: KQSM-FM 92.1
On The Web: www.nwanaturals
Sports on 07/15/2016