Wichita Wind Surge
WICHITA - The Wind Surge defeated the Northwest Arkansas Naturals 9-3 on Tuesday night as Cole Sturgeon and Chris Williams each hit homers to power the Surge to a series-opening victory.
Williams put the Surge on the board with a home run in the bottom of the first to give Wichita an early 2-0 lead. Williams finished one for two with two RBIs and two walks in the game.
Simeon Woods-Richardson came in relief in the third inning in his first appearance since June 11th and pitched two scoreless innings and tallied a strikeout before being relieved in the fifth inning.
Sturgeon finished two for three with two walks and three RBIs on the night and busted the game open in the bottom of the seventh inning with a three-run homer to give Wichita a 5-0 lead.
Wichita scored four insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth featuring a two-run RBI single from Christian Encarnacion-Strand and an RBI double from Andrew Bechtold to extend the lead to 9-1.
The Naturals scored two runs in the top of the ninth behind an RBI single from Maikel Garcia and an RBI sacrifice fly from Sebastian Rivero that shrunk the deficit to 9-3.
Notes: Williams has 7 home runs in his last 7 games at Riverfront Stadium and 11 homers in his last 19 games…The Surge tied a franchise record with four batters hit by pitches… Wichita improved to 8-4 against the Naturals this season… The Wind Surge have won seven consecutive home wins.
Coming Up: The Wind Surge will resume action against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals Wednesday. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. and gates open at 6 p.m. Casey Legumina will get the start on the mound for the Surge and Dante Biasi will be on the hill for the Naturals. Catch the game on MiLB.com and Windsurge.com.