Travs Shutout By Naturals

North Little Rock, AR—The Arkansas Travelers dropped to 0-2 on the season as they were shutout by the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, 3-0 on Wednesday night at Dickey-Stephens Park. Four Naturals pitchers combined on a five hit shutout. Right-hander Jonathan Bowlan started and got the win throwing five scoreless innings while striking out 10. Dylan Coleman was credited with a save pitching a perfect ninth. Darren McCaughan was the losing pitcher but gave up just two runs on six hits with six strikeouts over 5.2 innings.

Moments That Mattered

* The Naturals banged out three consecutive hits to open the third inning plating one run then added another on a sacrifice fly.

* Arkansas’ best scoring chances came in the second and sixth innings. In the second the Travs had runners at first and second with one out when Dom Thompson-Williams hit a deep drive to left field that was caught, then a strikeout ended the inning. Four innings later they loaded the bases with two out on a single, a walk and a hit batter but again a strikeout cut the threat short.

Notable Travs Performances

* 1B Joe Rizzo: 2-3, BB, 2B

* RHP Darren McCaughan: L, 5.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 6 K, 80 pitches

News and Notes

* Jordan Cowan had a 34 game regular season on-base streak snapped. It dated back to the 2019 season.

* The teams combined for 27 strikeouts.

Up Next

The Travs look for the first win on Thursday as the series continues with left-hander Ian McKinney making the start against lefty Marcelo Martinez for the Naturals. First pitch is at 7:10 with a magnet schedule giveaway and it is Thirsty Thursday at the ballpark. The game will also be broadcast on the Sports Animal 920, the First Pitch App and milb.tv.