The Arkansas Travelers took the series finale from the 1st-Half North Division Champion Springfield Cardinals, 4-1, before 3,236 fans at Hammons Field on Wednesday night.
Cardinals RHP Trey Nielsen (L, 6-7) and Travelers LHP Chris O'Grady (W, 1-1) alternated a pair of scoreless innings to start, Arkansas (11-14, 43-52) broke through in the top of the third inning. CF Forrestt Allday started the stanza with a double, before taking third on a sacrifice bunt from 2B Tim Arakawa. DH Andrew Daniel then drove an RBI double to right-center field, bringing in Allday for the 1-0 Arkansas advantage.
The Travelers added to the lead with a top of the fourth inning rally. With one away, 3B Alex Yarbrough and LF Caleb Adams knocked consecutive singles to put two men on. Nielsen got C Wade Wass on a groundout to first base, but it moved the runners to second and third. SS Anthony Phillips kept the inning alive when he was hit by a pitch, loading the bases with two down. Allday then pulled a two-run double to right field, bringing in Yarbrough and Adams to extend the Travs lead to 3-0.
After O'Grady posted four scoreless stanzas to begin his spot start, the Cardinals (10-16, 51-45) got on the board in the bottom of the fifth. With one down, DH Andrew Sohn doubled himself into scoring position. CF Blake Drake then laid down a bunt single to the left side of the infield, putting runners at the corners with Sohn going to third. SS Juan Herrera brought in Sohn with an RBI sacrifice fly to left-center field, cutting the Cardinals deficit down to just two runs, 3-1.
However, the Travelers got the run right back in the top of the sixth. Leading off the inning, Yarbrough pulled a solo shot over the left field fence, swinging the Travelers into the 4-1 advantage.
Nielsen dug in with scoreless work the rest of the way, tossing his second nine-inning complete game of the year with only the four runs allowed, while striking out six.
However, the Travs received scoreless relief with RHP Eduardo Paredes dealing three frames with no runs on two hits, keeping Arkansas in the three-run lead. RHP Keynan Middleton (S, 2) then took over for the ninth and dealt a scoreless final inning, closing the 4-1 win for the Travelers.
