Travs First Win a Wild One

Jake Scheiner smoked his second homer of the season.

May 7, 2021

North Little Rock, AR—The Arkansas Travelers hung on for their first win of the season on Thursday night defeating the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, 4-2 at Dickey-Stephens Park. It marked the first win for manager Collin Cowgill. The Travs overcame four errors to get the win, taking their first lead in

North Little Rock, AR—The Arkansas Travelers hung on for their first win of the season on Thursday night defeating the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, 4-2 at Dickey-Stephens Park. It marked the first win for manager Collin Cowgill. The Travs overcame four errors to get the win, taking their first lead in the seventh inning and then withstanding a Naturals comeback attempt for the victory. Starter Ian McKinney struck out nine over five innings while Nick Duron was the winner out of the bullpen throwing two scoreless innings with four strikeouts. Jack Anderson garnered the final two outs, with the bases loaded, to earn the save. Naturals starter Marcelo Martinez struck out nine over five innings while allowing just one run. Payton Gray (IP, 3 H, 3 R, 4 BB, K, HR) was the losing pitcher.

Moments That Mattered

* Jake Scheiner smoked a 441 foot line drive homerun to left-center getting the Travs on the board.

* Jake Anchia tied the score in the sixth with a solo homer.

* Connor Lien gave the Travs the lead with a triple in the seventh inning scoring David Masters.

* Northwest Arkansas loaded the bases with no one out in the ninth on an error and two walks. Darin Gillies rallied to strike out Dairon Blanco for the first out. Then Jack Anderson was summoned from the bullpen and got a pop out from Bobby Witt and fly out from Nick Pratto to end the game.

Notable Travs Performances

* C Jake Anchia: 1-2, run, BB, HR, RBI

* RHP Nick Duron: Win, 2 IP, H, 4 K

* RHP Jack Anderson: Sv, 0.2 IP, 3 inherted runners stranded

News and Notes

* Arkansas has hit multiple homeruns in two of the first three games of the season.

* The Travs were out hit six to five.

* All five Travs hits came from the bottom five hitters in the lineup.

Up Next

Arkansas looks for consecutive wins as they host Northwest Arkansas again on Friday night. Right-hander Penn Murfee makes the starts against righty Stephen Woods, Jr. First pitch is at 7:10 and there will be a postgame fireworks show. The game will also be broadcast on the Sports Animal 920, the First Pitch App and milb.tv.