Sammy Siani sent a drive soaring toward right-center field in the eighth inning, and for a moment Arkansas had life in a game that had spent most of the night slipping away. His grand slam pulled the Travelers within three runs, close enough to make Springfield sweat but not close enough to erase the damage already done.
The Travelers put one more runner aboard after Siani’s sixth home run of the season, but he did not score. Springfield then retired the heart of the order in the ninth to close out a 10-7 Arkansas loss Tuesday at Route 66 Stadium.
Siani finished 2-for-4 and drove in four runs, providing the largest jolt in a three-homer night for the Travelers. His late swing gave Arkansas six outs to complete the comeback. Those outs disappeared without another run.
The Travelers had been chasing the game almost from the moment they grabbed control of it.
Hunter Fitz-Gerald opened the second inning with a fly-ball double to center, and Caleb Cali followed two batters later by driving a ball deep to left. It stayed fair and carried out for Cali’s 20th home run, giving Arkansas a 2-0 lead and making him the fourth Traveler to reach that mark this season.
Springfield answered before the inning was over. Ryan Campos and Cade McGee singled against Will Armbruester, and Ian Petrutz drove them both home with a three-run shot over the center-field wall. A two-run advantage had become a one-run deficit in three batters.
Armbruester’s trouble continued in the third. Deniel Ortiz and Campos reached with two outs before McGee lined a two-run double to left, stretching Springfield’s lead to 5-2 and ending Armbruester’s night. The right-hander took the loss after allowing five earned runs in 2⅔ innings.
Charlie Pagliarini kept Arkansas within reach by lining his 26th homer to right-center in the fourth. Springfield answered with a sacrifice fly in the bottom half, but the Travelers still entered the late innings facing a manageable 6-3 deficit. Sam Whiting limited the Cardinals to one earned run over 2⅓ innings, and Marcelo Perez followed with a scoreless sixth.
That margin did not survive the seventh.
Perez hit Rainiel Rodriguez and Jesús Báez to begin the inning. Jack Gurevitch followed by pulling a drive down the left-field line, where it stayed fair near the corner for a three-run homer. Ortiz then sent the next ball out to left-center. The back-to-back home runs completed a four-run inning, pushed Springfield’s lead to 10-3 and left Perez charged with four earned runs in one inning.
Arkansas’ response came quickly in the eighth. Fitz-Gerald singled, Josh Caron doubled to right and Cali walked, filling the bases with nobody out. Siani unloaded to right-center, turning a seven-run deficit into a three-run game with one swing.
Josh Hood and Bill Knight were retired before Jonny Farmelo was hit by a pitch, giving Arkansas one more chance to extend the inning. Boston Smith grounded out, and Chen-Wei Lin returned for the ninth to finish a 3⅓-inning save.
Fitz-Gerald went 2-for-5 with a double and scored twice, while Cali added a walk to his milestone homer. Arkansas finished with seven runs on 10 hits and committed no errors, but Springfield’s three home runs—and the nine runs charged to Armbruester and Perez—proved too much to overcome.
Conor Larkin supplied two scoreless innings after the Cardinals’ seventh-inning burst. By then, Siani’s grand slam could change the mood and the margin. It could not change the result.