NATURALS DROP FRIDAY NIGHT CONTEST TO CARDINALS 2-1

Naturals bats silenced after first inning as Springfield evens series.

Nate Eaton drew a fourth-inning walk, the final Natural to reach base in Friday's 2-1 loss to Springfield. (Photo: Kimberly Bates/Springfield Cardinals)

By Naturals PR Department

May 6, 2022

SPRINGFIELD, MO – Despite taking an early 1-0 lead in the first inning, the Northwest Arkansas Naturals bats could not produce any additional offense, falling to the Springfield Cardinals Friday night, 2-1. Maikel Garcia and Nick Loftin opened the top of the first with back-to-back singles and Michael Massey brought

SPRINGFIELD, MO – Despite taking an early 1-0 lead in the first inning, the Northwest Arkansas Naturals bats could not produce any additional offense, falling to the Springfield Cardinals Friday night, 2-1.

Maikel Garcia and Nick Loftin opened the top of the first with back-to-back singles and Michael Massey brought Garcia home on a sacrifice fly, but from that point on, the Naturals only put three baserunners on and the Cardinals pitching faced one over the minimum to silence what had been a rather potent lineup the last two nights.

John Rave and Tucker Bradley singled in the second and third respectively, but were both caught stealing. Nate Eaton walked in the fourth with two outs, but the final 16 Northwest Arkansas hitters were retired in order to end the night.

Starting pitcher Alec Marsh struck out eight across 4.0 innings of one-run ball and was followed with eight more strikeouts across 4.0 innings from the bullpen. Holden Capps allowed one run across 2.1 innings, striking out four but taking the loss. Jonah Dipoto threw the final 1.2 innings, striking out four as well without allowing a run, for a season-high 16 strikeouts combined from the staff.

The Naturals look to bounce back Saturday at 6:05 p.m. as left-hander Drew Parrish makes his sixth start of the year.