Dickerson Hits Walk-Off Home Run in Naturals 6-5 Win Versus Wind Surge
By AJ Swiatek SPRINGDALE, AR – With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Dustin Dickerson and the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (29-28) had their backs to the wall. The right-handed shortstop cleared the bases in style with a walk-off home run to take down the Wichita Wind Surge
By AJ Swiatek
SPRINGDALE, AR – With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Dustin Dickerson and the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (29-28) had their backs to the wall. The right-handed shortstop cleared the bases in style with a walk-off home run to take down the Wichita Wind Surge (29-28), 6-5.
The Wind Surge wasted no time and got on the board in the top of the first. Wichita plated two runs on a two-out triple and added another on a solo home run in the second to go ahead 3-0.
In the fourth inning both teams hit solo homers. Wichita’s went into the home run porch in left-field, and Northwest Arkansas’ was a screamer of an answer from Sam Ruta that pushed the score to 4-1 in favor of the Surge.
Gavin Cross led off the bottom of the sixth with his second home run in the last two games. Brett Squires followed with a walk and stole his way to third base. Squires scored on an error, and Dickerson was credited with an RBI, and the Wichita lead was down to 4-3.
Beck Way entered for the Naturals in the top of the seventh inning and picked up two quick outs. However, he hit a batter and allowed a double that got the Wind Surge a run back and made it a 5-3 game.
Way fired a scoreless eighth inning and Nicholas Regalado left the top of the ninth clean out of the bullpen. Javier Vaz was hit by a pitch in the final frame and Cross singled to put runners on the corners. Down to their final out, Naturals’ shortstop Dickerson hit a walk-off home run that just cleared the left-field wall to lift Northwest Arkansas past Wichita in the series finale, 6-5.
Northwest Arkansas starts a fresh series against the Arkansas Travelers on Tuesday in North Little Rock, Arkansas. The game’s first pitch is scheduled for 6:35 PM CT. Fans can follow the action with the “Voice of the Naturals,” Shawn Murnin, on MiLB.TV, MLB.TV, the MiLB and MLB Apps, and nwanaturals.com with a subscription. Free audio is available through the MiLB App and team website, and fans can also stream for free on the Bally Sports Live app.