NATURALS 6, WIND SURGE 3
Catcher Luca Tresh broke a 3-3 tie with a solo home run in the top of the eighth inning Thursday, then Northwest Arkansas added two more runs in the ninth to blow past the Wichita Wind Surge in front of an announced crowd of 3,599 at Riverfront Stadium in Wichita, Kan.
Tresh scored on a wild pitch by Wichita starter Aaron Rozek to give the Naturals a 1-0 lead in the second inning, but the Wind Surge took the lead in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single from Leobaldo Cabrera and a wild pitch from Naturals starter T.J. Sikkema that scored Anthony Prato.
CJ Alexander hit a two-run home run -- his 10th of the season -- to give Northwest Arkansas a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth, but Wichita tied it in the bottom of the inning on a solo shot by Austin Martin.
After Tresh broke the tie in the eighth, Alexander hit a two-run double in the top of the ninth that scored Angelo Castellano and Diego Hernandez.
Alexander and Hernandez finished with three hits each for the Naturals, who had 11 as a team, while Tresh and Seuly Matias had two hits each.
Reliever Walter Pennington (5-3) earned the victory for Northwest Arkansas after allowing 1 hit with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts in his 2 innings of work. Denny Bentley (6-3) took the loss after allowing 1 earned run on 2 hits with a walk and a strikeout in 1 2/3 innings.