The Northwest Arkansas Naturals claimed game three of the series, 10-4, against the 1st-Half North Division Champion Springfield Cardinals before 5,149 fans at Arvest Ballpark on Friday night.
The Cardinals (8-12, 49-41) jumped in front out of the gates with two tallies in the top of the first against LHP Matt Strahm. With one away, 2B Allen Staton and RF Anthony Garcia collected consecutive singles to put two men on. 1B Luke Voit then sent a sharp grounder to short that hit off the glove of SS Humberto Arteaga, resulting in a fielding error that enabled Staton to score from second base. 3B Paul DeJong then ripped an RBI single through the left side, scoring Garcia for the early 2-0 lead for Springfield.
The Naturals (13-8, 42-49) countered with one run in the bottom of the first against RHP Trey Nielsen. With two away and the bases empty, 1B Frank Schwindel pulled a solo home run to left field, slicing the Cardinals lead in half, 2-1.
Springfield stretched the lead back out with two runs in the top of the third. Garcia opened the inning with his second single of the night, before trotting home one out later on a towering two-run home run from DeJong, his 16th of the year to make it a 4-1 Cardinals lead. With three RBIs on the night, DeJong continues to lead the entire Cardinals farm system with 57 RBIs on the year.
Northwest Arkansas, though, got one of the runs back with an unearned run in the bottom of the third. With two outs, DH Ryan O'Hearn extended the inning with a double. C Zane Evans then grounded the ball to third and reached on a fielding error charged to 3B Paul DeJong, allowing O'Hearn to score from second and cut the Naturals deficit to 4-2.
The Naturals completed the comeback with two more runs in the bottom of the fourth. Arteaga started the inning with a single, before moving to third base on a wild pitch that led to a throwing error from C Jesse Jenner. RF Carlos Garcia followed with a walk, putting runners at the corners for 3B Jack Lopez. Lopez laid down an RBI bunt single inside the first base line, scoring Arteaga and moving Garcia to second base. After a double steal by Garcia and Lopez, CF Terrance Gore tied it up with an RBI single to bring in Garcia and even it, 4-4.
Facing RHP Ronnie Shaban (L, 5-2) in the bottom of the fifth, the Naturals charged in front for their first lead of the game. Escalera singled to open the inning, before stealing second base. He tagged and took third on a fly out from Arteaga, before an RBI sacrifice fly from Garcia brought in Escalera the final ninety feet for the 5-4 lead for Northwest Arkansas.
The Naturals padded the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. With runners at second and third and two away, Escalera struck with a two-run double to score both Gore and Toups, and make it a 7-4 advantage.
Northwest Arkansas then rallied once more in the bottom of the seventh, taking advantage of three Cardinals errors in the inning. Consecutive walks from RHP Kevin Herget to Garcia and Lopez started the charge, before both advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Gore. Toups then brought in Garcia from third base with an RBI infield single to make it 8-4. With runners at first and second, Schwindel placed a single to left field that led to a throwing error on LF Jhohan Acevedo, bringing in Lopez on the miscue. Herget battled back with a strikeout against O'Hearn, before giving way to RHP Josh Lucas with runners at second and third and two down. Lucas induced a grounder to first base from C Zane Evans, but it skipped under the glove of 1B Luke Voit for a fielding error, extending the inning and plating Toups for the 10-4 advantage.
RHP Yender Caramo (W, 2-3) then wrapped up his five-inning relief outing with a scoreless top of the eighth, before LHP Eric Stout dealt a scoreless ninth to close the 10-4 win for the Naturals.
