Drillers Fight Off Late Wichita Rally
Wichita, KS – The Tulsa Drillers received another outstanding start on the mound from Chris Campos in his second Double-A game on Wednesday night. The California native left the game with a 2-1 lead, but Wichita rallied late to tie the game in the ninth inning. Tulsa scored the placed
Wichita, KS – The Tulsa Drillers received another outstanding start on the mound from Chris Campos in his second Double-A game on Wednesday night. The California native left the game with a 2-1 lead, but Wichita rallied late to tie the game in the ninth inning. Tulsa scored the placed runner in the top of the tenth and held on for the 3-2 win at Riverfront Stadium.
The win salvaged one victory for the Drillers in the three-game series, and Wichita still holds an 8-7 advantage in this season’s Coors Light Propeller Series.
Tulsa tallied the first runs in the game for the first time in the series. In the top of the third, Bubba Alleyne singled with one out and scored on a double by Alex Freeland. One batter later, Taylor Young drove in Freeland with a single to give the Drillers a 2-0 lead.
Campos held the Wind Surge scoreless through the first three innings, but an unearned run scored in the fourth after an error from Damon Keith.
Campos once again completed six innings and allowed just one run on four hits and two walks. He topped his strikeout mark from his previous start by fanning six batters.
Reliever Ronan Kopp was called upon in the seventh inning to preserve the 2-1 lead. The big lefthander worked two scoreless innings and allowed just one baserunner on a walk while striking out four to keep Tulsa in front.
Lucas Wepf entered in the ninth inning in a save opportunity with the Drillers still carrying a one-run lead. Wepf began the inning by hitting Jeferson Morales, who advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Former OSU outfielder Carson McCusker drove in Morales with a double to left field to tie the game and send it to extra innings.
In the top of the tenth with one out, Alleyne drove in the placed runner for the go-ahead run with a single to right field to put the Drillers ahead 3-2.
Wepf remained in the game for the bottom of the tenth. He struck out the first batter but allowed the placed runner to reach third base on a balk. Wepf promptly struck out Ben Ross for the second out and induced Luke Keaschall into a fly ball out to end the game.
INSIDE THE GAME
*The win improves the Drillers record to 4-2 in extra-inning games.
*Wepf picked up his second Double-A win in his fifth game.
*Campos has exited both his starts with a lead but has no wins to show. In his first start against Amarillo, Campos departed with a 1-0 lead in the seventh inning. Tulsa has ultimately won both of Campos’ starts.
*Dalton Rushing threw out an attempted base stealer and has now thrown out 15 this season.
*Tulsa committed two more error and now has eight in the three-game set at Wichita.
*Kopp picked off two key baserunners to end the seventh and eighth innings to hold the lead.
*Young’s hit in the third inning increased his hitting streak to nine straight games.
*Brendon Davis drew a walk to increase his on-base streak to 16 consecutive games.
UP NEXT:
The two teams will now travel to Tulsa to open another three-game series at ONEOK Field on Thursday evening. It will begin a streak of nine straight games at ONEOK Field for the Drillers.
Thursday’s first pitch is slated for 7:00 p.m. and the starting pitchers are expected to be:
WCH – RHP Kyle Jones (Double-A Debut)
TUL – RHP Carlos Duran (Double-A Debut)