Sherman Johnson went 5 for 5 including two doubles and his third home run of the season Saturday night in leading the Arkansas Travelers to a 9-5 victory over the Springfield Cardinals in front of 5,997 fans at Hammons Field in Springfield, Mo.
Johnson led off the game with a double to right field for the first of his five hits to trigger a three-run inning. Chad Hinshaw's double scored Johnson, and Cal Towey tripled Hinshaw in to make it 2-0. A Wade Wass single made it 3-0.
The Cardinals came back with two runs in the bottom of the first off Kyle McGowin (3-2) who went 6 innings for the Travs, allowing 6 hits and 5 runs while striking out 7. The Arkansas starter was tagged for three home runs, including two in the first, one by leadoff batter Harrison Bader and the other by Luke Volt three batters later.
The Travs came back with a single run in the second to make it 4-2 when Johnson singled with one out and came around to score the second of his four runs when Eric Aguilera was caught in a run down while trying to steal second.
Arkansas added three in the top of the fifth off Springfield starter Mike Mayers (2-2). Again, it was Johnson who led the charge as he led off with a double to right and scored on Andrew Daniel's first home run of the season to make it 6-2. Hinshaw walked with one out and stole second off reliever Chris Perry. Towey followed with a single to center for a five-run lead.
Springfield came right back in the bottom of the fifth on a three-run home run by Bruce Caldwell, his fifth of the season.
Johnson led off the top of the seventh by lining his third home run of the season on reliever John Brebbia's first pitch. Back-to-back singles by Daniel and Aguilera put runners at first and third with no outs before Hinshaw singled to left field to score Daniel to give the Travs a 9-6 lead.
Arkansas then turned the game over to its bullpen. Austin Wood, Tyler DeLoach and Geoff Broussard got through the seventh and eighth by combining to allow a walk and a single. DeLoach struck out the final batter of the seventh and the first two of the eighth for a perfect inning.
Danny Reynolds worked the ninth for the Travs and allowed two singles to put runners on first and third with one out. He got Paul DeJong to fly out to right field before striking out McElroy to end the game.
Besides Johnson's 5 hits, the Travs got multi-hit games from Daniel (3), Hinshaw (2) and Towey (2) who each had 2 RBI.
NATURALS 6, DRILLERS 4
Raul Mondesi's two-out, three-run home run on an 0-2 pitch in the top of the ninth proved the difference as Northwest Arkansas survived squandering a 3-0 lead to win in front of 8,555 at ONEOK Field in Tulsa.
After Caleb Dirks (0-1) got the first two outs of the inning, Ramon Torres reached on an error by Tulsa first baseman Cody Bellinger. Orlando Calixte's single put runners on first and second before Mondesi hit his fifth home run of the season to right-center field to break a 3-3 tie.
The Drillers loaded the bases against Andrew Edwards with two outs in the bottom of the ninth before Alex Verdugo singled to deep shortstop to score Willie Calhoun to trim the deficit to 6-4. Edwards then got Jacob Scavuzzo to ground into a force out at second to end the threat.
Calixte, Frank Schwindel and Hunter Dozier had solo home runs to stake the Naturals to a 3-0 lead through six innings.
Tulsa scored three runs on five hits in the seventh to tie the score at 3-3.
Sports on 05/01/2016