Grant Gambrell’s night began with a tidy first inning and ended one inning later with the Northwest Arkansas Naturals already chasing the game and their bullpen already being asked to carry too much of it.
That was the shape of Friday night at Dickey-Stephens Park, where Arkansas turned an early pitching exit into a steady pileup and beat Northwest Arkansas 13-5. The Travelers scored 13 runs on 16 hits, including four-run innings in the fourth and fifth, while the Naturals spent most of the night trying to keep a deficit from becoming permanent.
Gambrell retired Arkansas in order in the first, but the second never settled. Hunter Fitz-Gerald and Josh Caron opened the inning with walks, and Caleb Cali followed with a grounder toward third. Justin Johnson made the diving stop, but his throw got away into right field, allowing Fitz-Gerald to score and moving Caron to third on the Naturals’ lone error.
Sammy Siani’s RBI single made it 2-0, and Gambrell struck out Josh Hood before leaving the game after 1.1 innings. Brandon Johnson inherited the traffic and walked Bill Knight, then Jonny Farmelo, forcing in another run before he got out of the inning with consecutive strikeouts.
Gambrell took the loss after allowing three earned runs with two walks and two strikeouts. The problem for Northwest Arkansas was that the inning was only the start of the bullpen strain.
Brandon Johnson worked into the fourth, when Arkansas stretched the lead. Knight was hit by a pitch, Boston Smith walked with one out, and Charlie Pagliarini doubled to right to bring in Smith. Tommy Molsky entered and immediately gave up Fitz-Gerald’s RBI double, then Caron lifted a ball to deep center that sent Spencer Nivens back to the wall before clearing it for a two-run homer and a 7-0 Travelers lead.
Northwest Arkansas did find one real opening against Lael Lockhart in the fifth. Alberto Rodriguez was hit by a pitch, Angel Acosta walked and, after a strikeout, Sam Kulasingam drew another walk to load the bases. Nivens then shot a ball into center, scoring Acosta and Kulasingam and bringing the Naturals within 7-3.
Nivens finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs, the cleanest offensive line in a night otherwise defined by Arkansas’ answers. Lockhart was charged with three earned runs over 4.2 innings, striking out five and walking two, and Will Armbruester came in to finish the fifth on his way to the win.
The Travelers answered the Naturals’ push almost immediately. In the bottom of the fifth, Molsky hit Knight, gave up Farmelo’s single and walked Smith before Pagliarini drove a sharp double down the right-field line. The ball reached the base of the wall, two runs scored, and Arkansas had restored control at 9-3. Fitz-Gerald added a sacrifice fly after Anthony Simonelli entered, and a pitch that got away during Caron’s plate appearance made it 11-3.
Molsky was charged with five earned runs in two-thirds of an inning. Pagliarini went 3-for-6 with three doubles and three RBIs, and Fitz-Gerald went 3-for-3 with a double, a walk and two RBIs.
Northwest Arkansas got one back in the sixth when Connor Scott doubled, Hyungchan Um singled him to third and Rodriguez lifted a sacrifice fly to center. Scott finished 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored.
But Arkansas’ lineup had one more loud swing left. Siani singled in the bottom of the sixth, and Hood followed by sending a ball high to deep left, off the scoreboard and into the Little Rock night for a two-run homer. The shot pushed the lead to 13-4 and left the rest of the game mostly to be managed.
Dennis Colleran Jr. gave Northwest Arkansas the best late work of the night, throwing two scoreless innings with four strikeouts. He had to work around two hits in the seventh and two more in the eighth, but kept Arkansas off the board after the Travelers had scored in two of the previous five innings.
Johnson added a late highlight in the eighth, turning on a 2-2 pitch from Tyler Cleveland and driving it to left-center for his 12th home run of the season. The ball carried toward the scoreboard and went out for the Naturals’ final run.
It did not change the night’s direction. Arkansas’ early damage, Caron’s fourth-inning homer and the immediate fifth-inning response after Nivens’ two-run single left Northwest Arkansas with too much ground to cover. Teddy McGraw struck out two in a scoreless ninth, closing out a game that got away when the Naturals ran out of pitching runway almost as soon as it began.