LATE RALLY FALLS SHORT IN RUBBER MATCH VERSUS HOOKS

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The Naturals brought the tying run to the plate in the top of the ninth inning with men on first and second; but came up short in the 5-2 loss on Friday night at Whataburger Field to the Corpus Christi Hooks. Northwest Arkansas and the Hooks finished 6-6 in the regular season series for 2017.
Humberto Arteaga hit a one-out double down the right-field line and eventually scored on a run-scoring ground-out by Anderson Miller  to trim the Hooks lead to 5-2 in the ninth inning. Alfredo Escalera  and Nick Dini  kept the game going with back-to-back single, but Jack Lopez  popped out on the seventh pitch of his hard-fought at-bat to end the game.

Northwest Arkansas (47-38/8-7) tied the score in the fourth inning capitalizing on a fielding error by the Hooks to allow Nicky Lopez to reach base. Lopez made his way to third via a pair of wild pitches and scored on a sacrifice fly by Zach Walters to even the score.
Jake Kalish (0-3, 3.46) pitched five-plus frames and allowed three runs - two which crossed following his departure - and struck out a season-high six hitters on the night. From the final out of the second inning to the last out of the fifth, Kalish posted a stretch of 10 straight retired during his start.
The Naturals will head north to San Antonio to begin a three-game set against the San Antonio Missions (San Diego Padres) on Saturday night with a 7:05 p.m. first pitch. Right-hander, Ashton Goudeau (3-7, 5.00) takes the ball against left-hander, Eric Lauer (1-0, 0.00) for the Missions.
Join the Voice of the Naturals, Benjamin Kelly, for a 6:45 p.m. pregame show leading up to first pitch on the flagship station of the Naturals, 92.1-FM, the Ticket.
Follow the Northwest Arkansas Naturals on Facebook and Twitter @NWANaturals all throughout the year by using the hashtag #NaturalPastime and #CrowntoCrown for all of our up-to-date information on Season 10 of Naturals baseball.
The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are the Double-A Texas League Affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. The Naturals play at state-of-the-art Arvest Ballpark in Springdale, Ark. For more information, including statistics, ticket options, and more, please visit NWANaturals.com, and follow us on Twitter @NWANaturals and Facebook.com/Naturals.
-Naturals-