NATURALS AND MISSIONS COMBINE FOR 35 RUNS IN 20-15 LOSS TO SAN ANTONIO

SPRINGDALE, AR – The Northwest Arkansas Naturals set a franchise record, combining to score 35 runs with the San Antonio Missions Wednesday night, but the Naturals ended up on the wrong side of the score, falling 20-15 to the Missions.

Northwest Arkansas jumped out early, striking for five runs in the first inning, including an RBI double from CJ Alexander and three-run home run from John Rave, his 12th this year with the Naturals.

San Antonio tied the game on a grand slam in the second inning from first baseman Brandon Dixon, who ended the night 5-for-6 with nine RBI, while hitting for the cycle, which he finished in the fifth inning.

Naturals starting pitcher Dante Biasi was knocked out of the game shortly after the grand slam, as the Missions went on to take the lead with a six-run inning in total. San Antonio continued to add more, scoring 16 runs between the second and fifth innings.

Northwest Arkansas added two in the third inning on a pair of RBI groundouts, then two in the seventh on a two-run home run from Brhet Bewley, who had come in as a defensive replacement in the top half of the inning.

While San Antonio scored two runs in the seventh and eighth innings to bring their total on the night to an even 20, the Naturals refused to give up in the bottom of the ninth. Designated hitter Tyler Cropley, who came off the bench in the sixth inning to pinch-hit, threw a 1-2-3 ninth inning on six pitches in his second pitching appearance of the season to keep a 0.00 ERA over 1.2 innings. The Naturals entered the bottom of the ninth down 11 and sent 10 batters to the plate and scored six runs on four hits, two walks and an error, cutting the lead in more than half. Jake Means and Morgan McCullough contributed RBI singles for their first hits of the day, while Diego Hernández offered his third hit of the day with an RBI single and Tyler Cropley and Tyler Gentry drove in runs on sacrifice flies.

While Northwest Arkansas fell up short, 10 different players drove in the team’s 15 runs, with hits from eight players and five multi-hit performances. 10 different players scored runs as well, including four from first baseman CJ Alexander.

The two teams combined for 35 runs, including 33 RBI, both records in Naturals history. The previous records had been set on April 15 in San Antonio, when the two teams combined for 31 runs and 30 RBI. The 35 combined hits in that came still stand as the Northwest Arkansas record, just ahead of the 31 Wednesday night in Springdale.

The Naturals will try and bounce back Thursday at 7:05 p.m. CT at Arvest Ballpark.