The Springfield Cardinals clinched the 1st Half North Division Championship with a 5-2 win against the Tulsa Drillers before 4,152 fans at ONEOK Field on Sunday afternoon.
It marks the 3rd all-time 1st Half Title for Springfield and first since the 2009 season. With the 1st Half Championship, the Cardinals guarantee a 2016 Playoff berth, their first return to the Postseason since winning the Texas League Championship in 2012.
After Cardinals RHP J.C. Sulbaran and Tulsa RHP Tim Shibuya (L, 0-3) exchanged a pair of scoreless innings to start, Springfield (40-29) swung in front in the top of the third. Leading off the inning, All-Star 3B Paul DeJong slugged a solo home run to right field, his 12th of the year and team-leading 42nd RBI, lifting the Cardinals ahead, 1-0.
The Cardinals quickly added two more against Shibuya in the top of the fourth. With one down, All-Star 2B Bruce Caldwell sparked the charge with a single. All-Star 1B Luke Voit then worked a walk, before a base hit from RF Anthony Garcia loaded the bases with one away. All-Star C Carson Kelly came through with an RBI single to center field, followed by an RBI sacrifice fly by DeJong to make it a 3-0 lead.
The Drillers (37-31), though, got on the board against Sulbaran in the bottom of the fourth. RF Kyle Garlick opened the inning with a double to left field. One out later, C Vinny DiFazio and CF Adam Law worked consecutive walks, loading the bases with one away. 1B Cody Bellinger then stepped in as a pinch hitter and drove a deep fly ball to right field that RF Anthony Garcia ran down and retired, though it did serve as an RBI sacrifice fly to score Garlick and chip the Tulsa deficit to 3-1.
Sulbaran got out of the fourth with no further damage, before starting the fifth inning. 3B Brandon Trinkwon led off with a single, but Sulbaran battled back with a pop out from 2B Willie Calhoun. However, 1B Lars Anderson ripped a base hit up the middle, putting runners at first and second with only one out. RHP Ronnie Shaban (W, 4-0), though, took on the mound and induced an inning-ending double play ball to 3B Paul DeJong, getting the Cardinals out of the jam unscathed and with a 3-1 lead.
Springfield then struck with a two-out rally to pad the lead in the top of the sixth. With two down and the bases empty, Kelly ripped a single to center field to extend the stanza. DeJong followed with a base hit of his own, putting two on with two down for 2B Mason Katz. Katz promptly brought both runners home with a two-out, two-run double inside the right field line, stretching the advantage to 5-1.
Shaban kept the four-run lead intact through two more scoreless innings, giving way to RHP John Brebbia in the eighth. Brebbia dealt a scoreless eighth, but the Drillers had one last charge in the bottom of the ninth.
Brebbia opened the ninth with a fly out, but RF Alex Verdugo got all the way to second base on an infield single and subsequent throwing error charged to SS Juan Herrera. SS Jordan Tarsovich then struck with an RBI double, bringing in Verdugo and slicing the Cardinals lead to three runs. RHP Kevin Herget, though, took over on the mound and slammed the door with consecutive outs, closing the 5-2 win for Springfield and clinching the 1st Half North Division Championship.
