Travs rally to win

Outfielder Eric Filia and designated hitter Dario Pizzano combined for seven of the 14 hits by the Arkansas Travelers, who scored seven runs in the seventh and eighth innings to take a 11-5 come-frombehind victory over Northwest Arkansas at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.

TRAVELERS 11, NATURALS 5

Outfielder Eric Filia and designated hitter Dario Pizzano combined for seven of the 14 hits by the Arkansas Travelers’ who scored seven runs in the seventh and eighth innings to take a 11-5 come-from-behind victory over Northwest Arkansas at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.

Filia has been on the Travelers’ roster for less than two weeks and after going 4-for-4 with a walk and two RBI on Sunday, is hitting .440. Pizzano, who was 3-for-4 with an RBI, is hitting .303 after Sunday’s victory.

David McKay (2-0), who pitched 12/3 perfect innings, got credit for the victory in relief of starter Williams Perez. Sam Selman (1-2), who retired only one of the four batters he faced, took the loss.

Filia, who hit a home run on the first pitch he saw with the Travelers, is aware of Dickey-Stephens’ reputation as a pitchers’ ballpark.

“Yeah, it’s a big pitchers park,” Filia said. “You saw that today with [Joey] Curletta and Chris Mariscal. A couple of balls that would have been home runs in other parks, were just caught here. We still had 14 hits and 11 runs.”

The Travelers got off to a quick start when leadoff hitter Braden Bishop doubled on a 2-1 pitch to open the bottom of the first. After a groundout to first by Chuck Taylor moved Bishop to third, Filia drove in the first run with a single.

Arkansas increased that lead in the second when Mariscal lined a 1-0 pitch over the wall in left for his fifth home run of the season. Catcher Joe DeCarlo doubled on the first pitch he saw, then was moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Adam Law. DeCarlo scored on a sacrifice fly by Yonathan Mendoza, giving the Travelers a 3-0 lead.

Northwest Arkansas, held to only a two-out single by John Brontsema in the third inning, got back in the game

in the fourth. Second baseman Nicky Lopez worked Perez for a one-out walk, then Elier Hernandez was hit by a pitch, putting runners at first and second.

A single by Jecksson Flores drove in Lopez before singles by Anderson Miller and Nick Dini drove in Hernandez and Flores to tie the game 3-3.

A one-out fifth-inning walk to Lopez, followed by a double from Hernandez, set the stage for a Flores sacrifice fly that Lopez to make it 4-3.

The Travs tied the score in the bottom of the inning on a Pizzano single that scored Taylor.

With one out in the Naturals seventh, Lopez singled off reliever Daniel Schlereth whose errant pickoff throw allowed Lopez to advance to third. Lopez scored on a

single by Hernandez, putting Northwest Arkansas up 5-4.

In the bottom of the seventh, a one-out walk to Chuck Taylor, followed by Filia’s third hit, a slowly hit ball that started foul then went fair down the third-base line. Curletta was called out on strikes, but walks to Pizzano and Mariscal resulted in one run to make it 5-5. Franco Terrero replaced Selman after his second walk, but Terrero hit DeCarlo on a 2-1 count to force in the go-ahead run.

Mendoza led off the bottom of the eighth with a walk. Bishop got a hit and Taylor singled to drive in Mendoza. A double by Filia scored Bishop, then Taylor scored on a wild pitch before Curletta’s sacrifice fly drove in Filia to make it 10-5. Back-to-back hits from DeCarlo and Law drove in Pizzano, who had singled.

Matt Festa pitched a perfect ninth to seal the victory.