WICHITA SURGES AHEAD LATE FOR SERIES OPENING WIN OVER NATURALS

WICHITA, KS – After falling behind early in the first inning, the Northwest Arkansas Naturals kept Tuesday's series opener close until the late innings, as the Wichita Wind Surge stormed ahead for a 9-3 win at Riverfront Stadium.

Naturals starting pitcher Noah Murdock allowed a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning, then proceeded to settle in and throw four scoreless innings to keep the game within two runs.

Christian Chamberlain followed Murdock and struck out the side in a 1-2-3 sixth inning, but got into trouble in the seventh, putting two runners on with one out before being relieved by Nathan Webb. Webb surrendered a three-run homer after getting the inning's second out, to push the score to 5-0 in favor of Wichita in the seventh.

Northwest Arkansas got onto the board in the eighth, on an RBI single from Tyler Gentry that loaded the bases and brought the tying run to the plate. However, the Naturals stranded the bases loaded and could not get closer the rest of the game.

Wichita responded with four runs off of Webb in the eighth to push the score to 9-1, before Stephen Woods Jr. came in for the final out of the inning, his fifth straight scoreless appearance.

The game did not end quietly in the ninth, as the Naturals made noise by plating a couple of runs, on a Sebastian Rivero sacrifice fly and Maikel Garcia RBI single. Those two runs were the last of the night, as the Wind Surge finished off the six-run win, 9-3.

Left field Tucker Bradley led the way at the plate with a 3-for-4 game, also reaching base on a walk, while Garcia and Gentry each had two hits. Designated hitter Logan Porter drew two walks and scored two runs.

While Murdock only allowed two runs on three hits, he issued a career-high six walks and tied a Naturals club record by hitting four Wind Surge batters, in his sixth loss of the season.

The Naturals will try and rebound Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. CT with left-hander Dante Biasi on the mound.