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TL Tulsa Drillers

Former Sooner Powers Cardinals Past Drillers

August 3, 2024 - Texas League (TL)
Tulsa Drillers News Release


Tulsa Drillers' Dalton Rushing in action
Tulsa Drillers' Dalton Rushing in action
(Tulsa Drillers, Credit: Rich Crimi)

TULSA, OK - A former Oklahoma Sooner haunted the Tulsa Drillers Saturday night with the biggest game of his three-year professional baseball career. Catcher Jimmy Crooks hit a pair of two-run homers in his first two at-bats and led the Springfield Cardinals to an 8-2 victory at ONEOK Field.

It was a second straight loss for the Drillers after they had won two of the first three games of the six-game series with the first-place Cardinals. Tulsa will need a win in Sunday afternoon's series finale to gain a split in the series.

BOX SCORE

The big night for Crooks started early, just three batters into the game. With one out in the top of the first inning and a runner at first base, Crooks cleared the centerfield fence for a two-run homer that put the Cards in front.

He struck again in the third. After Noah Mendlinger led off with a base hit, Crooks followed with his second two-run homer that upped Springfield's lead to 4-0.

Tulsa starting pitcher Kendall Williams was the victim of Crooks' big night, but it was the only damage he suffered. The right-hander turned in a six-inning stint, just two outs shy of matching his season high. Williams was charged with the four runs on seven total hits. Most impressively, he did not walk a batter and struck out five.

Springfield starter Max Rajcic opened with five shutout innings before the Drillers also used the long ball to get on the scoreboard. With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Alex Freeland belted his 11th Double-A home run of the season.

On the next pitch, Dalton Rushing hit his team-leading 15th homer to trim Tulsa's deficit to 4-2.

The Cardinals had an immediate response. Jeremy Rivas led off the top of the seventh with a single and quickly advanced to third base on reliever Ronan Kopp's errant pickoff throw. Rivas came home on a sacrifice fly from Chris Rotondo.

Any hopes the Drillers had of staging a comeback ended in the ninth inning when Springfield put together five straight hits with two outs and the bases empty and scored three more runs.

INSIDE THE GAME

*The Drillers have now played 100 games this season, and Saturday's loss leaves their overall record at 50-50. Their second-half record now stands at 16-15.

*For Crooks, a native of Euless, Texas, it was the first two-homer game of his professional career, and it came in his 208th game. The four RBI matched his career high, and it marked the third time that he had reached that total.

*The homer from Freeland was his 11th since joining the Drillers on May 7, but it was his 13th overall, counting the two he had with High-A Great Lakes.

*For the red-hot Rushing, it was his fifth home run in his past ten games. In that stretch, he is hitting .325 with ten RBI. Nine of his 13 hits in the streak have gone for extra bases.

*Taylor Young stole his 34th base in the game and is now 34-37 in stolen base attempts this season. The 34 steals are the second most in the Texas League. Cooper Bowman had 35 stolen bases for Midland before being assigned to Triple A earlier this week.

*Tulsa hitters struck out ten times in the game, marking the 52nd time this season that they have struck out ten or more times in a game.

*The 14 hits for the Redbirds were just three short of matching the season high for a Drillers opponent this year.

UP NEXT:

The Drillers and Cardinals will conclude their six-game series on Sunday afternoon at ONEOK Field. Starting time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. and the starting pitchers are expected to be:

Springfield - RHP Edwin Nunez (0-7, 7.69 ERA)

Tulsa - RHP Orlando Ortiz-Mayr (5-6, 5.20 ERA)

Check out the Tulsa Drillers Statistics




Images from this story

Tulsa Drillers' Dalton Rushing in action
Tulsa Drillers' Dalton Rushing in action
(Rich Crimi)		   

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Texas League Stories from August 3, 2024


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