3B Paul DeJong belted a go-ahead home run in the top of the 10th, swinging the 1st-Half North Division Champion Springfield Cardinals to the 3-1 win in 10 innings against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals before 5,126 fans at Arvest Ballpark on Saturday night.
After Cardinals RHP Luke Weaver and Naturals LHP Eric Skoglund both dealt a scoreless first, Northwest Arkansas (16-13, 45-54) swung in front in the bottom of the second. With one away, LF Alfredo Escalera pulled a solo home run over the left field fence, opening the early 1-0 lead for the Naturals.
Weaver and Skoglund continued to battle with scoreless work through the middle innings, keeping it just a one-run game until the top of the seventh.
After six one-hit frames, Skoglund gave way to LHP Matt Strahm to start the seventh inning. C Luis Cruz started the frame with a free pass, before Strahm struck out the next two batters. With one on and two down, SS Juan Herrera lined a single to shallow left-center field, extending the inning and moving Cruz all the way to third base. With RF Jhohan Acevedo at-bat, a passed ball sailed by C Zane Evans back to the backstop, enabling Cruz to sprint home and tie the game, 1-1.
Weaver kept the tie intact with a scoreless final frame in his outing, blanking the Naturals in the bottom of the seventh. He finished his start with just the one run on three hits with one walk and six strikeouts.
RHP John Brebbia (W, 3-2) took over to start the bottom of the eighth and kept the 1-1 tie intact, blanking the Naturals through two frames to force extra innings.
The Cardinals (11-18, 52-47) then swung in front in the top of the 10th against RHP Reid Redman (L, 0-1). With one away and the bases empty, 3B Paul DeJong crushed a towering solo home run to left field, his team-leading 17th homer and 60th RBI, swinging Springfield into the 2-1 advantage. The Cardinals weren't done in the frame, striking with back-to-back singles from 1B Luke Voit and Cruz to put runners at first and second. 2B Andrew Sohn then powered an RBI single through the right side, plating Voit from second base to pad the lead to 3-1.
RHP Ronnie Shaban (S, 8) entered to start the 10th and slammed the door with a groundout and back-to-back strikeouts, closing the 3-1 win for the Cardinals in 10 innings.
