Drillers Claim Spot in Texas League Playoffs
TL Tulsa Drillers

Drillers Claim Spot in Texas League Playoffs

Published on September 15, 2025 under Texas League (TL)
Tulsa Drillers News Release


Zach Ehrhard of the Tulsa Drillers at bat
Zach Ehrhard of the Tulsa Drillers at bat
(Tulsa Drillers, Credit: Tim Campbell)

Tulsa, OK - The Tulsa Drillers won Sunday before they ever took the field for the final game of the 2025 regular season. Entering the final day with a magic number of one to gain a berth in the Texas League playoffs, the Drillers were guaranteed their spot when Corpus Christi beat Wichita Sunday afternoon.

With a postseason berth in hand, the Drillers wrapped up their regular season Sunday evening with a 7-1 loss to Springfield at ONEOK Field.

Sunday's final game became anticlimactic after Wichita was beaten. The Drillers entered the final day with a one-game lead over the Wind Surge and needed to either beat Arkansas or for Wichita to lose to reserve their spot in the TL playoffs.

The Travelers took a quick lead in finale when they got a pair of hits and a walk as well as a throwing error by Tulsa starting pitcher Patrick Copen to score two quick runs in the top of the first inning.

The Drillers only run came in the fifth inning thanks to a solo homer by Zach Ehrhard. It was Ehrhard's fifth home run since joining Tulsa on August 1 cut the deficit to 2-1.

The Drillers would get no closer as Arkansas added three runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth.

INSIDE THE GAME

*The Drillers concluded the second half with a 40-29 record, a 14-game improvement over their first-half mark. It is Tulsa's best second-half record since going 41-29 in the final half of the 2019 season.

*The regular season finale had a paid crowd of 5,001. The Drillers finished the regular season with an attendance total of 322,452 at ONEOK Field, marking the 16th straight season that home attendance for the Drillers has topped 300,000.

*The Travelers stole ten bases in the game, setting a new all-time record for a Drillers opponent and a Tulsa professional baseball opponent. Tulsa professional baseball records date back to 1905.

*Four of the ten steals came from Bill Knight, allowing him to tie Tulsa's Taylor Young for the most in the Texas League this season. Young stole one base in Sunday's game and both he and Knight finished with 44 stolen bases. It marks the second straight year that Young has led the TL in steals.

*James Tibbs III finished 1-4 to extend his hitting streak to nine straight games.

*Zyhir Hope had his second straight multi-hit game for the Drillers, going 2-4 to raise his batting average to .316 since joining the roster on Tuesday. Hope was 3-4 with 4 RBI in Saturday's important win and went 6-19 over the final five games of the season.

*The Drillers used six pitchers in the contest, let by Roque Gutierrez who worked three scoreless relief innings.

UP NEXT

The Drillers will be in the Texas League playoffs for the first time since the 2022 season. They will face the Springfield Cardinals in the best-of-three North Division Playoff Series with the winner of the series advancing to the Texas League Championship Series to face either Amarillo or Midland.

The Drillers will host the Cardinals for game one of the North Division Series on Tuesday night at ONEOK Field with first pitch set for 7:00 p.m.

Game two and, if necessary, game three of that series will be played in Springfield on Thursday (6:35 p.m.) and Friday (7:05 p.m.) nights.

Neither team has released pitching plans for the series.

Check out the Tulsa Drillers Statistics

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Images from this story

Zach Ehrhard of the Tulsa Drillers at bat
Zach Ehrhard of the Tulsa Drillers at bat
(Tim Campbell)		   



Texas League Stories from September 15, 2025


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