Castellano ignites Naturals’ rally

SPRINGDALE — Angelo Castellano’s bat and glove lifted Northwest Arkansas to a 7-6 win against Springfield at Arvest Ballpark on Saturday.

Batting ninth in the order, Castellano’s two-run homer, his first this season, into the Cardinals’ bullpen snapped a 4-4 tie in the sixth inning. His RBI single in the fourth tied the score after a sloppy start spotted Springfield a 4-0 lead. He then drove in an insurance run in the eighth to create the final margin. Castellano, a regular at shortstop, also shined at first base with a diving catch that robbed a potential extra base hit early on.

Following a 1:12 weather delay, the Cardinals jumped ahead 1-0 on Johan Mieses’ RBI single in the first. They added three more runs in the third as the Naturals commit- ted three errors, including two by starting pitcher Connor Greene, who also walked three batters and threw three wild pitches and three walked batters. A Springfield error to go along with consecutive RBI doubles by Khalil Lee and Gabriel Cancel in the third and RBI singles by Meibrys Viloria and Castellano in the fourth evened the score at 4-4 after four innings. Meanwhile, Greene did his part to enable the rally by retiring 10 straight batters after the miscue-riddled third inning.

In the ninth, the Cardinals put together a rally with the help of two dropped popups, the second of which off the bat of Dylan Carlson led to a pair of runs and put the tying

run on second base with two outs. But Franco Terrero entered in relief and got Cards designated hitter Randy Arozarena to strike out looking at a slider.

SHORT HOPS

■ Lee was robbed of an extra base hit when Jordan Mieses made a running, leaping catch at the right field wall in the first inning. He returned the favor with a sliding catch to short right field to end the eighth inning.

■ The Naturals made several more highlight-worthy defensive plays such as third baseman Emmanuel Rivera’s diving stop and throw from his knees to begin a double play, second baseman Cancel snaring sharp grounder deep on the outfield grass as well as the catches by Lee and Castellano.

■ Viloria registered his first three-hit game this and smacked his eighth hit in 14 at-bats with a double to the left-center field gap in the bottom of the eighth inning.

On Deck: The Naturals wrap up their four-game series against the Cardinals at 2:05 p.m. Northwest Arkansas will send right-hander Jace Vines (1-4, 5.54) to the mound while Springfield will counter with left-hander Austin Warner (2-2, 4.26).

Today’s Promotion: “Kids Eat Free Sunday” features free hot dogs, Clif energy bars and sodas to children age 12 and younger. Kids of all ages also are invited to run the bases at the conclusion of the game.

On The Air: KQSM-FM

92.1

On The Web: www.nwa naturals.com