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TL1 Tulsa Drillers

Donachie Leads Wichita

June 12, 2007 - Texas League (TL1)
Tulsa Drillers News Release


It was not the end to the final road trip of the first half that the Tulsa Drillers hoped for. Wichita Catcher Adam Donachie homered and collected five runs batted in to lead the Wranglers to a 7-3 victory over the Drillers Tuesday afternoon at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. The defeat left the Drillers with a 3-5 record on the road trip, their first losing trip of the season. More importantly, it at least temporarily dropped them out of a first-place tie with the Springfield Cardinals atop the North Division standings of the Texas League.

The Drillers never led in Tuesday's loss, but twice overcame deficits to tie the game, while Donachie used both finesse and power to pace the Wranglers. He provided a perfectly executed squeeze bunt to break a 3-3 tie in the sixth inning, then settled the game with a 3-run homer in the eighth inning.

Geraldo Valentin gave the Wranglers an initial 1-0 lead with his first home run of the year in the bottom of the first inning, but Matt Macri answered with his fifth homer in the top of the second to tie the game.

Wichita broke the tie with a pair of runs off Tulsa starter Ryan Mattheus in the second inning. With runners at first and third and nobody out, Donachie hit a groundball to Macri at third. When Macri threw to second for a force out, Adam Greenberg broke from third to the plate. Second baseman Corey Wimberly had a chance to complete an unorthodox double play, but his throw home was wild, allowing Greenberg to score.

The play seemed to unnerve Mattheus. He uncorked a wild pitch and then walked three straight hitters to force in a run that gave Wichita a 3-1 lead. Mattheus recovered to get the final two outs and leave the bases loaded.

Tulsa rallied to again tie the game in the top of the third inning. Rick Guarno led off the third with a double and eventually scored on a one-out base hit by Wimberly. After advancing to second on a ground out by Matt Miller, Wimberly scored on a single by Christian Colonel. It was one of three hits for Colonel in the game.

The Wranglers took the lead for good in the bottom of the sixth as Greenberg doubled, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Donachie's squeeze bunt.

Wichita's big eighth inning began with a base hit by Mike Stodolka. After Mattheus retired Jake Blalock and Greenberg on strikes, the Drillers summoned Jarrett Grube from the bullpen. Grube was greeted with a double off the bat of Michael Gaffney, and Donachie followed with his fourth home run of the season to give the Wranglers the comfortable 7-3 lead.

The Drillers will now return home for the final seven games of the first half. They will begin the key stretch of games either in a tie for first place or one game behind Springfield in the North Division standings. The Cardinals will play Arkansas Tuesday evening. A win would give the Cards sole possession of first, while a loss would drop them back into a first-place tie with the Drillers. Following that game, Tulsa will have seven games remaining in the first half, and Springfield will have six. Because of rainouts earlier in the season, the Drillers will play three more games than the Cardinals in the first half.

Tulsa will begin a five-game series against Arkansas Wednesday night at Drillers Stadium. Ching-Lung Lo (2-5, 5.83 ERA) will pitch the opener for the Drillers against Nick Adenhart (5-2, 3.44 ERA) of the Travelers. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05PM.

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Texas League Stories from June 12, 2007


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