Drillers Lose Pitching Duel To NW Arkansas

Sugar Ray Marimon pitched six strong innings to lead the NW Arkansas Naturals to a 3-2 win over the Tulsa Drillers Thursday night in Springdale. 

The Naturals (4-9) got on the board early when Brett Eibner launched a solo homer in the bottom of the first to take a 1-0 lead. 

The Drillers (6-7) answered back in the top of the second when Kiel Roling mashed his third homer of the season over the right field wall to make it 1-1. 

The scoring halted until the bottom of the sixth, when Angel Franco hit a two-out double to drive in Kent Matthes and give the Naturals a 2-1 advantage.  NW Arkansas added another run in the seventh and the Drillers faced a 3-1 defecit entering the ninth.  Tulsa got some hope when Jose Gonzalez reached on Alex McClure's error, scoring Kyle Parker and bringing the Drillers within 3-2.  But that was the end of the rally and Edwin Carl closed things down for his second save of the season.   

Marimon allowed just one run in six strong innings to earn his first win of the season.  Tulsa starter Chad Bettis only lasted 4.2 innings but held NW Arkansas to one run on four hits.  The loss went to Joe Gardner, who allowed two runs in 2.1 innings for the Drillers. 

Game two of the four-game series is Friday night at 6 p.m.