Cade McGee sent the baseball toward the right-center-field berm, beyond Jonny Farmelo’s retreat to the wall and into Springfield Cardinals history.
McGee’s opposite-field drive capped a five-run first inning Wednesday night at Route 66 Stadium and gave Springfield its single-season record 179th home run. Two innings later, he went deep again, lifting a two-run shot to left and helping turn a record-setting night into a 16-6 rout of the Arkansas Travelers.
The Cardinals piled up 18 hits and five home runs, scoring all 16 of their runs in the first five innings. McGee finished 2-for-4 with two homers, four RBIs and two runs.
Springfield did not need long to overwhelm Arkansas starter Ryan Hawks. Rainiel Rodriguez opened the first-inning trouble with a line-drive single, and a throwing error helped put runners at second and third. Jack Gurevitch’s sacrifice fly brought home Rodriguez before Ryan Campos rolled a run-scoring single into left.
McGee supplied the exclamation point. His drive carried over Farmelo and onto the berm in right-center, a two-run homer that put Springfield ahead 5-0 and pushed the club beyond its previous season home-run mark.
The lineup kept swinging as if the record were merely a checkpoint.
Tai Peete singled with one out in the second, and Rodriguez drove Hawks’ next scoring blow beyond the bullpen in left-center for his 21st homer. After two more batters came to the plate, Gurevitch sent a high fly toward straightaway center. Farmelo reached the wall and jumped, but the ball sailed deep into the batter’s eye for an 8-0 lead.
McGee struck again in the third after Campos singled. This one rose high toward left field and cleared the fence for another two-run homer, completing McGee’s four-RBI night and putting the Cardinals into double figures.
Springfield added two more runs before that inning ended. Ian Petrutz singled, Peete followed with another hit, and Rodriguez’s sharp double to center scored Petrutz. Báez’s groundout brought home Peete for a 12-0 advantage.
The early barrage gave Liam Doyle an enormous cushion, though he hardly needed it through five innings. Doyle held Arkansas without a hit during that stretch, allowing only two walks while striking out five. He earned the win and improved to 7-7, charged with two earned runs over five innings.
By the fifth, the question was no longer whether Springfield would win, but how far the offense would carry the night.
Petrutz started the Cardinals’ final scoring burst with a stand-up triple into right. Peete lined a double to the same side to bring him home, his third hit in his return from the injured list. Rodriguez followed with his fourth hit, putting runners at the corners for Báez.
Báez launched Springfield’s fifth homer high and deep to left, dropping it onto the home-run deck for a three-run shot. His 24th of the season made it 16-0 and tied the Cardinals’ season high for home runs in a game.
Rodriguez finished 4-for-5 with a homer, a double and three RBIs. Peete went 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI, while Báez drove in four. Campos added two hits, an RBI and two runs.
Arkansas broke through with Jonny Farmelo’s three-run homer in the sixth and added three more on Charlie Pagliarini’s homer in the eighth. Randel Clemente and Jack Findlay each contributed a scoreless inning for Springfield, which completed a 16-run, 18-hit night without committing an error.
The Travelers’ late runs changed the final margin. They could not change what McGee and the Cardinals had already made of the evening: a franchise record claimed in the first inning, followed by four more rounds of proof.