Chris Ellis pitched seven complete innings and Jesse Jenner drove in four runs as Springfield rallied to drop Corpus Christi 7-5 Sunday at Whataburger Field before 4,478.
Three of the five runs Ellis (5-6) permitted reached base via walk or hit-by-pitch. He allowed just four hits and struck out nine in a 102-pitch, 68-strike performance.
Ellis grappled with wildness early and it cost him a first-inning run. He walked lead-off man Jason Martin and Ramon Laureano, and an out later it was 1-0 Corpus Christi, Jon Singleton lacing an RBI single into right field.
Ellis plunked Martin to begin the Hooks third before getting Laureano and Kyle Tucker on called third strikes. Singleton singled again, and Martin, moving from first to third, bounced up to score when right fielder Magneuris Sierra delivered the ball wide of the bag. Dexture McCall then produced a hustling RBI double for a 3-0 Hooks lead.
Corpus Christi starter Brock Dykxhoorn had little trouble during the first three frames and worked around two singles in the fourth. The Cardinals mounted a three-run attack in his final inning, nine-hole hitter Jenner clubbing a homer after Jacob Wilson singled and Tommy Edman reached on an error charged to first baseman McCall.
Dykxhoorn, who turned the game over to Josh James (4-5), finished with two earned runs, four hits, two walks, and five strikeouts.
Springfield snapped the brief 3-3 deadlock by batting around and posting four runs. Oscar Mercado capped the rally, his two-run single plating Randy Arozarena and Edman, who’d drawn a bases-loaded walk. Jenner accounted for the other run batted in. Anthony Garcia’s single sparked the uprising. Two of the runs were unearned, as second baseman Ryne Birk mishandled third baseman Trent Woodward’s throw on a force play.
Woodward answered, popping a two-run shot over the left-field fence and drawing the Hooks to within 7-5 through six.
Landon Beck faced the two-inning minimum while fanning four to earn his fifth save.
The Hooks travel to Tulsa and Springfield for six games Tuesday through Sunday, returning home vs.