The Northwest Arkansas Naturals topped the 1st-Half North Division Champion Springfield Cardinals, 3-0, before 3,075 fans at Arvest Ballpark on Thursday night.
Cardinals RHP Daniel Poncedeleon (L, 5-5) and Naturals RHP Jake Junis (W, 9-4), both 2016 North Division All-Stars, dueled through three scoreless innings to start the contest, before Northwest Arkansas (12-8, 41-49) swung in front in the bottom of the fourth. 1B Ryan O'Hearn led off with a single, before taking second base on a wild pitch. A fly out to right enabled O'Hearn to tag and take third, but Poncedeleon battled back with a strikeout of LF Alfredo Escalera for the second out. However, C Cam Gallagher lined his first pitch to right field for an RBI single to score O'Hearn for the 1-0 lead.
The Naturals doubled the lead in the bottom of the fifth. RF Logan Moon doubled to start the stanza, and then took third on a sacrifice bunt from CF Terrance Gore. An RBI sacrifice fly to center from 2B Corey Toups brought in Moon the final ninety feet, increasing the lead to 2-0.
Northwest Arkansas stayed on the attack with a third run in the bottom of the sixth. Poncedeleon started the stanza with a leadoff walk to O'Hearn, before giving way to RHP Chris Perry. Perry rattled off a strikeout and a groundout, but Gallagher delivered a two-out RBI double to right-center that brought in O'Hearn to make it 3-0.
Perry battled back by striking out the side in the seventh, before RHP Rowan Wick tossed a 1-2-3 eighth to keep the Cardinals (8-11, 49-40) within striking distance.
However, after six scoreless innings from Junis, the Naturals received perfect relief from a pair of hurlers. RHP Aroni Nina retired the six batters that he faced in the seventh and eighth, followed by a perfect final frame from RHP Mark Peterson (S, 3) to close the 3-0 win for the Naturals.
