Cardinals Roll Again Behind Ellis

An impressive outing from starter Chris Ellis lifted Springfield to a 7-3 win over San Antonio Saturday night in front of a Wolff Stadium crowd of 5,991.
Coming off a disappointing series opener Friday night, the Missions turned to southpaw Jerry Keel in the hopes of knotting the series. Keel started off strong, keeping the Cards hitless through two.
However, in the third, Springfield's offense began to click as the visitors tagged Keel for three runs on five hits.
The Cards upped their lead to 6-0 in the fourth with another three-spot against Keel (3-1), capped by Edmundo Sosa's double to left center. Springfield would add another run in the seventh against reliever Jason Jester.
The seven runs were more than enough for Ellis, who stifled the Missions for six innings, allowing just four hits and two walks, while striking out a season-high eight. Ellis (3-0) threw 54 of his 78 pitches for strikes.
San Antonio finally got something going offensively in the seventh against Ellis' replacement, Jacob Evans. Rod Boykin would get the Missions on the board with an infield single. After Forrestt Allday drove in a second run with productive groundout, pinch hitter Ty France made the score 7-3 with a sacrifice fly to left.
The Missions nearly made things more interesting in the eighth, loading the bases with two outs. Unfortunately, for San Antonio, reliever Colton Thomson (1^st save) squashed the comeback hopes by getting Allday to bounce out to first.
San Antonio (30-19) concludes its three-game series with Springfield (26-23) Sunday on Land O'Frost's Memorial Day Weekend Celebration presented by Bud Light. First pitch is slated for 5:05 PM. Colin Rea (ML Rehab) will take the hill for the Missions Sunday. The Cardinals will start fellow righty Anthony Slew (0-1, 15.75). Following the game, Texas Country Music star Pat Green will take the Wolff Stage for the first time. And after Pat Green, there will be a fireworks extravaganza.