Arkansas Travelers starter Nate Smith put the Texas League North Division All-Stars in a hole Tuesday night, but Travs' teammate Brian Hernandez and Northwest Arkansas Naturals outfielder Jorge Bonifacio helped dig them out.
Hernandez hit an RBI single in the fourth and Bonifacio's two-run home run in the eighth inning broke a tie game and the North scored five runs in the final two innings of a 9-4 victory over the South at Whataburger Field in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Bonifacio also drew a bases-loaded walk in a three-run ninth inning while finishing 1 for 4 with 3 RBI and earning MVP honors. Fellow Natural Balbino Fuenmayor went 3 for 4 with 1 RBI and 1 run scored, while Hernandez went 2 for 5. Designated hitter Drew Maggi and second baseman Sherman Johnson, both of the Travelers, each scored runs for the North.
It didn't start off that well for the North.
Smith gave up home runs to lead off each of the first two innings, first to San Antonio's Travis Jankowski and then to Midland's Ryon Healy as the South took an early 2-0 lead.
The North tied it with runs in the third and fourth, and two Travelers helped them go up 4-2 in the fifth. Johnson led off with a single and later scored on a single from Springfield's Charlie Tilson, who later scored on a Hernandez single.
The South got two runs off the Travelers' Albert Suarez in the fifth and the game was tied 4-4 entering the top of the eighth inning.
There, Tilson singled and Bonifacio, who has hit 13 home runs this season, hit a 1-2 pitch from San Antonio's Tayron Guerrero over the fence in left field to make it 6-4.
In the ninth, Corpus Christi reliever Jandel Gustave walked two batters and hit another to load the bases with one out, and Tilson's fielder's choice scored one run before Bonifacio drew a bases-loaded walk and Fuenmayor added the final run with a sacrifice fly.
Springfield's Kyle Barraclough and Tulsa's Jeremy Horst combined to pitch a hitless ninth, with Horst earning the save. Tulsa's Chris Anderson earned the victory after pitching a perfect seventh.
Suarez gave up two runs in the fifth, while Chris O'Grady pitched a perfect sixth.
Sports on 07/01/2015