Josh Morgan Homers Twice; Travs Come Back to Top Cards

Springfield, MO—Josh Morgan hit a pair of go-ahead home runs including a grand slam in the 7th inning to push the Arkansas Travelers to a 7-5 win over the Springfield Cardinals on Friday night. Penn Murfee pitched six innings and earned the win, striking out seven. Murfee stayed in the game around a weather delay of 1:01 between the second and third innings. Jack Anderson, Collin Kober and Darin Gillies each pitched an inning to close it out with Gillies picking up his fifth save.

Moments That Mattered

* Arkansas loaded the bases on walks with two outs in the seventh before Morgan launched a fly ball into the left field bullpen to give Arkansas the lead.

* In the bottom of the seventh the Travs turned an inning ending double play with help from the infield fly rule. Runners were at first and second with one out and David Vinsky hit a pop up that dropped just onto the outfield grass in shallow centerfield but the call of infield fly had been made putting Vinsky out. The runner at first, Nick Plummer did not realize that the infield fly was in effect and took off for second. Connor Lien picked the ball up and threw to Connor Kopach who tracked down Plummer and tagged him out to end the inning.

Notable Travs Performances

* 3B Josh Morgan: 2-5, 2 HR, 6 RBI

* RHP Penn Murfee: Win, 6 IP, 3 H, 3 R, BB, 7 K, 2 HR

News and Notes

* Morgan became the second Trav this week to homer twice including a grand slam and drive in six runs in a game this week joining Brian O’Keefe (Wednesday).

* Four Travelers have had a multi-homer game this season.

* The two home runs and six runs batted in were both career highs for Josh Morgan.

Up Next

Right-hander Devin Sweet (1-2, 4.78) makes the start on Saturday night against righty Andre Pallante (2-1, 2.51) for Springfield. First pitch is set for 6:05 and the game will be broadcast on AM 920 the Sports Animal, the First Pitch App and milb.tv.