They needed a wake-up call.
The Arkansas Travelers hitters, having been no-hit in their previous game, had a point to prove against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals on Tuesday night at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
The Travs totaled 10 hits and designated hitter Jack Larsen scored the winning run in bottom of the 10th inning on rightfielder Zach DeLoach's single in Arkansas' 7-6 victory.
"We were ready to come back," Deloach said. "[There was] a lot of energy in the air. As hitters, we were ready to attack the baseball."
Down 5-0 heading into the fifth inning, the Travelers began their comeback on centerfielder Cade Marlowe's two-run home run.
"The mindset was just don't panic,. Don't press the panic button, " DeLoach said. "We just had to get that little bit of fire in us and off we went."
Emerson Hancock, MLB Pipeline's No. 79 prospect and the Seattle Mariners' No. 3, got the start for Arkansas. Making his season debut, Hancock allowed 2 runs, 1 earned, on 2 hits and a walk in 11/3 innings.
Northwest Arkansas starting pitcher Marcelo Martinez went 4 innings, allowing 1 hit and striking out 5.
The Naturals' offense scored in four of the first five innings with a pair of RBI singles in the first and second and a pair of RBI doubles in the fourth and fifth. Second baseman Michael Massey led the Naturals from the plate, going 3 for 5 with an RBI.
In the seventh inning, Travs first baseman Jake Scheiner, who finished 2 for 4, brought in 2 of his 3 RBI on a single to right field, tying the game at 6-6.
Neither team was able to muster a run in the next 2 innings, sending the game to extra innings.
Travelers reliever Travis Kuhn pitched a clean top half of the 10th inning to set Arkansas up for a walk-off.
With two outs and the bases loaded following an intentional walk to Kaden Polcovich, DeLoach sent a line-drive single to right field to win it.
"That's just baseball," DeLoach said. "We scrapped to get a few guys on late, and we were able to make something happen just by coming up with clutch hits."