TL1 Tulsa Drillers

Drillers Get Walk-Off Win on Parker's Big Hit

Published on April 13, 2013 under Texas League (TL1)
Tulsa Drillers News Release


The Tulsa Drillers offense has been limited through much of the first week of this new season. Friday night at ONEOK Field, Burch Smith and the San Antonio Missions again made scoring runs difficult for the Drillers. Kyle Parker, however, provided one big hit to help Tulsa to its second straight victory. The ex-Clemson quarterback broke a tie game with a blast into the left-centerfield gap with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Drillers a 2-1 victory before a sellout crowd of 8,116 in downtown Tulsa.

The game-winning double capped a two-hit night for Parker who is rated as one of the top prospects within the Colorado Rockies system.

Trailing for much of the night, the Drillers produced their first run in the bottom of the eighth inning, setting the stage for Parker's heroics.

Limited to only four hits entering the ninth, Tulsa caught a break to open the inning when a ground ball off the bat of Cristhian Adames skipped by Missions first baseman Tommy Medica for an error. After Kent Matthes popped out, Kiel Roling dropped a base hit into centerfield to put runners at first and second.

Parker fouled off four pitches to work a full count. With much of the large crowd cheering, Parker brought most of them to their feet with his drive into the deepest part of left-centerfield. Centerfielder Rico Noel attempted a sliding catch, but the ball hit the base of the fence for a game-winning double.

The walk-off victory improved Tulsa's record to 3-5.

Tulsa fell behind only five pitches into the game as San Antonio leadoff batter Reymond Fuentes hit his first home run of the year to put the Missions in front.

Chad Bettis worked 5.1 solid innings in his ONEOK Field debut Friday night. (Rich Crimi)

Highly touted pitching prospect Chad Bettis gave up the homer, but then lived up to his advanced billing. The Texas Tech product worked 5.1 innings, surrendering only four hits and the lone run. Bettis did not walk a batter and struck out six in his second Double A outing.

In a match-up of former Big 12 Conference pitchers, Bettis was more than matched by the former University of Oklahoma hurler Burch Smith. The right-hander allowed only a pair of singles in five shutout innings for the Missions. Smith did not walk a batter and struck out eight. He has not allowed a run in his first 11 innings of 2013.

Relievers Colt Hynes and Matt Stites combined to keep the Drillers off the board in the sixth and seventh innings, before they finally broke through in the eighth. With one out, Delta Cleary Jr. singled. Jose Gonzalez followed with a one-hopper back to the mound that looked to be an inning-ending double play, but Stites' throw to second sailed into centerfield. With runners at first and third, Joey Wong executed a perfect safety squeeze bunt that plated Cleary Jr. to tie the game at 1-1.

Parker Frazier and Mike Solbach relieved Bettis and gave the Drillers the opportunity for the comeback. Frazier allowed only one hit and two walks 2.2 innings and benefited from a pair of double play grounders.

Solbach pitched a scoreless ninth and picked up the win.

The two teams will play the finale of their three-game series Saturday night. The pitching matchup will feature Tim Gustafson (0-0, 4.91 ERA) for the Drillers and Matt Andriese (0-0, 0.00 ERA) for the Missions. Starting time is scheduled for 7:05PM.

Fans not planning to be at ONEOK Field can listen to the game live on AM1430, The Buzz in Tulsa. The broadcast is also available on TulsaDrillers.com, or through the I Heart Radio app or website.

Check out the Tulsa Drillers Statistics

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Texas League Stories from April 13, 2013


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