Naturals Fall on Road to Travelers in Extras

Rodolfo Duran drove in three runs, but the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (16-16) fell to the Arkansas Travelers (19-14) 5-4 in 10 innings on Tuesday night at Dickey-Stephens Park.

Northwest Arkansas began the scoring in the top of the first against Arkansas starter Reid VanScoter. Tyler Tolbert walked and stole second to put a runner in scoring position. Duran laced a single to left, scoring Tolbert to make it a 1-0 ballgame.

The Travelers scored a run in the fourth and three in the fifth off Naturals starter Mason Barnett to take a 4-1 lead.

In the top of the sixth, the Naturals scored again off VanScoter. Tolbert singled and was plated on a two-run homer by Duran, cutting the deficit, 4-3.

Gavin Cross led off the top of the ninth with a double against Arkansas reliever Travis Kuhn, and scored on a single by Josh Lester to tie the game, 4-4.

The game remained tied until the home half of tenth before Cole Young notched an RBI single against Naturals reliever Beck Way, ending the game, 5-4.

Kyle Hill earned the win (1-1), tossing a scoreless 11th inning. Way (1-1) took the loss, letting up a run and a hit over 0.1 frames.

The Naturals and Travelers play game two of a six-game series on Wednesday with first pitch set for 6:35 PM CT. Chandler Champlain (1-1, 4.25) takes the ball for Northwest Arkansas, while Arkansas rolls out Juan Mercedes (1-1, 3.77)