North Little Rock, AR – The Springfield Cardinals closed the four-game series with a decisive 8-3 win against the Arkansas Travelers before 3,121 fans at Dickey-Stephens Park on Monday night. The Cardinals increase their lead for 1st place in the North Division First Half Standings back to 3.5 games over both the Tulsa Drillers and Northwest Arkansas Naturals.
The Cardinals (24-20) cracked the scoreless tie early, opening a two-run lead in the top of the third against RHP Tyler Carpenter (L, 1-3). C Carson Kelly opened the inning with a line drive base hit to left-center, extending his hitting streak to six games and starting the rally. DH Chris Jacobs followed with a single, before CF C.J. McElroy, Jr. reached on a bunt single to load the bases with no outs. RF Breyvic Valera brought in Kelly with an RBI sacrifice fly to lift the Cardinals ahead. SS Alex Mejia then lasered an RBI single up the middle, plating Jacobs to double the early advantage to 2-0.
RHP Trey Nielsen (W, 5-3) kept the lead intact through his first four scoreless frames, before Springfield added to the advantage in the top of the fifth. The trio of Kelly, Jacobs and McElroy, Jr. once again started the inning with three straight singles, loading the bases with no outs for the second time in as many tries. Valera then skied his second RBI sacrifice fly of the night, bringing in Kelly from third base. After a Mejia single loaded the bases, 2B Bruce Caldwell struck with a two-run single to score Jacobs and McElroy, Jr. for the 5-0 lead.
The Travelers (18-26) got on the board with a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth, before coming within two runs of tying it with another tally in the sixth. With one away in the sixth, C Jose Briceno singled himself on. Briceno raced to third on a double from LF Bo Way, before sprinting home on an RBI groundout by SS Anthony Phillips to slice the Travs deficit to 5-3.
The Cardinals, though, stretched the lead back out with three runs in the top of the seventh against RHP Eduardo Paredes. Valera sparked the charge with a leadoff single, followed by a double from Caldwell one out later. 1B Luke Voit brought both runners in with a towering two-run triple to right-center field. Voit then raced home on an RBI sacrifice fly by 3B Paul DeJong, opening the lead to 8-3.
After six innings with only one earned run allowed (three runs total), Nielsen gave way to the bullpen to start the bottom of the seventh. RHP Ronnie Shaban took care of the scoreless seventh and eighth, before RHP Joey Donofrio slammed the door on the Travs with a scoreless ninth to close the 8-3 win for the Cardinals.
Click here for the complete box score from Monday's game.
