Koperniak Hits for Cycle for Double A Cardinals
AMARILLO, Texas -- Hoosac Valley High School graduate Matt Koperniak Tuesday hit for the cycle and drove in four runs in leading the Springfield Cardinals to an 11-9 win over the Amarillo Sod Poodles in the Double A Texas League.
Hitting in the cleanup spot, Koperniak started his night with an RBI single in the top of the first inning.
In the third, he doubled with two out and scored one batter later to give Springfield a 5-0 lead.
In the fifth, Koperniak hit a two-run home run to left center field with two out to make it a 7-4 game.
After Amarillo rallied with five runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game, 9-9, Koperniak helped Springfield pull ahead for good in the top of the ninth.
After his teammate Nick Dunn hit a two-out homer to center and Jordan Walker singled his way aboard, Koperniak tripled to center field to drive in Walker and give the Cardinals a two-run cushion.
"That was my first triple, so I definitely wasn't expecting to have a night like that," Koperniak told Tyler Maun of the website MiLB.com. "I was just trying to get the barrel on the ball, help the teammates out, help get the 'W.' "
Koperniak's home run in the fifth was his ninth of the season.
Koperniak, a 2016 Hoosac Valley graduate, is hitting .274 with 41 RBIs this season in 81 games with the Cardinals.
His summer also included a brief callup to the St. Louis Cardinals' Triple A affiliate, the Memphis Redbirds, where he played two games, going 2-for-3 with a run scored and a stolen base.
Springfield is 49-54 this summer and in fourth place in the Texas League North. In the second half of the season, Koperniak's club is 18-16 and in second place in the division.
