Naturals Fall To Wind Surge, 3-1, On Road
Northwest Arkansas {1-3} took to the road for the first time in 2023, tonight, as they took on the Wichita Wind Surge {3-1}. The Naturals would play at Riverfront Stadium looking to tie the overall series between these teams in Wichita at 12 wins each. After a tight game for much of the night, the Naturals would end up falling, 3-1, and lose their third straight game before an announced crowd of 8,506 fans. We will look at what happened in the game, some stats and players who stood out, and when the next game will be played.
What Happened?
Wichita would take an early lead when right fielder, Jake Rucker, would hit a sacrifice to center that would score Brooks Lee from third. This score would hold until the top of the 5th inning. In this inning, Naturals catcher, Luca Tresh, would hit his second home run of the season on a line drive shot to left center field. After pitching changes from both teams, the game would get late into the game with the game still tied at one.
In the eighth inning, behind some costly fielding errors, the Wind Surge would take a two-run lead, 3-1, over the Naturals. Ir was all up to the Naturals as Peyton Wilson, John Rave, and Jorge Bonifacio would take their chances at the plate. After a strikeout from Wilson and Benafacio, Tresh would ground out and close out hope for a comeback win.
Stats From Tonight
Northwest Arkansas would put the Kansas City Royals‘ #13 ranked prospect, Alec Marsh, on the mound. Marsh would pitch five innings allowing one hit, the home run, and five strikeouts, and finish with a 1.39 ERA for the night. After Marsh, we would see Christian Chamberlain, who would pitch two innings with one hit and four strikeouts, and Jacob Wallace, who would throw .2 innings allowing one run, in the eighth, with two walks, and two strikeouts on the night. Wallace would end up with the loss on the night making his season record 0-1. Arkansas would finish the night allowing 8 hits, 3 runs, 5 runs, and 12 strikeouts on the night,
From the plate, the Naturals would get the big hit above-mentioned run in the fifth inning to get on the board and tie the game The Naturals would struggle at the plate tonight, On the season this has been an issue at times, and will need to improve as we are sure it will. Arkansas will have to get points on the board faster in games moving forward. The Naturals would finish with 3 hits, 1 run, and 1 RBI, along with 15 strikeouts and 7 runners left on base. Arkansas had a total of 30 at-bats tonight.
On the field, the Naturals would play well until the eighth inning. In this inning, Natural’s second baseman, Peytori Wilson, would sail a ball to the third base allowing runners to move, This would end up being costly on the night. Without these errors, we may still be playing baseball. Arkansas will have to sure up the gloves to have a competitive chance. In tonight’s game, it came down to one inning.
What Is Next?
Tomorrow will be game two of this six-game series. In game two, the Naturals will throw lefty Ricky Way while Wichita will throw righty, Blayne Enlow.
