TEXAS LEAGUE
NATURALS 2, DRILLERS 1 (12)
The Northwest Arkansas Naturals jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning Friday, but they needed a sacrifice fly from Samir Duenez in the 12th inning to come away with a 2-1 victory over the Tulsa Drillers in front of 5,899 at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale.
Naturals shortstop Nicky Lopez tripled to right-center field to begin the first inning, then scored on a Duenez groundout to give the Naturals a 1-0 lead.
It remained that way until the top of the eighth inning. Tulsa right fielder Quincy Latimore singled to left field to start the inning, advanced to second on Matt Beaty's single and moved to third on a fielding error by Northwest Arkansas right fielder Anderson Miller. After Erick Mejia popped out for the second out, Latimore scored on left fielder Darien Tubbs' RBI double to right field to tie the game at 1-1.
Catcher Allan de San Miguel led off the bottom of the 12th inning with a single for Northwest Arkansas. He advanced to second on Cody Jones' sacrifice bunt and moved to third on Lopez's single to left-center field. Designated hitter Jack Lopez was intentionally walked to set up a potential double play before Duenez hit the game-winning sacrifice fly.
Nicky Lopez finished 3 for 5 and Donald Dewees Jr. finished 2 for 4 to lead the Naturals, who finished with 10 hits. Latimore and third baseman Jose Miguel Fernandez both went 3 for 6 to lead the Drillers, who finished with 15 hits and remain a game ahead of the Springfield Cardinals atop the North Division standings.
Jake Newberry (4-2, 2.08 ERA) earned the victory for the Naturals after allowing one hit in his only inning of work. Chris Cotton (0-1, 5.40 ERA) took the loss for the Drillers after allowing 1 earned run on 2 hits with 1 walk in two-thirds of an inning.
Sports on 07/15/2017