Naturals Win Series with Mother's Day Victory

Josh Lester smoked his first home run of the season to help lift the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (16-15) to an 11-5 victory over the Springfield Cardinals (20-12) on Sunday afternoon at Arvest Ballpark.

The Naturals took control of the lead in the bottom of the first inning against Cardinals starter Tink Hence. Tyler Tolbert doubled, Javier Vaz reached on an error, and Gavin Cross walked to load the bases. After Cayden Wallace grounded into a fielder’s choice, Lester drove in Vazz from third on a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0. Dillan Shrum and Luca Tresh knocked back-to-back RBI singles to extend the lead, 3-0.

Springfield plated two runs in the second, one run in the third, and one run in the fourth to take a 4-3 lead.

Northwest Arkansas opened it up with eight runs against Hence in the bottom of the fourth. Lester led off with a single and Shrum reached on an error to put runners on second and third. Hence committed a throwing error, allowing Lester to score and tie the game 4-4. Diego Hernandez regained the lead for the Naturals with an RBI single while Leonel Valera extended it to 6-4 by plating a run on a fielder’s choice. Vaz and Wallace drove in a combined three runs with a single and a double to make it a 9-4 ballgame before Lester crushed a two-run homer to right, moving the score, 11-4.

Springfield scored one more run in the top of the seventh, but was shutout the rest of the way to finalize the score at 11-5.

Anthony Simonelli (3-0) earned the win, letting up a run on two hits and three strikeouts over 2.0 frames. Hence (4-1) picked up the loss, letting up nine runs (zero earned) on six hits, three walks, and a strikeout over 3.2 innings.

The Naturals enjoy a day off on Monday before traveling to Dickey-Stephens Park for a six-game series against the Arkansas Travelers. First pitch is set for Tuesday at 6:35 PM CT.