Springfield, MO – RHP Trey Nielsen dealt six scoreless frames to help lead the Springfield Cardinals to the 7-1 win against the Arkansas Travelers before a sellout crowd of 7,320 fans at Hammons Field on Monday afternoon.
Nielsen (W, 2-2) stifled the Arkansas (10-14) bats throughout his start, allowing only one hit and just three total Travelers to reach base, while striking out four.
Following a pair of scoreless innings from Nielsen, the Cardinals (13-11) cracked the scoreless tie against RHP Alex Blackford (L, 2-2) in the bottom of the second. 3B Paul DeJong kickstarted the rally with a leadoff walk, before stealing his way to second base. With C Carson Kelly at the plate, Blackford unleashed consecutive wild pitches that enabled DeJong to not only move to third but then also to score the game's first run. Kelly ended up working a walk, before a free pass from SS Breyvic Valera to put two on. CF Harrison Bader promptly sliced an RBI double into right-center field, bringing in Kelly to double the early lead to 2-0.
Following Nielsen's perfect top of the sixth, the Cardinals added to the lead against RHP Austin Adams in the bottom of the sixth. With one away, Bader worked a walk to reach base for the third time on the day. After a fly out for the second out, 2B Bruce Caldwell tattooed an RBI double off the right-center field fence, plating Bader for the 3-0 lead.
RHP Chris Thomas and LHP Corey Littrell combined to spin a scoreless top of the seventh, before Littrell retired three more in a row in the eighth.
The Cardinals went back on the attack in the bottom of the eighth. With one away, SS Alex Mejia and Caldwell worked consecutive walks against RHP Danny Reynolds. 1B Luke Voit then muscled a broken-bat RBI single into shallow right field, bringing in Mejia from second base. RHP Geoff Broussard took over to face DH David Washington, but Washington won the battle with a mammoth three-run home run on top of the indoor training facility beyond the right field wall, padding the lead to 7-0.
Arkansas avoided the shutout with their first run of the game on an RBI single by DH Eric Aguilera in the top of the ninth, but RHP Ronnie Shaban struck out the very next batter to close the 7-1 blowout victory for the Cardinals.
Click here for the complete box score from Monday's game.
