Wichita Lag Behind In Second Half Season Opener Slugfest With Northwest Arkansas

WICHITA, Kan.—The Wichita Wind Surge couldn’t keep up in the second half season opener in an 8-6 defeat against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals at Riverfront Stadium. Wind Surge pitchers gave up a trio of home runs, with each thrower allowing one in the slugfest contest.

Carson McCusker reached on an infield error and later came home to score on a Luke Keaschall sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third. Luca Tresh tied the game in the opening half of the fourth on his sixth home run of the season that scraped the wall onto the left-field berm.

Aaron Sabato made sure that the game wasn’t a 1-1 tie for long by slugging a two-run home run into the Wichita bullpen on the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the fourth inning for his eighth round-tripper of the season and his Texas League-leading seventh in June.

Northwest Arkansas seemed to like the new scoring competition because they brought in three runs in the top of the fifth on a pair of singles by Tyler Tolbert and Gavin Cross and a sacrifice fly to right by Rodolfo Durán on an eventual inning-ending double play that finished after the runner stepped on home plate.

Wichita matched the Naturals with three runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth. Kyler Fedko connected on a ground ball that dribbled into left field on an error, and Jeferson Morales turned on the jets to score from second. One pitch later, Noah Cardenas smoked a two-run double to the left-center alley, where Sabato and Fedko both crossed the plate in a new 6-4 Wichita lead.

Gavin Cross tied the game with a two-run blast to right-center field, his eighth of the season, before the stretch a half inning later. After the stretch and a scoreless Wind Surge seventh, Tresh then hit his second solo homer of the night in the top of the eighth to put the Naturals ahead 7-6.

Javier Vaz singled up the middle to score Valera, who led off the top of the ninth with a triple from third to improve the Northwest Arkansas advantage to two tallies. Wichita put the tying run on base with one out in the bottom of the frame before the following two batters struck out and popped out in the infield to end the game.

John Stankiewicz dropped to 1-3 on the season after two earned runs on four hits opposite three strikeouts in the final two innings of the ballgame.

The Wind Surge continue the series at Riverfront Stadium against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals on Wednesday, June 26, with a 12:05 PM first pitch on Summer Camp Day. You can listen to Wind Surge games on ESPN Wichita 92.3 FM, windsurge.com, or watch them online at MiLB.TV and Bally Live. For ticket information, please visit windsurge.com.