Midland's Bats Beat Tulsa
Published on August 9, 2008 under Texas League (TL1)
Tulsa Drillers News Release
The Tulsa Drillers and the Midland RockHounds entered Saturday night's series opener at Drillers Stadium as the two top hitting teams in the Texas League. They lived up to their billings, combining for 25 hits and 15 runs as Midland posted a 10-5 victory in a game that took nearly 3 ½ hours to complete. Much of the game was played in a light rain at Drillers Stadium.
Despite out-hitting Midland 6-1 through four innings, the Drillers found themselves behind 2-1 on the scoreboard.
The RockHounds plated both runs in the top of the first inning. Todd Donovan was hit by a pitch to lead off the game, and Javier Herrera drew a walk. Both runners scored when Drillers third baseman Eduardo Cornejo threw wildly on a Tommy Everidge ground ball.
The Drillers cut the deficit in half in the bottom on the third inning. With Chris Nelson aboard following a single, Jeff Kindel ripped a line drive double to right field.
After Midland added a run in the top half of the fifth inning, Tulsa tied the game with two runs of their own in the bottom half. Back-to-back doubles by Tony Blanco and Kindel cut the Hounds lead to 3-2. Justin Nelson tied the game with a lined single to center field that brought Kindel home.
Midland exploded in the sixth inning with four big runs. Richie Robnett doubled to lead the inning off. Sean Doolittle reached base on an error by Drillers' first baseman Jeff Kindel, allowing Robnett to come home. Myron Leslie doubled, advancing Doolittle to third. The next batter, Justin Sellers, lined a single to left field that scored both runners to make it 6-3. Midland extended the margin to four runs when Donovan doubled home Sellers.
Refusing to fold their tent, the Drillers came back with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the sixth. Cornejo led the inning off with a double, and Rick Guarno was hit by a pitch. Guarno was out at second when Eric Young Jr. grounded into a force out, leaving runners at the corners. Chris Nelson brought both runners home and cut the lead to 7-5 with a double to center field.
Jed Morris helped Midland erase the two-run Drillers comeback with two runs of their own in the seventh inning. Morris singled home Doolittle and Everidge, who both had also reached on singles.
Midland took a 10-5 lead in the eighth inning when Donovan doubled and scored on a single by Herrera.
Tulsa starter Alan Johnson was tagged with the loss to drop his record to 4-12. He was charged with 7 runs in 5.2 innings of work, but only 2 of the runs were earned.
Midland reliever Jared Lansford gained his first decision of the season with three scoreless innings. The right-hander allowed only one hit over the final three frames.
The Drillers lost despite out-hitting the RockHounds 13-12. The Hounds took advantage of five walks and three Tulsa errors.
The two teams will play game two of their three-game series at 2:05PM Sunday afternoon at Drillers Stadium. Brandon Hynick (7-7, 4.98 ERA) will pitch for Tulsa against Jason Fernandez (0-0, 3.52 ERA) of Midland.
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