Naturals return home on 6-game skid

SPRINGDALE — The Northwest Arkansas Naturals will leave Central Arkansas trying to reverse their fortunes in the midst of a sixgame losing streak.

The Naturals ( 15- 18) dropped six in a row to Arkansas, the Texas League North Division leader, and were outscored 34-17. They are seven games behind Arkansas and Tulsa, who are tied atop the North Division.

Northwest Arkansas will host Springfield, the lastplace team in the North Division, for six games this week beginning at 11:05 a.m. today. The Naturals came into their recent road swing on a fourgame winning streak, but the Travelers, who are tied for the best record in the league at 22-11, put a damper on that.

Springfield snapped a fivegame losing streak at Tulsa on Sunday.

Northwest Arkansas has struggled on the road to the tune of 6-12 and also 4-11 against teams over .500.

Naturals Manager Tommy Shields said the Travelers made all the big plays in the series.

“We got to make a play,” Shields said. “They made all the plays. … We got to get big hits. We got to get runners on and we got to score ’em. We got to hold ’em from scoring. They made all the big plays. They swung the bats with runners in scoring position.

“We played well. We fought hard, just didn’t get it done. I don’t know what we hit with runners in scoring position during the series but it wasn’t good. We got to get the big hit.”

A pair of Northwest Arkansas’ top hitters have struggled lately. Outfielder Jorge Bonifacio is tied for third in the league with eight homers and third with 28 RBI. Infielder Peyton Wilson is among the top 10 in the league with a .307 batting average. But during the recent losing skid, the two are a combined 8 for 41 (.195).

Shields said it’s just a case of coming up with key hits.

“You can’t hit for them,” Shields said. “They got to hit with runners on base. I felt like we didn’t get many breaks in this series, but you make your own breaks and they [ Arkansas] made the plays.”

Shields said returning home could help to change his team’s fortunes. His team has a 9- 6 record at Arvest Ballpark.

“No question,” Shields said. “We got to make plays offensively and defensively.”

The last three losses have come by one or two runs. One came in 10 innings, while in another the Travelers won in the bottom of the ninth.

Pitching-wise, Naturals starter Anthony Veneziano is tied for tops in the league in wins with a 4-1 record. He’s second with a 1.45 ERA and has thrown a league-best 37 1/3 innings.

Northwest Arkansas ranks second in the league in team ERA (3.82), but that’s a full run worse than league-leading Tulsa (2.80). Springfield ranks eighth out of 10 with an ERA of 5.74. Offensively, the Naturals sit just ahead of Springfield with a team batting average of .252-.249.

Springfield, the Class AA affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, ranks second in the league with 40 home runs. The Naturals are tied for seventh with 33.