TL1 Tulsa Drillers

Drillers Beat Rain & Naturals

Published on June 16, 2010 under Texas League (TL1)
Tulsa Drillers News Release


The Tulsa Drillers beat the rain and Northwest Arkansas Wednesday afternoon at ONEOK Field. The Drillers scored five times in the third inning and were leading 8-2 heading to the top of the seventh when thunderstorms struck the downtown Tulsa area. The torrential rains made the resumption of play impossible, giving the Drillers the rain-shortened, six-inning victory.

The result allowed Tulsa to salvage a split of the four-game series with the first-place Naturals.

As it had done in the first three games, Northwest Arkansas jumped to an early lead on Wednesday. In the top of the third, Tim Smith singled with a well-placed bunt down the third base line, and Derrick Robinson tripled him home to give the Naturals a 1-0 lead.

Tulsa's big inning happened with two outs and the bases empty in the bottom of the third as six straight batters reach base safely against Northwest starter Aaron Crow. Charlie Blackmon began the rally with a base hit before Eider Torres struck out on a ball in the dirt. The wild pitch bounced away from catcher Jeff Howell and allowed Torres to reach first and prolong the inning. Bronson Sardinha then drew a walk that loaded the bases for cleanup hitter Ryan Harvey. Harvey drove a groundball that deflected off the glove of third baseman Anthony Seratelli and into the left field corner. The double cleared the bases and gave the Drillers a 3-1 lead.

Daniel Mayora kept the rally going with a single that plated Harvey. Willin Rosario then grounded to Seratelli, but the third baseman's throw to first was offline, allowing Rosario to reach and Mayora to move to third. With Keil Roling batting, Crow threw a ball into the dirt that allowed Rosario to advance to second. As he was advancing, catcher Howell attempted to throw him out at second, giving Mayora the chance to race home and give Tulsa a 5-1 lead.

The Drillers added another run in the fourth when Anthony Jackson walked, stole second and scored on a single by Torres.

Tim Smith belted a solo home run for the Naturals in the fifth inning to cut the margin to 6-2.

Tulsa picked up two more runs in the sixth just before the rains began. Three straight singles by Jackson, Blackmon and Torres loaded the bases before Sardinha's two-run single put the Drillers in front 8-2.

Blackmon picked up three hits in the rain-shortened contest to extend his hitting streak to nine straight games, the longest streak of the season for a Drillers' batter.

Torres and Mayora added two hits each as Tulsa totaled ten hits.

Keith Weiser collected the win with a six-inning complete game that improved his record to 5-4.

Tulsa will now begin a five-game series with Arkansas Thursday night at ONEOK Field. Cory Riordan (2-4, 4.43 ERA) will take the mound for the Drillers against Ryan Brasier (4-6, 7.02 ERA) of the Travelers. Starting time for the opener is set for 7:05PM.

Check out the Tulsa Drillers Statistics

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Texas League Stories from June 16, 2010


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