Angel Acosta kept finding open grass, Coleman Picard kept sending Tulsa hitters back to the dugout, and for four late innings the Naturals gave themselves every chance to turn both performances into a comeback. The last hit never arrived.
Acosta went 4-for-4 with an RBI double and a stolen base, while Picard retired all 12 batters he faced in his Double-A debut. Their work carried Northwest Arkansas to the final out Thursday night at Arvest Ballpark, but Tulsa held on for a 3-2 victory.
The Naturals’ seven hits were concentrated almost entirely in two spots: Acosta had four, and Spencer Nivens supplied two more, including a solo home run and a double. The rest of the lineup finished with one hit as Northwest Arkansas left the bases loaded in the seventh, lost a runner on an inning-ending double play in the eighth and stranded Acosta in the ninth.
Acosta’s last chance came with two outs. His broken-bat flare floated just beyond second baseman Sean McLain and dropped into right field, extending the game and giving him a career-high fourth hit. Carson Hobbs recovered to strike out Connor Rasmussen, leaving the tying run at first.
That finish capped a night in which Acosta repeatedly provided life from the bottom third of the order. He singled to right in the third, singled to center in the fifth and delivered the Naturals’ most important hit in the seventh.
With Northwest Arkansas trailing 3-1, Justin Johnson opened the inning with a single and Canyon Brown was hit by a pitch. After a strikeout, Acosta pulled a liner inside the right-field line. The ball skipped into the corner as Brown came around from second, and Acosta reached standing with an RBI double.
Two walks loaded the bases, but Cam Day entered and retired Nivens on a fly ball to right. The Naturals threatened again in the eighth when Connor Scott drew a one-out walk, only for Johnson’s fly to right to become a double play when Scott was doubled off first.
Nivens had provided the first answer in the fourth. He attacked Myles Caba’s first pitch and drove a hard, low line into the Naturals’ bullpen in right field. His ninth home run tied the game at 1.
That tie lasted only until the fifth. Taylor Young singled against Grant Gambrell, then was forced out at second on Kole Myers’ grounder. Myers advanced on a throwing error and moved to third on Logan Wagner’s groundout. Jake Gelof followed by lifting a breaking ball over the wall in left-center for a two-run homer, his 33rd of the season, and a 3-1 Tulsa lead.
Gelof’s swing accounted for the decisive runs and closed Gambrell’s line at three earned runs over five innings. Gambrell struck out five and walked three, escaping a bases-loaded jam in the first before Young’s two-out single brought home McLain for Tulsa’s opening run in the second.
Picard took over from there and gave the Naturals room to rally. He struck out the first two hitters he faced in the sixth, retired Tulsa in order in each of his four innings and finished with five strikeouts and no walks. The Drillers did not put a runner aboard against him.
Nivens doubled in the sixth for his second extra-base hit, but he was stranded at second. That became the shape of the night for Northwest Arkansas: Acosta and Nivens kept creating openings, Picard made certain the deficit never grew, and the Naturals remained one hit short.