TL1 Tulsa Drillers

Drillers Split Doubleheader Thanks To Williamson And Bullpen

Published on April 27, 2011 under Texas League (TL1)
Tulsa Drillers News Release


After two straight days of games being postponed due to inclement weather in Little Rock, the Drillers looked the part of team not in the zone to play baseball. The Drillers were still able to pull off the spilt of the double header Wednesday, losing the first game 7-2 and winning the second 1-0. Neither game had a strong effort from the offense but the Drillers bullpen held its own in the second game to record a split of the doubleheader. In the first game of the double header the Drillers were only able to manage three hits off University of Oklahoma alum, Garrett Richards. While Tulsa sent Christian Friedrich to the mound looking for a rebound from his last outing, but would fair the same fate.

Friedrich allowed ten hits, surrendering seven earned runs in only four innings pitched. Friedrich never really seemed to find his groove throughout the whole outing continuously allowing at least one runner to reach base in every inning and having to work deep in every at-bat.

The lone bright spot from the Drillers line-up was again Tim Wheeler.

With one out in the top of the third Drillers second baseman Thomas Field fought off two tough pitches with a full count to eventually draw a walk. After the walk Wheeler was able wrap a line-drive home run just inside the foul pole in left field.

Including Wheelers home run, the Drillers were only able to manage two other hits. Both singles by shortstop Hector Gomez and third baseman Darin Holcomb.

The other bright spot from the first game was the relief outing produced by Keith Weiser. Weiser pitched two scoreless allowing only one hit, a triple, by Minor League Baseball's top prospect Mike Trout.

Starting pitcher Joey Williamson was the star for the Drillers in the night cap of the double header.

Williamson decided to retire just before the beginning of spring training in 2010, with his outing on Wednesday he only increased the curiosity of his retirement. Williamson was masterful with four innings of one-hit baseball and also recorded his first strikeout since 2009.

The Drillers offense continued to knock off the rust in the second game, as they only recorded two hits throughout the entire game both coming off the bat of Darin Holcomb.

The Drillers scored the only run of the game in the fifth inning thanks to some heads up base-running from Mike Daniel. With one out in the fifth Daniel was hit by a pitch from Arkansas pitcher Chris Scholl. While on first Daniel advanced to second when Scholl over threw the first baseman. After a Warren Schaeffer walk, Daniel then stole third.

With runners on the corners, Schaeffer executed a delayed steal to perfection. With Schaeffer in a run-down between first and second base, Daniel stole home. Both Daniel and Schaffer were safe on the play that would give the Drillers a 1-0 lead in the game and also the Texas League North Division going into Thursday.

The Drillers will be taking on the Travelers again Thursday in the series finale. Tulsa will send Cory Riordan (0-2, 7.36) to the mound, while the Travelers will send left-handed starter Trevor Reckling (0-2, 2.30) both looking for their first victory of 2011. The game is scheduled for first pitch for 7:05 PM at Dickey-Stephens Park in Little Rock.

Check out the Tulsa Drillers Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Texas League Stories from April 27, 2011


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.

OurSports Central