TEXAS LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

'Hounds take 1-0 series lead over Naturals

Northwest Arkansas Naturals shortstop Humberto Arteaga (top) makes the relay to first after forcing out Midland catcher Beau Taylor on Tuesday at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale.
Northwest Arkansas Naturals shortstop Humberto Arteaga (top) makes the relay to first after forcing out Midland catcher Beau Taylor on Tuesday at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale.

SPRINGDALE -- The Texas League's best hitting team continued to swing some hot bats Tuesday night.

Midland, which had a league-best .260 batting average this season, ripped 11 hits through the first six innings off Northwest Arkansas pitchers Yender Caramo and Tim Hill, and the RockHounds took a 1-0 lead in the Texas League Championship Series with a 5-4 victory over the Naturals at Arvest Ballpark.

J.P. Sportman broke a 3-3 tie when his sixth-inning bloop single drove in Viosergy Rosa, and Brett Vertigan's drove in another run to Midland a 5-3 lead. That held despite Northwest Arkansas getting a run in the ninth when Ryan O'Hearn doubled and later scored on a single by Samir Duenez.

"We swung the bats well and had a couple of good situational hits," Midland manager Ryan Christenson said. "We were able to scratch five runs up there, and that was enough for the pitching staff."

Northwest Arkansas had four hits through the first two innings and took a 3-2 lead when Duenez went the opposite way and pushed a solo home run just inside the left-field pole. The Naturals, however, were held to four more hits over the final seven innings.

Cam Gallagher ended Northwest Arkansas' hitting woes with a seventh-inning double, but he was left there. Logan Moon then led off the eighth with an infield single, but he was erased on a double play.

"You have to give their guy credit," Naturals manager Vance Wilson said. "He started pitching backwards and throwing a lot of offspeed pitches in fastball counts. We put a lot of weak ground balls into play and popups.

"He did a nice job of adjusting and we didn't. We just got outplayed a little bit, and a couple of mistakes on defense that could have been double plays allowed some runs. Other than that, it was a good game."

Rosa led off the sixth with an infield single to third, then went to third when a grounder by Andy Paz was mishandled by Mauricio Ramos, who also threw low to first. Sportman then blooped a single to shallow center to drive in Rosa, and Vertigan followed with his RBI single to score Paz.

"That's playoff baseball," Christenson said. "The beauty of it is every pitch is so huge. We made an error ourselves, and luckily it didn't cost us there. The nature of playoff baseball is every out is important and every pitch is important, which makes it fun."

Short Hops:

• The threat of inclement weather has prompted a schedule change in the series' games at Midland. Game 3 of the Texas League Championship Series will be played Thursday in Midland. If Game 4 and Game 5 are needed, they will be played Friday and Saturday, respectively.

• Ramos helped the Naturals score two runs in the first when his double drove in Corey Toups, who also doubled, and he scored on a sacrifice fly by O'Hearn. The hit was his 12th in postseason play, putting him within one of the franchise record of 13 set by David Lough in 2009.

• Duenez now has three home runs in postseason play and puts him in a tie with O'Hearn for fourth all-time in Naturals history. Eric Hosmer holds the record when he hit six playoff home runs in the Naturals' 2010 championship season.

On Deck: The two teams meet again for Game 2 of the best-of-five series, with first pitch slated for 7:05 p.m. It's also the last game at Arvest Ballpark this season. Left-hander Eric Skoglund, the Texas League's strikeout leader, will be on the mound for Northwest Arkansas, while Midland counters with Corey Walter

Today's Promotion: The first 500 fans to today's game will receive souvenir baseballs, and those with a valid military ID can receive two free tickets.

On The Air: KQSM-FM 92.1

On The Web: www.nwanaturals.com.

Sports on 09/14/2016

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