NATURALS RALLY IN 9TH BUT FALL ONE RUN SHORT TO DRILLERS

SPRINGDALE, AR – The Northwest Arkansas Naturals rallied late, scoring a run in the eighth and one in the ninth, bringing the winning run to the plate, but could not complete the comeback, dropping Friday night's game 3-2 to the Tulsa Drillers.

Starting pitcher Noah Murdock completed 6.0 innings for the first time in his career, striking out four across 86 pitches while holding the Drillers to two runs, on a sacrifice fly in the first and home run in the fifth.

Will Klein followed Murdock with 1.2 hitless and scoreless frames, then Jonah Dipoto worked out of a jam in the eighth behind Klein, before surrendering a home run in the ninth to Tulsa, what proved to be an important run of insurance.

After being shutout Thursday night, the Naturals were held scoreless for a total of 16 innings, kept off the board for the first seven innings Friday, until Maikel Garcia led off the eighth with a single, promptly stole second and third base, then scored on a Nick Loftin groundout, at the time making it a one-run game at 2-1.

After the Drillers scored once in the top of the ninth, the Naturals looked to rally in the bottom half, as Seuly Matias led off with a single, then Tucker Bradley followed two batters later with a pinch-hit single, to bring the winning run to the plate. Brhet Bewley scored Matias with a sacrifice fly down the right field line, but Bradley was stranded as the tying run on first as the Naturals dropped the game by a run, the 17th one-run loss this season.

With the series now even two games each, the Naturals will try and bounce back Saturday to even things up for a 6:05 p.m. CT first pitch, with Anthony Veneziano on the mound.