Baseball: Griffin, Naturals cruise past Springfield, 5-1

SPRINGDALE -- Naturals starter Foster Griffin made an impression in his first start at Arvest Ballpark Friday night.

The 6-foot-3 right-hander went seven innings and struck out six in Northwest Arkansas' 5-1 win against Springfield (31-28), helping the Naturals (31-28) earn a series split after dropping the opening two games of the four-contest set earlier in this week.

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Griffin, Naturals cruise past Cardinals

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Standings - Griffin, Naturals cruise past Cardinals

Griffin appeared calm and collected as he faced the minimum through four innings. He needed only 30 pitches his first time through the Cardinals' lineup, besting Springfield starter Austin Gomber, whose night was done after surrendering four runs on five hits in three innings.

"He's been a little erratic with his command even in some of his successful innings his last couple of starts, but tonight, man, he commanded it," Wilson said of Griffin. "He withstanded any kind of rally and especially when we can spot him some runs its big."

Wilson was pleased to see his starters continue to eat up innings and largely spell the bullpen. Naturals starters, including Corey Ray's complete game Thursday, have thrown 16 innings the last two nights.

"We hadn't been getting a lot of innings (from starters), and our bullpen was a little eaten up," Wilson said. "Usually when your starters start (going deeper into games) it rubs off on the other guys. I thought Nick Dini made a huge impact the last two games, as well, defensively and calling the game."

The Naturals, offensively, went down in order for the first time in the fourth inning against reliever Chris Ellis, who spelled Gomber. By that time, Northwest Arkansas had raked its way to a 4-0 lead. Wilson's club tallied 10 hits in the win and four players came away with multi-hit games.

Mauricio Ramos led the way with 2-for-3 night with three driven in. His sacrifice fly in the first inning gave the Naturals an early 1-0 lead. In the third, his single plated another run and, to cap his night, laced a double in the eighth inning. Northwest Arkansas scored two in the first, marking the 21st time the club put multiple runs on the board in the last 12 games.

"We're not a team that hits it out of the ballpark a lot," Wilson said. "So for our guys to go up and battle through at-bats and put the ball in play, not a lot of strikeouts, that's when I'm most proud of our guys. Going first to third, things like that. You do that and you kind of put the pressure back on them."

SHORT HOPS

• The Cardinals, in reality, should have scored another run Friday. In the seventh inning, Springfield's Alex Mejia, on teammate Jacob Wilson's RBI double, tripped and fell as he rounded third base. He was ultimately left stranded.

• Springfield designated hitter Anthony Garcia broke up Griffin's no-hit bid with a leadoff double to deep centerfield in the fifth. Griffin (2-1, 2.84 ERA) had retired the first 12 batters he faced.

On Deck: The Naturals open a four-game set with the in-state Arkansas Travelers. Ashton Goudeau (2-5, 4.79 ERA) is schedule to make his fourth career start against the Travelers. Arkansas will throw righty Tyler Herb (4-2, 3.78 ERA).

Today's Promotions: Star Wars Night and postgame fireworks. A cast of Star Wars characters including Jedi, Tusken Raider, Storm Troopers and others are schedules to appear and interact with fans during the game.

On The Air: KQSM-FM, 92.1

On The Web: www.nwanaturals.com

Sports on 06/10/2017

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