CLASS AA-CENTRAL

TRAVELERS 18, CARDINALS 12

Jack Larsen hit his first home run of the season Wednesday -- a grand slam that keyed an 11-run seventh inning that gave the Arkansas Travelers a victory over the Springfield Cardinals in front of 2,692 fans at Hammons Field in Springfield, Mo.

Larsen also had a two-run double in the second inning that gave the Travelers a 2-1 lead. Jake Scheiner scored on Bobby Honeyman's groundout in the third inning to push the lead to 3-1 before the Cardinals got solo home runs from Ivan Herrera and Luken Baker, as well as an RBI triple from Irving Lopez and a sacrifice fly from David Vinsky to take a 5-3 lead after five innings.

Arkansas took the lead for good with a four-run sixth inning. Austin Shenton hit a three-run double on a 1-2 pitch and scored on Larsen's sacrifice fly to give the Travs a 7-5 lead before their big seventh inning. Stephen Wrenn had a two-run double in the seventh, while Joe Rizzo added a two-run single and a three-run double in the inning.

Herrera hit his second home run of the game -- a three-run shot -- in the seventh, and Baker added a grand slam in the eighth to close the scoring. Herrera's two home runs give him eight for the season, while Baker now has 17.

Rizzo finished 4 for 5 with 5 RBI and 3 runs scored for the Travs, while Wrenn was 3 for 4 with 4 runs scored and 2 RBI. Shenton, Larsen and Patrick Frick had two hits each. Starter Adam Hill (4-2) got the win on the mound after allowing 5 earned runs on 8 hits with 6 strikeouts in 5 innings.

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