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TL1 Arkansas Travelers

Travs Come Back Against Cards For 4-3

August 30, 2009 - Texas League (TL1)
Arkansas Travelers News Release


NORTH LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS - Down by three runs in the third inning the Arkansas Travelers came from behind to post a 4-3 victory in ten innings against the Springfield Cardinals on Sunday afternoon. Batting with the bases loaded and no outs, Brian Walker was hit by a pitch from Gary Daley (L, 0-1) to force in the winning run. Hank Conger (10) hit a game-tying solo home run in the eighth inning and the combination of Ryan Aldridge and David Herndon (W, 5-6) held the Cardinals without a run for the final five innings.

With wins in four of five games, the Travs step into third base alone ahead of the Cardinals by one game in the standings.

Right hander Jeremy Thorne was called up from Rancho Cucamonga to make his class AA debut for the Travs. Taking the place of Alex Torres, who was traded to TampaBay on Friday, Thorne matched up against Springfield right hander Lance Lynn, who brought the Texas League's second-lowest ERA. Thorne held his own during a five-inning no-decision, allowing three runs on six base hits with one walk and three strikeouts.

The Cardinals got Lynn a 3-0 lead to work with getting a solo home run from Pete Kozma (6) in the third and a bases-loaded two-run single by Tony Cruz in the fourth inning. Springfield also made two outs on the bases in the fourth as Tyler Henley, who reached on a walk, attempted to advance to third base on Cruz's single but was caught in a rundown and tagged out by Hainley Statia. Aaron Luna followed with a double off the left-field fence, but Coby Smith fired to Statia and pegged Cruz at the plate for the third out.

Lynn allowed no base hits over three innings, but Nate Sutton led off the fourth with a bunt to third base for a single. Mark Trumbo smashed a double past third base to move Sutton to third, and he scored on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Mount.

Statia reached in the fifth inning with a one-out double to left-center and scored when Smith tripled into right-center. Lynn stranded two runners in the sixth inning and finished with two runs allowed on six base hits, two walks and he tied his season high with seven strikeouts.

Aftere tossing a 1-2-3 fifth inning, Thorne came back for the sixth and allowed a leadoff single to Donovan Solano. Aldridge relieved and induced a double play off the bat of designated hitter Andrew Brown. Hill took a walk and Tyler Henley reached base on a fielding error by Mount, but Smith caught a sinking line drive by Cruz to leave the base runners.

Marco Gonzalez pitched a perfect seventh inning for the Cardinals and gave way to Eduardo Sanchez in the eighth. Conger came up with one out and hammered a 1-0 fastball over the right-field fence to tie the game. Mount then doubled and took third base on a two-out wild pitch. After pinch hitter Jay Caligiuri walked, Solano grabbed a hard grounder hit by Statia past second base and flipped to Kozma for a force play ending the eighth.

Herndon had come on in the eighth inning and left a base runner before tossing a scoreless ninth inning thanks to a home run saving catch made by Sutton on a drive hit by Luna to the right-field fence.

The Cardinals had a chance to break the tie score in the tenth inning as Jim Rapoport led off with a high bouncer to the mound. Herndon waited for the ball to come down to him and threw wildly past first base giving Rapoport second base. A sacrifice bunt by Solano moved Rapoport to third base then Herndon intentionally walked Brown. Herndon buckled down a got Hill to pop up before Henley bounced to third.

Daley came on to pitch the tenth and wasn't able to find the strike zone. He issued walks to the first two batters putting Conger and Mount on base. Ivan Contreras pinch ran for Conger and beat a throw to third base when Ortiz laid a sacrifice in front of Hill. Walker fell behind in the count 0-2 before being hit by the final pitch on his foot.

Time of game was 3:01 and the paid attendance was 4,241.

The Travs and Redbirds wrap up the four-game series on Monday night at Dickey-StephensPark. Arkansas has right hander Tim Kiely (4-2, 4.98) pitching while the Cardinals have righty Scott Gorgen (3-4, 5.28) on the mound.

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