TRAVELERS 7, CARDINALS 5
Josh Morgan hit two home runs, including a grand slam in the top of the seventh inning to break a 3-3 tie, and the Arkansas Travelers held on for a victory over the Springfield Cardinals on Friday night at Hammons Field in Springfield, Mo.
Morgan finished 2 for 5 and drove in 6 runs and scored twice for the Travs.
The Travs rallied with two outs in the top of the seventh inning. David Masters and Connor Lien walked to load the bases for Morgan, who hit a 1-2 pitch off Cardinals reliever Ramon Santos (2-1) to left field to clear the bases.
Springfield cut the lead to 7-4 in the bottom of the eighth inning on Aaron Antonini's home run and pulled within 7-5 on Alec Burleson's solo shot that led off the bottom of the ninth inning.
Travs reliever Darin Gillies got Luken Baker to strike out, Brendan Donovan to fly out and Nick Plummer to ground out to end the game.
Penn Murfee (2-1) allowed 3 runs on 3 hits in 6 innings to earn the victory for the Travs. He also struck out seven batters and walked one.
Gillies picked up his fifth save of the season.
For Springfield, Nolan Gorman homered twice. Gorman's two-run shot in the bottom of the first inning gave the Cardinals a 2-0 lead and his solo shot in the bottom of the sixth tied the game at 3-3. He finished 2 for 4 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored.
-- Democrat-Gazette Press Services