Sports stats

TL1 Tulsa Drillers

Drillers are champs

June 14, 2005 - Texas League (TL1)
Tulsa Drillers News Release


For the second year in a row, the Tulsa Drillers are the Texas League's first-half East Division champions. The Drillers clinched the 2005 first-half title Tuesday night in Wichita with a 8-4 victory of the Wranglers. The championship guarantees Tulsa a place in the Texas League playoffs in September.

For the first six innings on Tuesday, it looked as if any celebration plans for the Drillers would have to be postponed. The Wranglers carried a 4-0 lead into the seventh and starting pitcher Ryan Baerlocher had limited Tulsa to only two singles. But Baerlocher, a veteran of five Texas League seasons, was lifted after his six dominant innings, and the Drillers took advantage by batting around in the seventh.

Ryan Spilborghs led off the seventh by drawing a walk from Wichita reliever Colt Griffin. After a single by Sean Barker and wild pitch from Griffin, the Drillers had runners at second and third. A groundout by Corey Slavik brought Spilborghs home with Tulsa's first run of the game, and another single by Alvin Colina scored Barker to cut Wichita's lead to 4-2.

Despite Colina being picked off, Tulsa continued to threaten the Wichita lead when Tino Sanchez walked and Luis Guance singled. Another single by Doug Bernier scored Sanchez and brought the Drillers to within one run of the Wranglers.

Tulsa struck again in the eighth inning as Spilborghs led off with a double. After Nate Hoelscher retired Barker and Slavik, he hit Colina with a pitch to put runners at first and third. Sanchez then tied the game at 4-4 with a single to left field that scored Spilborghs. Guance followed and gave the Drillers their first lead of the night with a 2-run double to left. A sacrifice fly by Bernier, and a bases loaded walk to Spilborghs put Tulsa in front 8-4.

From there, the Drillers put the game in the hands of reliever Jentry Beckstead. After setting the Wranglers down in the eighth, the right-hander allowed a two-out single to Mathew Tupman in the bottom of the ninth. With Tupman at first, Beckstead enticed Brett Groves to hit a soft fly to left field that Spilborghs squeezed for the final out and setup a first-half victory celebration for the Drillers for the second consecutive year.

"It feels great," said Tulsa manager Tom Runnells. "This is a great group of guys, and they are so resilient. And tonight, the new guys Sanchez and Guance really picked us up."

Drillers third baseman Corey Slavik was celebrating but also looking ahead. "Our focus is to now win the second-half and carry it into the playoffs," said Slavik.

The clinching victory went to Drillers starter Jon Asahina. Asahina, who allowed 8 hits and 4 earned runs in 7 innings joins his teammate Zack Parker as the only two 8-game winners in the Texas League.

Despite the slow start, Tulsa finished with ten hits, including eight over the final three innings. Tony Miller, Barker and Guance had two hits each.

The champion Drillers now have five games remaining in the first-half season, including an 11:00AM start Wednesday morning in Wichita in the finale of a 12-game road trip. Enmanuel Ulloa (1-0, 1.62 ERA) will make the start for Tulsa against Derrin Ebert (3-1, 4.88 ERA) of Wichita.

Check out the Tulsa Drillers Statistics



Texas League Stories from June 14, 2005


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Tulsa Drillers Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central