Springfield Cardinals Continue Winning Ways, Defeat the Northwest Arkansas Naturals 8-1 to Claim First Place

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com – The Springfield Cardinals picked up their fourth straight victory, winning a rain-shortened game against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals on Wednesday night by a final score of 8-1.  The win for Springfield gets them over the .500 mark for the first time in 2008, as they are now 17-16, one game up on Northwest Arkansas, at the top of the North Division standings.

Wednesday’s game was called before the start of the bottom of the seventh, as the Cards had just added to their lead, thanks to Allen Craig’s two-run homer.  Up 8-1, Cards’ reliever Josh Dew came out of the bullpen to take his warm-up tosses, but wasn’t able to finish, as heavy rain started to fall, signaling the end of the night. 

Springfield got strong pitching performances from starter Jess Todd and reliever Nick Webber, who combined to limit the Naturals to one unearned run on four hits over six innings.  Todd, making his Double-A debut, got into some trouble with his command, but made pitches when he had to, working 3 1/3 scoreless innings.  The former Arkansas Razorback, returning to Northwest Arkansas for the first time since being drafted by St. Louis in the second round out of Arkansas, allowed three walks and two hits, but struck out six. 

Webber (3-1) worked the final 2 2/3 innings, allowing just an unearned run on two hits for his third win of the year. 

Springfield took a 1-0 lead in the third inning against Northwest Arkansas starter Rowdy Hardy (0-3).  Shane Robinson, who finished with his third straight three-hit game, knocked in AJ Van Slyke with a run-scoring single. 

The Cards got five in the fourth to break the game open.  Craig led off the fourth with his first of two homers, his fifth of the year, putting Springfield up 2-0. 

Mark Hamilton followed with a double, then scored on Tyler Greene’s double for a 3-0 lead.  Brandon Yarbrough followed Greene with a single, plating another run to make it 4-0.  Casey Rowlett would pick up an RBI triple, then score on Van Slyke’s RBI groundout, making it 6-0. 

After the Naturals got an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth, Craig answered in the seventh, smacking his second homer of the game, a two-run shot to center field to make it 8-1.  Craig is only the second Cardinal to record a two-homer game this year. 

The Cardinals (17-16) look for their fifth straight win on Thursday night, sending Clayton Mortensen (1-2) to the mound against left-hander Dusty Hughes (2-2) of the Naturals (16-17).  Game time from Arvest Ballpark in Springdale on Thursday is 7:00pm. 

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