Witherspoon Provides Walkoff Homer Monday
Published on May 14, 2013 under Texas League (TL1)
Arkansas Travelers News Release
North Little Rock, Arkansas - All of a sudden the Arkansas Travelers have become a club that finds ways to win in dramatic fashion. On Monday night centerfielder Travis Witherspoon became the latest to give the Travs a huge ninth-inning home run, swatting a two-out dinger to left field (4) to secure a 4-3 victory.
With four wins in a row the Travs are now 19-17 and remain a half game behind Springfield for the North Division lead.
Witherspoon's game-winning jack is the third home run hit by a Traveler in the ninth inning to either give them the lead for good or secure a "walk-off" win. He finished 2-for-3 with two RBI during a game which featured a thrilling see-saw battle over the final three innings.
Witherspoon initially gave the Travs the lead in the second inning with an RBI single that knocked in Randal Grichuk.
NW Arkansas took advantage of an error from third baseman Kaleb Cowart to score the tying run in the fifth inning. Yem Prades hit a routine grounder that bounced out of Cowart's glove, then stole second base and took third on a wild pitch. A one-out RBI groundout by Roman Hernandez tied the game.
Jett Bandy's solo home run (1) in the fifth inning put the Travs up 2-1 in the sixth inning, but the Naturals tied the game in the seventh when Prades hit an RBI double just inside the third-base line.
The Naturals had their only lead in the eighth when Rey Navarro hit a two-out home run (2) to right field. Bandy though began the bottom of the eighth with a single then was forced out at second on a bothced sacrifice bunt from Rolando Gomez. The Naturals removed reliever Jon Keck and replaced him with Matt Ridings, who threw a wild pitch moving Gomez to second. After the second out Gomez rounded third and scored when C.J. Cron's slow dribbler was bobbled on a barehanded attempt by Navarro for an infield single.
Johnson returned for the top of the ninth and found trouble after a two-out double by Hernandez followed by a soft single to left by Alex Llanos. Left fielder Drew Heid came up with a one-hop throw to the plate to nail Hernandez for the third out and set up Witherspoon's heroics.
Riding took care of both Grichuk and Taylor Lindsey on three pitch strikeouts. Then Witherspoon ended the game with a high fly ball that landed in the left field basket on a 1-0 pitch.
Johnson (2-1) earned the win even though he gave up a run over two innings. The Travs received another strong performance from Lay Batista in a no-decision. He fired 6.2 innings, giving him five starts in a row with at least six innings pitched, and allowed just one base hit and two walks adding four strikeouts.
The Travs and Naturals return to Dickey-Stephens Park on Tuesday for the second game of the series at 7:10 p.m. Mike Piazza (1-1, 4.88) will take the ball for the Travs against NW Arkansas's RH Jason Adam (0-3, 9.88).
Texas League Stories from May 14, 2013
- Travs Make It Five Straight Tuesday - Arkansas Travelers
- Naturals' Bats Quieted in Loss - Northwest Arkansas Naturals
- Cardinals Swing Past Drillers, 4-2 - Springfield Cardinals
- Cards Outscore Drillers 4-2 - Tulsa Drillers
- Frisco Unable to Hang on in Late Game Rally - Frisco RoughRiders
- Naturals to Host BeerFest at May 31st Game - Northwest Arkansas Naturals
- Burgess Bombs Missions - Corpus Christi Hooks
- Tufts Shuts Down Hounds - Midland RockHounds
- Witherspoon Provides Walkoff Homer Monday - Arkansas Travelers
- Cardinals Knock 17 Hits for 10-4 Win in Tulsa - Springfield Cardinals
- Cards Strike Early to Beat Drillers - Tulsa Drillers
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