Ryan Hawks spent most of Wednesday night pitching from the stretch, and Springfield kept making each crowded inning hurt. By the time the Arkansas starter completed three innings, the Cardinals had hit four home runs against him and built a 12-run lead on their way to a 16-6 rout of the Travelers at Route 66 Stadium.
Hawks fell to 5-8 after allowing seven earned runs over three innings. An Arkansas throwing error helped prolong a five-run first, but Springfield needed little additional help while piling up 18 hits and five homers.
The trouble gathered quickly in the opening inning. Rainiel Rodriguez singled, then reached third on Austin St. Laurent’s throwing error as Jesús Báez took second. Jack Gurevitch’s sacrifice fly brought home the first run, Ryan Campos followed with a run-scoring ground-ball single to left, and Cade McGee supplied the blow that broke the inning open.
McGee drove Hawks’ pitch deep toward center, beyond a retreating Jonny Farmelo and over the wall for an opposite-field, two-run homer. The swing left Arkansas in a 5-0 hole before its starter escaped the first.
Springfield did not let the game settle. Tai Peete singled with one out in the second, and Rodriguez launched a two-run homer to left-center. Gurevitch added a solo shot later in the inning, pushing the margin to 8-0.
McGee struck again before Hawks recorded an out in the third. Campos opened with a single, and McGee sent a drive to left that stayed fair for his second two-run homer of the night. Rodriguez added an RBI double and Báez brought home another run on a groundout, giving Springfield a 12-0 lead through three innings.
McGee finished with two homers and four RBIs. Rodriguez went 4-for-5 with a homer, a double and three RBIs.
Ty Cummings stopped the scoring for an inning before Springfield added four more in the fifth. Ian Petrutz tripled and scored on Peete’s double, then Rodriguez singled and Báez lifted a breaking ball out to left for a three-run homer. The lead had reached 16-0, and the competitive portion of the night was over. Cummings allowed four earned runs in two innings, striking out four without issuing a walk.
Arkansas had gone without a hit through five innings, but its first one began its best response. St. Laurent doubled to right and Bill Knight walked, prompting Springfield to replace Liam Doyle with José Davila. Farmelo greeted the reliever by driving a fastball through the still night and over the wall in center for a three-run homer.
Farmelo’s third homer with Arkansas traveled 408 feet and came off the bat at 105 mph, cutting the deficit to 16-3. Hunter Fitz-Gerald later tripled to right but was stranded.
The Travelers produced another three-run swing in the eighth. Knight and Farmelo walked before Charlie Pagliarini drove Nolan Sparks’ pitch out to right-center. Pagliarini’s 27th homer tied Hunter Fitz-Gerald for the team lead and pulled Arkansas within 10 runs.
Those two swings accounted for all of the Travelers’ scoring. Farmelo went 1-for-3 with a walk and three RBIs, while Pagliarini drove in three in a 1-for-4 night. Arkansas finished with five hits.
Tyler Cleveland gave the Travelers two scoreless innings, retiring all six batters he faced with one strikeout. St. Laurent moved from the field to the mound for the eighth and worked around two singles with a double play, adding a scoreless inning to his earlier double and run scored.
By then, Arkansas had found some late power but no path out of the crater Springfield opened across the first three innings. The Cardinals scored five in the first, three in the second and four in the third, turning the rest of the night into a chase the Travelers could only narrow.