Gauthier and Casparius Shine In Tulsa Win
TULSA, OK – Compared to the standards he had set in his three previous seasons in professional baseball, Tulsa infielder Austin Gauthier had started this season slower than expected. After the past two games, that slow start is officially over. Gauthier had his second straight big game Wednesday afternoon at
TULSA, OK – Compared to the standards he had set in his three previous seasons in professional baseball, Tulsa infielder Austin Gauthier had started this season slower than expected. After the past two games, that slow start is officially over. Gauthier had his second straight big game Wednesday afternoon at ONEOK Field, leading the Tulsa Drillers to a 6-3 victory over Northwest Arkansas, ending the club’s three-game losing streak.
Gauthier was perfect at the plate in the victory, going 3-3 with a home run and three runs scored. He also walked once, reaching base all four times he came to the plate.
That performance came on the heels of a 3-4 night the previous game that also included a homer.
In the first two games of the current series with the Naturals, Gauthier is a combined 6-7 with 2 home runs, 2 doubles, 5 runs scored and 3 runs driven in. In those two games, he has raised his season average nearly 80 points from .216 up to .293
The Drillers fell behind early in Wednesday’s victory as both teams overturned deficits in the first two innings of the game. The Naturals’ Dillan Shrum led off the top of the second inning with a home run, but the Drillers answered in the bottom half of the second when Griffin Lockwood-Powell singled and scored on a double from Yeiner Fernandez.
A two-run single by Jose Ramos in the bottom of the third gave the Drillers a short-lived 3-1 lead before Shrum struck again in the top of the fourth. His second home run of the day, a two-run shot into the Tulsa bullpen in right field, again tied the score.
Gauthier put the Drillers in front to stay in the bottom of the fifth with his second home run in as many games and his third of the season.
One batter later, Ramos made it a 5-3 lead with his fifth homer of the year.
Despite the home runs from Shrum, Tulsa starting pitcher Ben Casparius was outstanding, delivering the longest outing this year by a Drillers hurler. Casparius worked six complete innings, allowing the three runs on just three hits while walking two batters and striking out six.
The bullpen was also effective as Ronan Kopp, Jack Dreyer and Jack Little combined to hold the Naturals without a hit over the final three innings with each throwing one scoreless frame.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Drillers.
INSIDE THE GAME
*Despite his lower than expected batting average, Gauthier has found ways to get on base and has now reached base safely in all 16 games this season. He has walked 16 times and has been hit by pitches 4 times.
*Little picked up his first save of the season and just the second for a Tulsa reliever this season.
*Like Gauthier, Ramos enjoyed a big day at the plate, finishing 2-4 with three runs batted in.
*Gauthier accounted for the game’s final run in the seventh inning when he doubled, moved to third on a ground out and raced home on a wild pitch.
*The two homers from Shrum gave him a Texas League-leading six on the season. Ramos is tied for second in the league with his five.
*The three hits for the Naturals were a season low for a Tulsa opponent this season.
*The win was just the second at ONEOK Field this season for the Drillers and left them with a 2-6 home record.
UP NEXT:
The two teams will continue their six-game series on Thursday night at ONEOK Field. Starting time is for 7:00 p.m. and the starting pitchers are expected to be:
NWA – RHP Chandler Champlain (0-1, 7.24 ERA)
TUL - RHP Orlando Ortiz-Mayr (1-1, 6.28 ERA)