A four-run lead wasn't enough for the Arkansas Travelers on Saturday night.
The Travelers (20-14) jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the third inning, then watched as the Drillers (16-18) clawed their way back before a three-run home run by Lars Anderson propelled Tulsa to a 5-4 victory in front of an announced crowd of 8,052 at Dickey-Stephens in North Little Rock.
Trailing 4-2 in the top of the seventh inning, former Travs outfielder Travis Witherspoon led off with a single to center before a fly ball to center dropped between Arkansas center fielder Kentrail Davis and right fielder Cal Towey.
Anderson then gave the Drillers their first lead of the night, and their first since the fourth inning of Thursday's game.
Errors by the Travelers came into play just as much as big hits by the Drillers. The Travs' two errors gave them a 36 errors for the season, which trails only Springfield's league-leading 37.
"I can break down each one of them, and a couple of those were a part of the development that we're trying to teach these guys," Travs Manager Bill Richardson said. "The last one [which dropped between Davis and Towey but wasn't ruled an error] was miscommunication, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed."
The Travelers scored all four of their runs in the third inning.
Catcher Anthony Bemboom led off with a single to right, which was followed by another single to right by D'Arby Myers. Bemboom and Myers came in on a hard-hit double to right-center field by Sherman Johnson.
Johnson went to third on when Drew Maggi dropped a blooper in front of Tulsa right fielder Yadir Drake for a single. Johnson scored and Maggi went to second on a grounder to third by Towey for the first out of the inning. Maggi stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Brian Hernandez to give Trav starter Austin Wood to a 4-0 lead.
The Drillers answered with one run in the top of the fourth when a leadoff walk to Drillers left fielder Peter Lavin came back to haunt Wood. Wood walked Lavin on a full count before getting the next two Drillers out on groundouts, but then he gave up a run-scoring single to Brandon Dixon.
The Drillers' next chance to score was shot down by the arm of Travs right fielder Cal Towey. Drillers third baseman Daniel Mayora hit a fly ball to shallow right with runners on first and third with one out. Towey settled under the ball and easily threw out Witherspoon at home for the third out.
Travs reliever Alan Busenitz made things interesting in the top of the sixth.
Lavin led off with a single to center before being driven in on a double to left by Jeremy Rathjen, bringing the tying run to the plate with no outs. But a first-pitch flyout to left by Shawn Zarraga, followed by a strikeout by Dixon and a groundout by Luis Mateo, left Rathjen stranded on third and the Drillers trailing 4-2.
Busenitz (1-3) picked up the loss, giving up 4 runs on 7 hits in 4 innings of relief. Drillers reliever Matt West (1-0) earned the victory, giving up no runs and no hits over three innings while striking out three.
Sports on 05/17/2015