NATURALS WIN THIRD STRAIGHT WITH 12-4 VICTORY OVER TULSA

SPRINGDALE, AR – The Northwest Arkansas Naturals picked up a third straight win and second straight over the Tulsa Drillers, scoring four in the first inning Wednesday and holding the lead for the rest of the night, a 12-4 win.

After starting pitcher Angel Zerpa surrendered a home run on the very first pitch of the game, the Naturals responded with four runs in the bottom of the first, on a pair of hits and three walks. Tyler Gentry singled home the first run, the next two scored on wild pitches and Seuly Matias brought home the next on a sacrifice fly.

Gentry finished the game 4-for-5 with four runs scored, the team's second four-hit game of the season and the first of his career.

After the Drillers brought the game within a run in the top of the third scoring twice, John Rave responded in the bottom half with a two-run homer, his ninth home run of the season to put the Naturals back up by three runs.

Northwest Arkansas scored twice more in the fourth, as Gentry doubled in Maikel Garcia, then scored on a Logan Porter single.

Tucker Bradley singled Sebastian Rivero home in the fifth, then the Naturals added two more in the sixth, as Rave singled Gentry in and Matias doubled Rave across, at the time putting Northwest Arkansas up 11-3.

Rivero walked with the bases loaded in the eighth to bring home the team's final run of the night, in an effort where all nine Naturals batters recorded at least one hit, while six scored runs and six drove in runs.

Glendinning finished the game 2-for-4 with two RBI, his fifth straight mutli-hit game and ninth in what is now an 11-game hitting streak.

Zerpa pitched 6.0 innings, striking out just three but earning his second win of the season, his third quality start of the season as he surrendered just three runs while striking out three.

After Zerpa, eight of the final nine outs of the game came on the strikeout, as Will Klein punched out three in a scoreless seventh, then Nate Webb allowed a run in the eighth but struck out three. The first two outs in the ninth for Andres Sotillet came via the strikeout, then induced a groundout to end the night.

Northwest Arkansas is now 4-4 in the second half and will look to win its fourth straight Thursday at 7:05 p.m. CT with left-hander Dante Biasi taking the mound.