Drillers Need 14 Innings to Claim Second Straight Win
April 16, 2025 - Texas League (TL)
Tulsa Drillers News Release
Tulsa Drillers right fielder Damon Keith
(Tulsa Drillers, Credit: Rich Crimi)
Tulsa, OK - Wednesday's early morning start between the Tulsa Drillers and Wichita Wind Surge turned into a 14-inning marathon at ONEOK Field. The game entered the final inning of regulation tied at 1-1, and both teams rallied for two runs each to send the game into extra innings tied at 3-3.
The two teams matched runs in the eleventh, and after two more scoreless innings, Yeiner Fernandez singled to right field to score the winning run and give Tulsa the 5-4 walk-off win.
The victory was the second straight for the Drillers and gave them a 2-0 advantage in the Coors Light Propeller Series.
Tulsa led most of the game after Chris Newell and John Rhodes began the first inning by each extending their hitting streaks, and Damon Keith supplied the Drillers first run with a sacrifice fly to deep left-center field.
The lone run was all the support Tulsa starting pitcher Chris Campos needed in his second appearance of 2025. Campos worked a four-hit shutout over six innings with no walks and six strikeouts.
Antonio Knowles took over for Campos in the seventh inning. He inherited a 15.1 scoreless inning streak by Tulsa pitchers. Wichita ended the streak with its first run of the series in that seventh. Following a one-out walk and a single, the Wind Surge got a Jake Rucker sacrifice fly to tie the game at 1-1.
Wichita managed to break the tie with one swing in the ninth. With a runner at first base, Kyler Fedko hit a two-run homer into the COUNTRY Financial Terrace to give the Wind Surge a 3-1 lead.
The Drillers rallied to tie the game in the ninth inning. Tulsa's half of the ninth began with a flyout, but after two consecutive hits, Aaron Bracho drove in a run with a double to cut the deficit to 3-2. Following an intentional walk of Fernandez, Ezequiel Pagan tied the game with a sacrifice fly.
The two sides each scored a run in the eleventh, with Wichita using an RBI single from Tanner Schobel, and Tulsa getting a sacrifice fly from Jose Ramos to leave the game tied at 4-4.
After the twelfth and thirteen innings were scoreless, Fernandez led off the fourteenth with a soft liner that dropped into shallow right field for a single that brought Bracho home with the winning run.
INSIDE THE GAME
*Brandon Neeck was credited the win after tossing the final 2.2 innings without allowing a run. He has still not been charged with an earned run this season.
*With singles in the first inning, Rhodes extended his hitting streak to seven straight games, and Newell extended his to six.
*The two teams combined to strand 29 runners on base.
*The play of the game came from Ramos in the top of the twelfth inning. With a runner at second base, Kala'i Rosario singled to left field, and Ramos threw out Rubel Cespedes at home plate to preserve the tie.
*Campos' strong outing lowered his ERA to 2.08 for the season.
*The win was the first two-game win streak for Tulsa this season.
UP NEXT
The two teams will continue their series on Thursday night at ONEOK Field. Starting time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and the pitching matchup is expected to be:
Wichita - RHP Trent Baker (0-0, 1.29 ERA)
Tulsa - LHP Jackson Ferris (0-0, 1.80 ERA)
Images from this story
 Tulsa Drillers right fielder Damon Keith (Rich Crimi) |
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