TL1 Arkansas Travelers

Swift Lifts Travs with Ninth Inning Homer

Published on June 6, 2013 under Texas League (TL1)
Arkansas Travelers News Release


Springfield, Mo.-- Thursday night the Arkansas Travelers rallied for three ninth inning runs to come from behind to defeat Springfield, 4-3. With the Travs down to their final out, Jimmy Swift launched a two-run home run to center that gave the Travs their first lead of the game. Arkansas now leads the Cardinals by two games in the North Division Standings, and can record a four-game sweep of Springfield with a win on Friday.

Springfield opened the scoring in the bottom of the second against Arkansas RH Brandon Hynick when Xavier Scruggs led off the frame by hitting a solo homer. The home run for Scruggs marked his fifth of the season against Arkansas, and ended an 0-for-8 stretch that included seven strikeouts against the Travs in the series. Two batters later, Cody Stanley gave the Cards their largest lead of the series by making the score 2-0 on his first career Double-A home run.

Springfield LH Ryan Sherriff kept the Travs without a hit until the fourth inning when Jimmy Swift opened the frame with a single. C.J. Cron followed with a double that advanced Swift to third. That brought Randal Grichuk to the plate with no outs. Grichuk lofted a sac fly to center which scored Swift, and cut the deficit to a run. However, Sherriff retired Lindsey and Cowart consecutively to end the inning with the Cards still up by a 2-1 score.

The Cards canceled out the Travs run in the next half inning. Ruben Gotay opened the inning with a double and advanced to third on a single by Xavier Scruggs. Still with no outs, Adam Melker hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Gotay, and again the Cards led by two.

The Travs threatened with two outs in the fifth inning against Sherriff. After Sherriff retired the first two the he faced in the inning, Sherriff issued a walk to Travis Witherspoon. With the Travs now back to the top of their batting order, Witherspoon took off for second and stole his twelfth base of the season. However, Sherriff ended the inning one batter later by forcing Rolando Gomez to fly out in foul grounds in left field.

Arkansas again mounted a rally with two outs against Sherriff in the sixth. After the first two went in order, Grichuk singled and moved to third on a double by Taylor Lindsey. With the tying runs now in scoring position, Kaleb Cowart had a chance to even the score with a single. However, he hit a ground ball to third that was handled by Gotay to end the inning.

Brandon Hynick exited after six innings and retired the final eight batters that he faced. Springfield also lifted their starting pitcher after six innings, ending the night of Sherriff. The southpaw allowed only a run on four hits in six innings.

Facing the Cards bullpen in the seventh the Travs put another potential rally together. The Travs loaded the bases with one out with Jimmy Swift and C.J. Cron due up. Springfield pulled LH Jonathan Cornelius at that point, electing to have RH Kevin Thomas pitch. Thomas did his job and then some, as he struck out both Swift and Cron to keep the Cards up 3-1 at stretch time.

Nick Maronde pitched the seventh inning for Arkansas and kept the Travs within two despite allowing a pair of singles to Adam Melker and Cody Stanley with one out. Maronde got out of the jam by getting Luis Mateo to line into an inning ending double play to Cowart at third.

Still trailing 3-1 in the eighth inning, Arkansas went down in order against three different Springfield pitchers in the frame.Randal Grichuk flew out against Thomas, Taylor Lindsey grounded out against Justin Wright, and Kaleb Cowart popped out to left while facing Deryk Hooker.

After Caleb Graham retired the Cards in order in the bottom of the eighth, Deryk Hooker returned to pitch the ninth inning. Hooker struck out the first two he faced in the ninth, but allowed a single to Witherspoon that kept the game going.

The would prove costly for Hooker and the Cards. With Rolando Gomez batting, Witherspoon stole second and later came home on a base hit by Gomez to make the score 3-2. Jimmy Swift was next up for the Travs and was batting with the tying run on base. With the count 0-1, Swift hammered Hooker's offering over the wall in center to give the Travs their first lead of the game.

C.J. Cron followed Swift with a single which marked four consecutive two-out hits for the Travs in the ninth inning. Hooker got out of the inning one batter later by forcing Grichuk to fly out to left.

Josh Judy entered in the ninth for Travs in search of his second save of the series. Like Hooker in the top of the inning, Judy retired the first two he raced in order before finding trouble. Xavier Scruggs singled and Adam Melker walked to bring the winning run to the plate with two outs. However, Judy forced Mateo to ground out to Cron at first to end the game as the Travs held on to win 4-3.

Caleb Graham picked up his first win after pitching a scoreless eighth inning. Hooker was hit with his second loss, and Judy recorded his fourth save.

Arkansas aims to finish off the four-game sweep of Springfield at Hammons Field on Friday at 7:09 p.m. The contest marks the final time the Travs and Cards meet in the first half of the season. Arkansas sends LH Michael Roth to the mound in the finale. Coverage of the game begins at 6:45 p.m. with the Travs Dugout Show on Sports Animal 920.

Check out the Arkansas Travelers Statistics

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Texas League Stories from June 6, 2013


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