Class AA Springfield’s historic season ends with Texas League Division Series loss
A season for Class AA Springfield that began with a franchise-record nine-game win streak and reached a franchise-best 79 wins ended on Friday night in a 6-5 loss to Arkansas in Game 3 of the Texas League Division Series at Hammons Field in Springfield, Missouri.
Springfield found itself down 5-0 entering the start of the fifth inning but pieced together five runs in the bottom half of the fifth to tie the ballgame. Arkansas retook a lead two outs into the sixth inning when Jack Ralston allowed a solo homer to Victor Labrada.
Catcher Jimmy Crooks, who batted .321 with a Class AA-leading .908 on-base plus slugging percentage, reached base with a one-out single in the ninth inning as the S-Cards looked to make a comeback that would extend their season. The potential ninth-inning comeback was quieted with a flyout from Matt Lloyd and a swinging strikeout of Leonardo Bernal that ended the game with pinch-runner Chris Rotondo stranded on first base.
The loss prevented the S-Cards, who finished a franchise-best 20 games above .500 under manager Jose Leger, from advancing to their first Texas League Championship Series since 2012.
To claw back into Game 3 after starter Trent Baker allowed three runs in 1 1/3 innings and Ralston gave up two runs in the fifth, Springfield received a one-out double from Texas League batting champion Bryan Torres to get their five-run inning started.
Torres, who stole third base after his double, scored on a single from Nathan Church. Church's single was followed by a single from Crooks that set the table for Lloyd to make it a one-run game with his three-run homer off reliever Peyton Alford that cleared the right-center field wall.
A two-out double from Noah Mendlinger off Garrett Davila, who replaced Alford after Lloyd's homer, put the game-tying run in scoring position. A single from Jacob Buchberger in the at-bat that followed scored Mendlinger and leveled the ballgame five runs apiece.
Following Labrada's homer in the top of the sixth inning, Springfield had runners on first and second base in the bottom of the sixth when Torres walked with one out and Crooks was hit by a pitch with two outs in the frame. That scoring threat ended on a ground out from Lloyd.
In the eighth inning, R.J. Yeager reached base safely on a single to lead off the frame. But just as it happened in the inning that followed, Springfield could not advance the potential game-tying run past first base.
