Clutch hitting lifted the Northwest Arkansas Naturals to an 8-1 victory over the Arkansas Travelers at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale on Saturday night.
The Naturals finished with 13 hits, including two home runs. They went 4 for 10 with runners in scoring position and had two sacrifice flies.
Kevin Gutierrez hit a solo home run in the second inning. In the third inning, Samir Duenez had a two-run single to score Xavier Fernandez and Erick Mejia to make it 3-0.
The Naturals pushed it to 6-0 in the fourth on an RBI double by Fernandez, which scored Alfred Escalera, and sacrifice flies by Nick Heath and Mejia that scored Anderson Miller and Fernandez.
Miller led off the sixth with a home run, and Duenez's base hit scored Fernandez to close out the scoring for the Naturals.
The Travelers broke up the shutout in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Chris Mariscal to score Yonathan Mendoza.
Fernandez led the way offensively by going 4 for 4 and scored 3 runs. Jon Perron (1-2) allowed 3 hits in 5⅔ innings and struck out 7.
Anthony Misiewicz (3-12) allowed 8 runs on 9 hits in 5 innings to take the loss.
Sports on 09/02/2018