Cross Homers in 6-5 Loss Tuesday

Gavin Cross picked up three hits with a homer, but the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (19-19) dropped game one of six to the Amarillo Sod Poodles (17-23) 6-5 on Tuesday at Arvest Ballpark.

The Naturals scratched across their first runs of the game in the bottom of the first off Sod Poodles starter Jamison Hill. Tyler Tolbert led off with a single and moved up to second on a wild pitch. Rodolfo Durán tripled, scoring Tolbert and putting Northwest Arkansas up 1-0. Duran scored on a sacrifice fly by Cross to make it a 2-0 ballgame.

Amarillo answered back with five runs in the top of the second against Northwest Arkansas starter Tyson Guerrero.

In the bottom of the fifth, Durán doubled and Cross homered to cut the deficit, 5-4. After Hill was replaced by Sod Poodles reliever Jake Rice, Peyton Wilson and Dillan Shrum knocked back-to-back singles to put runners on second and first. A fielding error by first baseman, Ivan Melendez, allowed Wilson to score and make it 5-5.

The Sod Poodles took a 6-5 lead in the top of the seventh off Naturals reliever Ryan Brady. Anthony Simonelli came in out of the bullpen and allowed one hit over three innings, the first time he'd gone past 2.1 frames since 2021, keep the game a one-run affair. Northwest Arkansas went scoreless the rest of the way, losing by a score of 6-5 despite the tying run begin at third base in the bottom of the ninth.

Rice (1-1) earned the win, letting up two hits and striking out one over 1.1 frames. Brady (1-1) took the loss, allowing a run on two hits and two walks. Mitchell Stumpo (1) notched the save, letting up a hit and striking out two in a scoreless ninth.

The Naturals and Sod Poodles play game two of a six-game series on Wednesday with first first pitch set for 7:05 PM CT. RHP Eric Cerantola (1-1, 1.27) takes the ball for Northwest Arkansas, while RHP Billy Corcoran (0-1, 23.14) starts for Amarillo.