TL1 Arkansas Travelers

Cardinals Carousel Around the Bases Sunday

Published on June 11, 2012 under Texas League (TL1)
Arkansas Travelers News Release


Springfield, Missouri - Sunday was a banner day for the Springfield Cardinals and a rather forgettable one for the Arkansas Travelers. The Cards established a franchise record with 24 base hits and tied their all-time high in runs scored in a 20-3 blowout of the Travs at Hammons Field. Oscar Taveras led the way for the Cardinals with four base hits, while Xavier Scruggs (9) banged two home runs and drove in five. Springfield established Texas League season highs in base hits, runs scored, home runs (5) and RBI (19).

The Cards' win is their sixth in seven tried and brings them to within a game of first place in the TL North at 32-29 with nine games remaining in the first half. The loss was the Travs' fifth straight and eliminated them from first half pennant contention at 23-38.

Seven Cardinal batters enjoyed a multi-hit game including Adam Melker, who equaled his extra base hit total from the previous 51 games with a home run and two doubles. Chris Swauger, Audry Perez and Scruggs each collected three base hits. The Cardinals finished with 11 extra base hits including six doubles.

Springfield second baseman Kolten Wong signaled the kind of day it would be when he took Matt Oye deep (6) to begin the bottom of the first inning.

The Travs briefly took the lead in the second inning stringing together a pair of singles from Roberto Lopez and Carlos Ramirez followed by a two-run double from Angel Castillo, who took third on the throw home. Jimmy Swift's RBI groundout plated Castillo for a 3-1 Travs lead.

Oye, who allowed nine runs on 13 base hits in 4.2 innings on Sunday, allowed a pair of RBI singles by Audry Perez and Wong in the second inning to tie the game.

The deciding run came in the fourth inning when Scruss hit a leadoff double and moved to third base when Perez singled off Oye's glove putting runners at the corners. Adam Melker bounced to shortstop where Jean Segura turned a double play, but Scruggs scored to give the Cardinals a 4-3 lead.

In the fifth inning Springfield began to separate from the Travs scoring five runs on Scruggs's first long ball of the day, a booming three-run shot to left center. Melker also provided a two-run blast.

Scruggs hit another home run in the second inning driving in two runs to highlight a four-run rally. Seven more runs crossed the plate in the Springfield eighth inning to finish the scoring.

Tyler Lyons (5-4) enjoyed all the run support and finished six innings allowing three runs on seven hits for the victory.

Springfield hosts the Travs on Monday night at Hammons Field with first pitch set for 7:08 p.m.

Check out the Arkansas Travelers Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Texas League Stories from June 11, 2012


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central