SPRINGDALE — Trey Hearne’s comeback took a big step forward against Northwest Arkansas on Sunday.
Hearne pitched seven strong innings to lead Springfield to a 5-2 victory against the Naturals (19-10) in front of 3,753 fans at Arvest Ballpark.
Hearne (2-1) was making his third start for the Cardinals (14-15) after undergoing offseason shoulder surgery.
Hearne was 12-3 and an allstar selection for Springfield last season. But after havingsurgery to repair his labrum, Hearne struggled with Class AAA Memphis before moving down to Springfield.
Hearne allowed 1 run on 4 hits and 4 walks while striking out 4. He was helped by two double plays.
“If he goes out and pitches like this against these guys, the best hitting team in the league, he can do it anywhere,” Springfield Manager Pop Warner said. “That’s what we saw last year.”
Northwest Arkansas Manager Brian Poldberg said Hearne, who is not overpowering, made quality pitches when he needed them.
“He located,” Poldbergsaid. “We chased some bad pitches, but he made some good pitches. He did a good job.”
The Cardinals scored first in the second inning against Naturals starter Alex Caldera. With one out, Pete Kozma singled and advanced to second on Jose Garcia’s grounder.
Antone DeJesus singled to right, and Kozma beat Naturals rightfielder Anthony Seratelli’s throw home to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.
Springfield chased Caldera with two runs in the fifth. After an out, Caldera gave up a single to Steven Hill and a walk to Chris Swauger.
A wild pitch advanced both runners, and Caldera struck out Andrew Brown for the third time in the game. Lefthander Rowdy Hardy relieved Caldera and was greeted with a two-run double by Kozma.
Caldera struggled throughout the game, throwing 105 pitches before being relieved, and gave up 6 hits and 4 while striking out 7 in 4 2 /3 innings.
“They had a lot of base runners,” Poldberg said. “They went deep in counts. [105 pitches] is not very good.”
The Cardinals added a run against Hardy in the sixth. DeJesus led off with a bunt single and moved to third on Tommy Pham’s single.
Tony Cruz then broke hisbat on a grounder, where Chris McConnell fielded the ball, avoided the broken bat and threw out Pham at second. DeJesus scored on the play to give Springfield a 4-0 lead.
Hill singled in a run against Hardy in the eighth for the Cardinals. With the hit, Hill improved to 7 for 7 with 2 home runs against Hardy this year.
Five runs, though, were more than enough for Hearne.
Hearne pitched six shutout innings before Seratelli hit a one-out home run to right field in the seventh.
The Naturals added a run in the eighth when Eric Hosmer homered with two outs against Cardinals reliever Adam Reifer. Paulo Orlandofollowed with a single and moved to third on Tim Smith’s single, but Reifer retired Jamie Romak to end the threat.
S’FIELD AB R H BI NWA AB R H BI Pham lf 6 0 3 0 DRobinson lf 5 0 1 0 Cruz dh 5 0 1 1 Giavotella 2b 5 0 0 0 Carpenter 3b 5 1 1 0 Hosmer 1b 3 1 1 1 Hill c 4 1 3 1 Orlando cf 3 0 2 0 Swauger rf 4 1 0 0 Smith dh 3 0 1 0 Brown 1b 4 0 0 0 Romak 3b 3 0 0 0 Kozma ss 4 1 3 2 Seratelli rf 4 1 3 1 Garcia 2b 5 0 1 0 Howell c 4 0 1 0 DeJesus cf 4 1 3 1 McConnell ss 2 0 0 0 CRobinson ph 0 0 0 0 TOTALS 41 5 15 5 TOTALS 32 2 9 2 Springfield (14-15) ..010 021 010 - 5 15 0 NW Arkansas (19-10) 000 000 110 - 2 9 0 LOB - Springfield 16, NW Arkansas 9. 2B - Kozma, Hill. HR - Seratelli (2), Hosmer (5). SB - Kozma, Hill. CS - Orlando.
SPRINGFIELD IP H E ER BB SO Hearne (W, 2-1) ...7 4 1 1 4 4 Reifer ....................1 4 1 1 0 0 Samuel (S, 4) .......1 1 0 0 1 1 NW ARKANSAS IP H E ER BB SO Caldera (L, 3-1) ..4 2 /3 6 3 3 4 7 Hardy ..................4 1 /3 9 2 2 2 4 WP - Caldera 2, Hardy 3. HBP - Hosmer (by Hearne); Carpenter (by Hardy). Umpires - Ortiz, Gosney, Hertzog. Time - 3:05. Attendance - 3,753.
Sports, Pages 15 on 07/26/2010