The race for the Texas League's second-half North Division title is pretty simple for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals and the Arkansas Travelers now.
After the Travelers' 5-0 home loss to Springfield on Friday and a 7-1 Naturals victory over the Tulsa Drillers in Springdale, whoever wins two of three games in Springdale starting tonight takes the title and makes the playoffs. The teams tied atop the division.
Today’s game
ARKANSAS AT NW ARKANSAS
WHEN 6:05 p.m.
WHERE Arvest Ballpark, Springdale
RADIO KARN-AM, 920, in central Arkansas; KQSM-FM 92.1, in Northwest Arkansas.
WEBSITE travs.com, nwanaturals.com
PITCHERS Travelers: Chris O’Grady (LHP, 8-2, 3.45 ERA); Naturals: Glenn Sparkman (RHP, 2-6, 5.20)
TICKETS Gates open 1 hour before first pitch. Super premium $13, premium $11, $9 reserved, $8 grass berm
A LOOK AHEAD
TODAY at NW Arkansas, 6:05 p.m.
SUNDAY at NW Arkansas, 6:05 p.m.
MONDAY at NW Arkansas, 1:05 p.m.
Springfield cranked out 12 hits off Travelers starter Jordan Kipper (12-7), who was named to the Texas League postseason All-Star team Wednesday. Cardinals starter Ian McKinney (1-0) baffled the Travelers, striking out three and giving up just three hits over six innings.
"Baseball's just weird some times," Arkansas Manager Mark Parent said. "They beat us 5-0 and a lot of those were choppers, infield singles ... it wasn't like they were knocking the ball around. And, that's like last night. We score eight runs in the eighth and we didn't hit the ball very hard either."
The Cardinals battered the Travelers in front of an announced crowd of 9,545 at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
"We feel good about the way that we match up with [Northwest Arkansas] and we're just looking to go out there and play ball," Parent said.
The Cardinals jumped on the Travelers early, scoring one run in the top of the second.
Springfield began the inning with consecutive singles from first baseman Luke Voit and designated hitter Jonathan Rodriguez, before both players moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Jacob Wilson. Voit was thrown out at home on a fielder's choice to first base by Alex Mejia. The Cardinals got on the board with another single -- this one to right field by Blake Drake scoring Rodriguez.
The Cardinals followed that up with two more in the third.
Vaughn Bryan led off with a single, followed by a four-pitch walk to Harrison Bader and a single to left by Paul DeJong to load the bases. Voit hit into a double-play that scored Bryan. Rodriguez walked to put two runners on. Jacob Wilson scored DeJong with a sharp-hit double to left, but Sean Coyle threw out Rodriguez on a relay from Caleb Adams to end the rally with Springfield ahead 3-0.
The Cardinals added a run in the fifth and another in the sixth. Rodriguez drove in DeJong in the fifth and Bader drove in Vaughn in the sixth.
The Travelers squandered an opportunity in the fourth. David Fletcher and Alex Yarbrough led off the inning with four-pitch walks before Andrew Daniel hit into a double play and Jabari Henry struck out swinging to end the rally with Fletcher at third base.
The only other time the Travelers got a runner into scoring position was in the bottom of the ninth when right fielder Anthony Phillips led off with a walk, followed by a single to center from Coyle. But Fletcher struck out swinging, Yarbrough lined out to center and Daniel grounded out to shortstop.
Sports on 09/03/2016