Bradford, offense shines in win over Naturals

SPRINGDALE, Arkansas (September 14, 2022) – The Frisco RoughRiders bested the Northwest Arkansas Naturals 9-2 on Wednesday night from Arvest Ballpark. Cody Bradford poured in a strong start for Frisco, allowing just one run over his 6.2 innings.

Box score

Bradford (10-7) earned the victory for Frisco (36-28, 72-61), striking out six to just one walk in his start. His 10 wins are the most for a RoughRiders pitcher since Connor Sadzek in 2016, who went 10-8 over his 25 games, 23 starts. Joe Corbett pitched 1.1 scoreless innings following Bradford and Josh Smith finished off the night, allowing a single run in the ninth.

On the offensive side, Frisco pounced on Northwest Arkansas (25-40, 56-77) starter T.J. Sikkema (0-5) for four runs in the second inning. David Garcia started the scoring by reaching on a dropped flyball error by Naturals centerfielder John Rave, scoring Thomas Saggese to make it 1-0. Josh Stowers then singled Garcia home before Frainyer Chavez ripped an RBI double and Luisangel Acuna added an RBI single of his own to push the lead to 4-0.

That lead held until the Naturals found the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth inning when Rave doubled in Robbie Glendenning to cut the score to 4-1.

Frisco then countered with a run of their own in the top of the sixth on a Garcia RBI single and popped the game open with four more tallies in the seventh. Evan Carter laced a two-run single up the middle in the seventh, immediately followed by a Saggese two-run triple to balloon the lead to 9-1.

The two-run hit from Carter was his first Double-A hit, while Saggese had two doubles and a triple, going 3-for-4 in his Double-A debut.

The Naturals scored a harmless run in the bottom of the ninth on a Tyler Cropley sacrifice fly, but the Riders held on to win 9-2.

Along with Saggese's big night, Jonathan Ornelas also collected three hits, giving him 152 on the season. Ornelas is just five hits away from the most hits in a single year by a RoughRiders player (157 by Joaquin Arias in 2005).

While Frisco won, Midland was postponed due to rain, meaning the Frisco magic number to clinch a playoff spot is now just two with four games remaining.

The RoughRiders and Naturals meet for game three of the series on Thursday, September 15th at 7:05 p.m. RHP Seth Nordlin (2-2, 3.25) starts for the Riders against RHP Jon Bowlan (1-3, 7.41) for Northwest Arkansas.

For tickets and more information about the Frisco RoughRiders, visit RidersBaseball.com or call 972.731.9200.

About the RoughRiders

The Frisco RoughRiders are the Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. The team was founded in 2003 and has finished first among all Double-A franchises in attendance for 15 consecutive seasons (2005-2019). In August 2014, the RoughRiders were purchased by an ownership group led by Chuck Greenberg. Since then, the new ownership group, together with the City of Frisco, has spearheaded numerous major franchise enhancements, investing over $8 million in a wide array of facility upgrades and improvements, including a state-of-the-art HD video board, sound system, Bull Moose Saloon, InTouch Grille, Riders Outpost Team Store and the world's largest water feature in a sports facility, the massive Lazy River. These enhancements earned the Riders and the City of Frisco Ballpark Digest's prestigious "Best Ballpark Renovation" award for two consecutive years (2015 and 2016). More than 170 former RoughRiders players have gone on to play Major League Baseball. For more information on the Frisco RoughRiders, please visit RidersBaseball.com or contact [email protected].