Naturals Beat Springfield on Town Walk-Off Single

River Town delivered an RBI single in the bottom of the 11th for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (15-15) in a 6-5 walk-off win over the Springfield Cardinals (20-11) on Saturday night at Arvest Ballpark.

After the Cardinals took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third, the Naturals answered back with five runs in the bottom half of the inning against Springfield starter Ian Bedell. Joe Gray Jr. led off with a triple and Tyler Tolbert walked to put runners on first and third. After Tolbert swiped second, Javier Vaz scored Gray Jr. from third to make it 2-1 and moved up Tolbert to third in the process. Tolbert scored on a fielder's choice by Peyton Wilson to tie the game, 2-2. A Rodolfo Duran single moved Wilson to second before Gavin Cross launched a towering homer to right field, putting Northwest Arkansas up 5-2.

Springfield scored two runs in the top of the fourth and one in the top of the eighth to tie the game, 5-5.

The teams traded scoreless frames in the 10th before the Naturals finished it in the bottom of the 11th as Town singled to left, scoring Josh Lester from second to end the game.

Keylan Killgore (2-3) earned the win, striking out two in a scoreless top half of the 11th while Matt Svanson (0-2) took the loss, striking out one over 0.1 innings.

Northwest Arkansas and Springfield will play the finale of a six-game series on Mother's Day with first pitch set for 2:05 PM CT. The Naturals will send LHP Noah Cameron (2-1, 2.97) to the mound, while the Cardinals will counter with RHP Tink Hence (3-1, 3.60) on Sunday afternoon.