Cards Take Series with 10 Inning Win
April 22, 2013 - Texas League (TL1) - Arkansas Travelers News Release
North Little Rock, AR - Sunday afternoon at Dickey-Stephens Park the Springfield Cardinals defeated the Travs 3-1 in 10 innings. Springfield's Richard Castillo, Deryk Hooker and Michael Blazek combined to retire the final 13 Arkansas batters in order.
The Travelers, who came into the game with the hopes of splitting the four-game series with Springfield, took an early 1-0 lead the third inning. Travis Witherspoon led off by doubling to the wall in left. Witherspoon advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Jett Bandy and then scored on a single to center by Rolando Gomez.
Travs starter Mike Piazza began the game by retiring the first eight batters he faced.
Springfield got in the run column in the fifth after a leadoff double was looped down the line in left by Adam Melker. Starlin Rodriguez sacrifice bunted Melker to third and Vance Albitz hit a sacrifice fly to left to tie the score.
The Travs turned the game over to the bullpen in the sixth. Michael Cisco held Springfield at bay for two innings. Caleb Graham and Buddy Boshers added one shutout frame apiece to keep the game knotted a 1-1.
In the last of the ninth the Travs sent the trio of Kaleb Cowart, Matt Long and C.J. Cron to the plate. However, Hooker remained sharp and retired the side in order.
In the tenth the Cards used an infield single to short by Rodriguez to start a rally against Arkansas RH Kevin Johnson. Neal Pritchard attempted to sacrifice Rodriguez to second with a bunt in front of the plate. Travs catcher Jett Bandy tried to record the force out at second but Rodriguez slid in ahead of the play. Vance Albitz followed by again sacrifice bunting to move the runners up. After an intentional pass was issued to Mike O'Neill, Tommy Pham blooped a single just out of Cron's reach behind first base with a full count to right that broke the tie.
Springfield added one more in the inning on a fielder's choice by Ruben Gotay. Michael Blazek finished the game by pitching the bottom of the inning to record his third save of the season.
Deryk Hooker earned the victory to move to 1-0. Johnson took the loss and fell to 0-1.
Matt Long and C.J. Cron each had hit streaks of 10 games and 7 games, respectively, snapped during Sunday's finale.
Rolando Gomez tallied two of the Travs four hits.
Arkansas now begins an eight-game road trip Monday night at Tulsa. Jarrett Grube starts for the Travs against Tulsa's Christian Bergman. Coverage begins at 6:40 with the Travs Dugout Show on Sports Animal 920. Game time is 7:05.
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