Monster Eighth Seals Sweep

SPRINGDALE - Nursing a 7-6 edge entering the eighth inning Friday night, the Hooks sent 16 men to bat and scored 11 runs, fueling an 18-6 victory over the Naturals before 5,527 fans in the series finale at Arvest Ballpark.
Corpus Christi finished the season series against Northwest Arkansas with a 9-3 record. The Hooks will enter Saturday's series opener at Springfield having won nine of their last 14 games.

Ronnie Dawson was perfect at the plate going 4-for-4 with two doubles, a home run, two walks, and four runs. Dawson, who tied the game at 3 with a two-run opposite field home run in the third, fell a triple shy of the cycle. His second double of the night came in the seventh, plating Bryan De La Cruz from base. Dawson never broke his stride and achieved third on the play, but the official scorer ruled he advanced on the throw home.
Dawson boasts a career-best 17 home runs, tying him for first in the Texas League.
De La Cruz scored a career-best five runs thanks to a hit-by-pitch and four consecutive singles.
The Hooks paraded 16 men to plate in the eighth inning, scoring 11 runs on six hits, five walks, and two hit batsmen. The Naturals employed three relievers in the frame, who threw a total of 79 pitches. Osvaldo Duarte and Abraham Toro both notched two-run doubles in the barrage.
Toro reached base five times, including a pair of two-baggers. The switch-hitting third baseman drove in four runs, giving him 64 RBIs on the season, which rank second in the circuit.
Lefty Brett Adcock spread three runs, six hits, and three walks over five innings. After a rocky start, Adcock faced nine hitters over his last three innings.
Erasmo Pinales and Andre Scrubb, making his debut as an Astros farmhand, each worked a scoreless inning. Scrubb, traded yesterday from the Dodgers in exchange for Tyler White, struck out two in the ninth.
The Hooks look to run their win streak to four games Saturday night with Yohan Ramirez on the hill. The Cardinals plan to counter with Johan Oviedo. First pitch 6:10 at Hammons Field.