NATURALS FALL SHORT IN SERIES OPENER TO CARDINALS

SPRINGDALE, AR – The Northwest Arkansas Naturals brought the winning run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth but could not come back, dropping the series opener to the Springfield Cardinals, 5-3 Tuesday night at Arvest Ballpark.

The Cardinals jumped out to an early lead, scoring twice in the first on a sacrifice fly and home run, then added insurance runs in the third and fourth on additional sac flies.

Naturals starter Dante Biasi pitched 5.0 innings for his second straight outing and the third time this month, throwing a career-high 97 pitches, while striking out three batters and allowing four runs (three earned) on four hits.

Northwest Arkansas brought the game close in the fifth inning, scoring three runs on an RBI single from Nick Loftin, his second hit of the day and a two-run double from Logan Porter, his second double of the game. After Porter’s double, the next two Naturals walked but the bases were left loaded and the tying run was left on third base.

Holden Capps was charged with an unearned run across 1.2 innings of work, then after walking two batters, Jonah Dipoto retired the final seven batters he faced to keep the Naturals within reach.

Maikel Garcia drew a walk to lead off the ninth and Porter singled for his third hit of the game, but the two were stranded on as the Naturals dropped the series opener to the Cardinals, eliminating the team from contention in the race for the first half championship in the Texas League’s North Division.

Northwest Arkansas will look to bounce back Wednesday at 12:05 p.m. CT as Walter Pennington makes his first start of the season.