Tulsa, OK – The 1st-Half North Division Champion Springfield Cardinals closed the Regular Season with a 10-4 win against the Tulsa Drillers before 5,310 fans at ONEOK Field on Monday night. The Cardinals start the 2016 North Division Championship Series with Game 1 against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals at Hammons Field on Wednesday, September 7 at 6:30pm.
Wrapping up the Regular Season with four straight wins, the Cardinals finish the campaign with a 75-65 overall record, including a team-record 41-29 1st Half record and 34-36 2nd Half record. All-Star 1B Luke Voit becomes just the second Springfield Cardinal in team history to win the Texas League batting title, leading the circuit with a .297 average (OF Oscar Taveras won the batting title in 2012).
The Drillers (31-39, 68-71) plated an early unearned run against LHP Austin Gomber and the Cardinals in the bottom of the first inning. With one away, 2B Willie Calhoun reached on a bloop base hit to shallow left field. CF Alex Verdugo followed with a free pass, before LF Kyle Garlick reached on an error to load the bases with one away. 3B Kyle Farmer then skied an RBI sacrifice fly to left field, bringing in Calhoun for the go-ahead run. Gomber, though, dealt a strikeout to the next batter to close the bottom of the first with Tulsa only ahead, 1-0.
The Cardinals came right back in the top of the second against RHP Seth Frankoff (L, 3-4). 1B Jonathan Rodriguez and 2B Jacob Wilson led off with consecutive singles, followed by an RBI base hit from 3B Allen Staton that scored Rodriguez. With runners at the corners, SS Alex Mejia bounced into a double play up the middle, but it did enable Wilson to race home from third, lifting the Cardinals into the 2-1 lead.
Springfield swung in front further with two more tallies in the top of the third. LF Vaughn Bryan singled himself on to start the inning, before stealing his way to second base. RF Blake Drake then brought in Bryan with an RBI single, prior to swiping himself into scoring position with a steal of second base. One out later, Drake went to third on a single from Rodriguez, followed by an RBI sacrifice fly by Wilson to plate Drake for the 4-1 advantage.
The Cardinals kept pounding in the top of the fourth inning against LHP Jeff Malm. With two down and the bases empty, Bryan ripped another single up the middle to spark the rally. Bryan stole second again, before being joined on the bases when Drake worked a walk. With two on and two down, CF Harrison Bader crushed a three-run home run to left-center field, his 16th blast of the season, opening the lead to 7-1.
The Drillers started chipping away with one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. With runners at the corners and no outs, RF Lars Anderson bounced into a double play that scored 3B Kyle Farmer from third, shaving the deficit to 7-2.
An RBI groundout from Tulsa CF Alex Verdugo in the fifth inning brought the Drillers within four runs, but the Cardinals stretched it back out with one in the top of the seventh. Facing RHP Yaisel Sierra, Rodriguez opened the inning with a double inside the first base line. After moving to third on a base hit from Wilson, Rodriguez came in on an RBI fielder's choice by Staton, increasing the Cardinals lead back to five runs, 8-3.
In what was likely his Drillers finale, veteran RF Lars Anderson took over on the mound to pitch the top of the ninth inning. The Cardinals added two runs against the position player on a pinch-hit RBI single from 1B Luke Voit and an RBI sacrifice fly from Bryan, making it a 10-3 lead for Springfield.
With RHP Rowan Wick on the mound, the Drillers went down swinging with one final run in the bottom of the ninth. LF Jordan Tarsovich reached with a one-out walk and took second on a wild pitch. SS Tim Locastro brought Tarsovich home with an RBI single, accounting for the final score of 10-4 in the Springfield win.
RHP Blake McKnight (W, 1-0) tossed one relief inning to log the win for Springfield, before three scoreless frames out of the bullpen from LHP Chandler Hawkins.
Click here for the complete box score from Monday's game.
