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PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - May 9, 2024

May 9, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Oklahoma City Baseball Club (21-14) at Sugar Land Space Cowboys (23-12)

Game #36 of 150/First Half #36 of 75/Road #18 of 75

Pitching Probables: OKC-RHP Ben Casparius (NR, -.--) vs. SUG-RHP Misael Tamarez (3-1, 5.34)

Thursday, May 9, 2024 | Constellation Field | Sugar Land, Texas | 6:35 p.m. CT

Radio: KGHM-AM 1340 The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio; Video: MiLB.tv, Bally Live

Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Baseball Club tries for back-to-back wins against the Pacific Coast League-leading Sugar Land Space Cowboys at 6:35 p.m. at Constellation Field. The series is tied, 1-1, and Oklahoma City is two games behind the Space Cowboys in the East Division standings...OKC has won five of the last seven games and has tied its season-high mark at seven games above .500.

Last Game: A five-run fifth inning broke a tie game, and the Oklahoma City Baseball Club averted a late rally by the Sugar Land Space Cowboys to secure an 8-6 win Wednesday afternoon at Constellation Field. The game was tied, 1-1, through four innings before OKC scored five runs on five hits in the fifth inning. Drew Avans, Trey Sweeney and Andre Lipcius all had run-scoring doubles during the rally, putting Oklahoma City in front, 6-1. Jonathan Araúz singled home two runs with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh inning to stretch the lead to 8-1. Luke Berryhill hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning, and Sugar Land still trailed, 8-4, into the ninth inning. Berryhill picked up a RBI double, and later a two-out throwing error scored Berryhill and brought the tying run to the plate before Michael Petersen struck out Jesús Bastidas to end the game.

Today's Probable Pitcher: Ben Casparius makes his OKC team debut and Triple-A debut tonight in his fourth professional season...Casparius joins OKC from Double-A Tulsa where he has made five starts so far this season, posting a 2-1 record and 3.32 ERA over 21.2 innings pitched with 11 walks and 34 strikeouts. At the time of his promotion, he ranked tied for third in the Texas League in strikeouts, seventh in ERA and eighth in BAA (.217)...He most recently pitched May 1 against Springfield in Tulsa. He started and threw 5.1 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks with seven strikeouts and earned the win in Tulsa's 11-0 victory as he recorded a second consecutive win...He struck out a season-high eight batters April 12 against Arkansas and pitched a season-high 6.0 innings April 24 against Northwest Arkansas...Last season, Casparius split the season between High-A Great Lakes and Tulsa and played with the Glendale Desert Dogs in the Arizona Fall League following the season. He earned two weekly honors in 2023, being named Midwest League Pitcher of the Week April 16 and earning AFL Pitcher of the Week Nov. 4...He was selected by the Dodgers in the fifth round of the 2021 draft out of UConn after starting his collegiate career with UNC Chapel Hill and played in College World Series with the Tar Heels in 2018.

Against the Space Cowboys: 2024: 1-1 2023: 18-6 All-time: 47-27 At SUG: 21-14 The top two teams in the PCL East Division meet for their first of three series this season and first of two at Constellation Field during the first half of the season...Sugar Land currently leads the PCL with a 23-12 record while OKC is two games back...Sugar Land's offense leads the PCL with 253 runs scored and 53 home runs so far this season...OKC won the 2023 series, 18-6, and went 9-2 over the final 11 games against the Space Cowboys. OKC won five of six games in two of the four series and at least four games in each series. The team went 9-3 both at home and on the road...OKC outscored Sugar Land, 121-81, last season as OKC held the Space Cowboys to a .200 batting average...Seventy of OKC's 188 total hits against Sugar Land in 2023 went for extra bases, including 44 doubles, and both teams hit 21 home runs over their 24 meetings...Drew Avans collected a team-leading 19 hits in the season series in 2023, while Ryan Ward had 13 RBI and hit four home runs...OKC won the 2022 series, 16-8, and went 11-4 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...OKC has not lost back-to-back games to Sugar Land during the same series since Aug. 23-24, 2021.

Close Calls: Each of the first two games in Sugar Land have been decided by two runs or less, and going back to last season, 13 of the last 26 meetings between the teams have been decided by one or two runs...So far in 2024, OKC is 12-10 in games decided by two runs or less, accounting for 22 of the team's 35 total games. Additionally, 10 of Oklahoma City's 14 total losses this season have been by two runs or less, including Tuesday's series-opening loss in 10 innings (3-2)...OKC's 13 one-run games this season are tied with Sacramento for most in the PCL, while OKC's nine two-run games are second-most in the league behind Sugar Land's 10...Of OKC's 35 total games this season, eight have been decided in a final at-bat, and Tuesday was an opponent's fifth last at-bat win of the season.

Starting Line: Over the last eight games, OKC's starting/primary pitchers have combined to allow seven earned runs, 30 hits and 15 walks over 42.0 innings (1.50 ERA) while recording 43 strikeouts. Opponents have batted .207 (21x150) with no home runs. During OKC's previous road series in Albuquerque, prior to the current eight-game stretch, starting pitchers allowed 32 runs, 44 hits and 15 walks over just 20.1 innings across six games...Yesterday, starting pitcher Elieser Hernández lasted a season-high 5.2 innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk while earning his team-leading fourth win of the season. He also notched a season-high eight strikeouts, which is tied for the most by an Oklahoma City pitcher this season. Over his last five outings, Hernández has allowed seven earned runs across 25.2 innings while recording 29 strikeouts against five walks...In Tuesday's series opener, starting pitcher Dinelson Lamet completed his second consecutive outing with five scoreless innings. He allowed two hits but issued a season-high four walks to go along with two strikeouts. Between Lamet and Hernández, the duo held Sugar land 5-for-37 overall (.135), including 1-for-16 with runners on base and 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

Light Switch Offense: After being held to 26 total hits and six extra-base hits over the previous five games combined, OKC broke out for 13 hits and a season high-tying six doubles Wednesday. OKC batted .325 (13x40) Wednesday after batting just .195 (26x133) over the previous five games...OKC scored eight runs yesterday for the team's highest total since a 9-3 win May 1 against Salt Lake at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Oklahoma City had been held to five runs or less in each of the previous five games before Wednesday (16 R), including two runs Tuesday...However, OKC's 108 runs scored since April 21 are still second-most in Triple-A. The team's 149 hits in the last 15 games are third-most in Triple-A behind Reno (173) and Albuquerque (167)...Overall this season, OKC's .485 SLG leads the PCL, while the team's .848 OPS, 81 doubles and 49 home runs are second, OKC's 13 triples are tied for second and the team's .276 AVG and 335 hits are all third in the league.

Drew Up: Drew Avans reached base four times Wednesday, collecting two hits, including a double, with two walks, a RBI and two runs scored. Avans has started the current series 4-for-7 with two extra-base hits and three walks, and yesterday marked Avans' fifth multi-hit outing in his last seven games (10x28)...Avans has a team-leading 16 multi-hit games so far this season and ranks among PCL leaders in runs (1st, 33), triples (2nd, 5), hits (T-2nd, 42) and AVG (9th, .321). He leads OKC in runs and hits, and his eight stolen bases are tied with Miguel Vargas for most on the team...Since April 21, Avans has hit safely in 13 of his last 15 games with an at-bat, going 21-for-60 (.350) with seven extra-base hits and 18 runs scored...On Tuesday, he hit his 23rd triple during his Oklahoma City career and he now owns sole possession of the OKC career triples record during the Bricktown era (since 1998). He entered the series in a tie for first place with Joaquin Arias (2006-09)...Avans also owns sole possession of first place on OKC's all-time career walks list as he has 198 walks with OKC after adding another two more Wednesday. He also ranks second all-time with 369 games played and 90 stolen bases, while he ranks fourth with 357 career hits and tied for sixth with 69 doubles.

Andre the Giant: Andre Lipcius went 2-for-5 Wednesday with a two-run double. He has nine multi-hit games in his last 14 games overall and 14 multi-hit games overall this season, which ranks second on the team along with his 40 total hits this season...Since April 23, Lipcius leads OKC with 21 hits and is batting .350 (21x64) with six extra-base hits, 14 RBI and 12 runs scored over 14 games. His 21 hits since April 23 are tied for the league lead during the span with Reno's Andrés Chaparro, who has 21 hits in 15 games.

Dinger Details: Oklahoma City has been held without a home run in back-to-back games for the second time in six games, and for the fourth overall time in the last six games. This is the sixth time this season OKC has been held without a home run in at consecutive games, but it is the first time OKC has not hit a home run over the first two games of a series this season...OKC has been held without a home run in three straight games just once this season - April 4-6 against Albuquerque at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...OKC has still hit 22 home runs over the last 14 games and 38 home runs over the last 23 games...Since April 12 (23 games), OKC's 38 home runs are the most in the Minors and OKC's 49 total home runs this season are second-most in the PCL behind Sugar Land's 53 home runs...OKC has allowed a home run by the Space Cowboys in each of the last two games, marking the first home runs allowed by OKC since the team's previous road game April 28 in Albuquerque. Before Tuesday in Sugar Land, OKC had not allowed a home run in seven of the previous nine games, including a season-high six straight games...OKC has allowed 28 total homers this season - fewest in the league - however they have allowed 21 of those home runs on the road - third-most in the league.

Sales Pitch: The six runs allowed by OKC Wednesday were the most allowed by the pitching staff since a 9-7 loss in Albuquerque April 28. In the seven games between, OKC allowed a total of 20 runs and not more than four runs in each of the seven games...OKC allowed a total of 17 runs over its previous six-game series against Salt Lake for the lowest run total allowed by OKC in a six-game series since June 29-July 3, 2023 at Sugar Land when OKC allowed 14 total runs...Sugar Land scored in three of nine innings yesterday and opponents have been held scoreless in 59 of 75 innings over the last eight games, including 58 of 72 non-extra innings...OKC once again limited the Space Cowboys to just five hits Wednesday, holding them to five hits in a second straight game, and holding an opponent to five hits or less in a fourth consecutive game (17x130). Sugar Land has 10 hits so far in the series, although five have gone for extra bases.

RISPy Business: OKC tallied a season-high 26 at-bats with runners in scoring position Wednesday, going 6-for-26 overall. The team went 5-for-8 in the fifth inning, but just 1-for-18 in all other innings. Over the last 11 games, OKC is 20-for-107 (.187) with RISP. Drew Avans' RBI double in the fifth inning broke OKC's 0-for-22 drought with runners in scoring position going back to Sunday at home against Salt Lake...Sugar Land went 2-for-10 with RISP yesterday as OKC has held opponents 10-for-72 (.139) with RISP over the last eight games.

Around the Horn: On Wednesday, Miguel Vargas tallied a game-high three hits, tying his season-high, after he started the month of May 2-for-21 at the plate...Yesterday Austin Gauthier picked up his first two hits since being promoted to Triple-A. Over his first two games, he is 2-for-7 with a double and two walks.

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