Macuare & Freure Solve Naturals
SPRINGDALE, AR – Angel Macuare and R.J. Freure teamed to hold the Naturals to four hits Sunday night as Corpus Christi rolled to a 5-2 victory over Northwest Arkansas before 3,939 fans at Arvest Ballpark. An RBI triple by Brewer Hicklen staked the home club to a 1-0 lead in
SPRINGDALE, AR – Angel Macuare and R.J. Freure teamed to hold the Naturals to four hits Sunday night as Corpus Christi rolled to a 5-2 victory over Northwest Arkansas before 3,939 fans at Arvest Ballpark.
An RBI triple by Brewer Hicklen staked the home club to a 1-0 lead in the second. Macuare responded by retiring nine of the next 10 batters to pick up his first Double-A win.
The Hooks benefited from back-to-back home runs by Alex Holderbach and Bryan Arias in the third.
Jonathan Heasley had recorded seven straight outs to start his night before Holderbach and Arias went deep, both for the first time at Double-A.
Ross Adolph greeted reliever Garett Davila with an eight-pitch walk to start the fifth. Adolph advanced to third on an error and a wild pitch before scoring on an Arias chopper to the right side of the infield.
Adolph then made it 5-1 Hooks in the sixth on a two-out, two-run single to right, capitalizing on walks by Matthew Barefoot and Luke Berryhill.
Freure seized the advantage, spreading two singles and three walks over the final four innings.
Northwest Arkansas managed its second run in the eighth, the lone occasion where the Naturals had multiple runners on the basepaths in the same frame. Freure ended the rally by striking out Jeison Guzman, who represented the tying run.
The Hooks are off Monday before beginning their final homestand of 2021 as the Midland RockHounds come to town. Tuesday night’s series opener is scheduled to start at 6:35.