TRAVELERS 7, DRILLERS 0
Three Arkansas pitchers combined to limit Tulsa to two hits, while Brian O'Keefe drove in four runs in the Travelers' victory Wednesday night over Tulsa at ONEOK Field in Tulsa.
Adam Hill (1-1) went 6 innings for the Travelers and limited the Drillers to 1 hit while walking 3 and striking out 5. Collin Kober relieved Hill and gave up a hit in two innings. Jack Anderson pitched a scoreless ninth for Arkansas.
O'Keefe's two-run single started a five-run first for the Travs, who also got an RBI from Jordan Cowan, Joe Rizzo and David Masters in the inning.
O'Keefe ended the scoring with a two-run homer in the top of the fifth. It was O'Keefe's 10th home run of the season.
O'Keefe, Cowan and Josh Morgan all had two hits for the Travs.
Bryan Brickhouse (1-2) allowed 5 hits and 5 runs in two-thirds of an inning for the Drillers.
NATURALS 5, CARDINALS 4
Northwest Arkansas held off a final-inning rally to win the first game of a doubleheader Wednesday night at Hammons Field in Springfield, Mo.
The Naturals led 5-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh before the Cardinals scored twice. Springfield had runners on first and second base with two outs, but the Naturals got Nick Plummer to ground into a force out to third baseman Dennicher Carrasco to put the clamps on the comeback.
Springfield led 2-0 after the first inning, but the Naturals got single runs in the second, third and fourth innings to take a 3-2 lead. Clay Dungan's home run to right field tied the score at 2-2 in the third, while Brhet Bewley's homer to left put the Naturals ahead for good in the fourth.
Dairon Blanco's RBI single in the sixth gave the Naturals a 4-2 advantage, while Nick Pratto scored Bobby Witt Jr. with a double to right to up the lead to 5-2.
Andres Nunez (5-2) pitched a scoreless fourth in relief of Derrick Adams for the victory. Josh Dye collected his seventh save despite allowing the two runs in the bottom of the seventh.