Springdale, AR-The Arkansas Travelers failed to hang on to three separate one-run leads and eventually fell to the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, 4-3, in 10 innings on Sunday night. It was the next to last game of the regular season before the Travs begin the Texas League Playoffs at home on
Springdale, AR-The Arkansas Travelers failed to hang on to three separate one-run leads and eventually fell to the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, 4-3, in 10 innings on Sunday night. It was the next to last game of the regular season before the Travs begin the Texas League Playoffs at home on Wednesday. The comebacks spoiled another excellent outing by Chris Mazza who worked seven innings giving up just two runs (one earned) on only four hits. Dario Pizzano gave the Travs a lead in the top half of the sixth on his 11th homer of the year before the Naturals answered with a soft run thanks to an error in the bottom half of the inning. After Arkansas took the lead in the top of the ninth on Logan Taylor's RBI single, NW Arkansas tied it for the final time in the bottom half when Jecksson Flores homered leading. That gave Matt Festa just his second blown save in 22 opportunities. In the top of the 10th, the Travs were not able to move their automatic runner off of second base.
Moments That Mattered
* Joey Curletta smoked a double in the opening inning to stake the Travs to an early lead with his league leading 93rd RBI of the season.
* Pizzano's homer in the sixth inning came with two out and was his second blast on the road trip.
* Kyle Lewis led off the ninth with a double and promptly moved to third on a wild pitch. Logan Taylor hit a sharp single up the middle to score him for the lead before Flores' homer tied it.
* With two on and two out in the 10th, Pizzano crushed a ball to center field that was run down on the warning track by Nick Heath for the third out.
* In the bottom of the 10th, automatic runner Samir Dueñez moved to third a weak groundout to the pitcher before coming in to score on a wild pitch.
Notable Travs Performances
* RF Eric Filia: 2-3, run, BB, 2B
* Chris Mazza: 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, ER, 6 K
Up Next
Arkansas closes out the regular season with a 1:05 start on Monday. It will be right-hander Ashton Goudeau (3-5, 4.76 ) going up against lefty Foster Griffin (10-12, 5.15). The game will be broadcast on the Sports Animal 920, the First Pitch App, TuneIn radio and milb.tv.
