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PCL Oklahoma City Comets

OKC Baseball Club Game Notes - September 15, 2024

September 15, 2024 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release


Tacoma Rainiers (35-33/78-65)

at Oklahoma City Baseball Club (34-34/74-69)

Game #144 of 150/Second Half #69 of 75/Home #75 of 75

Pitching Probables: TAC-RHP Casey Lawrence (10-10, 6.08) vs. OKC-RHP Tony Gonsolin (0-0, 0.00)

Sunday, September 15, 2024 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 2:05 p.m. CT

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

Today's Game : The Oklahoma City Baseball Club plays its final home game of the 2024 season and wraps up a six-game series against the Tacoma Rainiers at 2:05 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. OKC leads the series, 3-2, and seeks a series win for a fourth time in the last five series...OKC owns a 38-36 record at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark this season and regardless of today's result will finish with a winning home record for the 20th time in the team's 26 seasons at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

Last Game : Dalton Rushing and Andre Lipcius homered as the Oklahoma City Baseball Club defeated the Tacoma Rainiers, 9-3, Saturday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. OKC recorded its highest hit total during the second half of the season and limited the Rainiers to their lowest hit total of the series as OKC took the series lead. Rushing gave OKC the first lead of the night on a solo opposite field home run in the first inning out to left field. Tacoma took the lead with two runs in the second inning on a two-run double by Michael Papierski. Lipcius tied the score, 2-2, with a solo home run in the third inning before Ryan Ward put Oklahoma City back in front, 3-2, with a RBI single. OKC then scored three more runs in the fourth inning on a RBI double by Lipcius and two-run single by Rushing. Tacoma added a run in the seventh inning before OKC responded in the bottom of the inning with three runs, including a two-run double by Austin Gauthier. OKC outhit Tacoma, 15-3.

Today's Probable Pitchers : Tony Gonsolin is set to make the second appearance of his Major League Rehab Assignment as well as his second appearance of the 2024 season...He started and pitched 2.0 innings with OKC Tuesday against Tacoma, allowing two hits with three strikeouts. He faced eight batters, throwing 32 pitches (24 strikes)...Gonsolin underwent Tommy John surgery in September 2023 and has spent this entire season rehabbing...Gonsolin made 20 starts with the Los Angeles Dodgers last season prior to his injury, posting an 8-5 record and 4.98 ERA over 103.0 innings with 82 K's. Prior to Tuesday, his last game was Aug. 13, 2023 with the Dodgers against Miami He was placed on the IL Aug. 19 with right forearm inflammation and did not pitch the rest of the season...Gonsolin missed the first month of the 2023 season with an ankle injury and made one rehab start with OKC April 23 in Albuquerque...Over 24 starts with LAD in 2022, Gonsolin went 16-1 with a 2.14 ERA while posting a 0.87 WHIP and .172 BAA. He led all MLB pitchers with at least 128.0 IP in BAA, ranked second in WHIP and ERA and was named to the 2022 MLB All-Star Game...In 2020, Gonsolin finished fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting and was named MLB Rookie of the Year by Baseball America. He made four postseason appearances, including two in the World Series...Gonsolin made his MLB debut June 26, 2019 in Arizona with the Dodgers and made 13 starts with OKC in 2019, going 2-4 with a 4.35 ERA over 41.1 IP with 50 K's...He was drafted by the Dodgers in the ninth round of the 2016 MLB Draft from St. Mary's College...In addition to this season and 2023, Gonsolin made rehab appearances with OKC in 2022 (1) and in 2021 (3).

Ben Casparius (4-3) is set to piggyback Gonsolin...Casparius most recently started and pitched Sept. 7 against Sugar Land and allowed one run and three hits over 4.0 innings with four strikeouts and two walks. He did not factor into the decision of OKC's 4-1 loss...Prior to his last outing with OKC, Casparius pitched Aug. 31 in Arizona when he made his Major League debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was thrust into a tie game in the eighth inning and retired all three batters he faced and earned his first career ML win. He was optioned to OKC Sept. 1...He joined OKC May 7 and has made 15 appearances (14 starts). Before his promotion to OKC in early May, he made five starts with Double-A Tulsa, posting a 2-1 record and 3.32 ERA over 21.2 innings with 11 walks and 34 strikeouts...In 2023, Casparius split the season between High-A Great Lakes and Tulsa and played with the Glendale Desert Dogs in the Arizona Fall League...He was selected by the Dodgers in the fifth round of the 2021 draft out of UConn after starting his collegiate career at the University of North Carolina...Tonight is his second appearance against the Rainiers this season, last facing Tacoma July 28 in OKC. He started and pitched five scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks with six strikeouts in OKC's 5-4 walk-off win.

Against the Rainiers : 2024: 7-7 2023: 6-9 All-time: 69-73 At OKC: 45-32

The Rainiers and OKC play their third and final series of the season against one another this week as well as their second during the second half of the season at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark...OKC and Tacoma split a six-game series in Bricktown July 23-28 with OKC winning the final two games of the series in walk-off fashion and by one-run margins...The teams opened the season against one another for a second straight year and the Rainiers won the three-game set, 2-1, at Cheney Stadium taking the first and third games, with all three games decided by one or two runs...Both teams entered the current series having scored 45 runs against one another and OKC hit 10 homers while holding the Rainiers to four homers...Andre Lipcius collected 14 hits against the Rainiers entering the current series and Ryan Ward led OKC with eight RBI...Last season, Tacoma won the season series, 9-6, and the Rainiers were one of three teams OKC posted a losing head-to-head record against, along with Albuquerque and Salt Lake. The Rainiers were also one of two teams to win five out of six games in the same series against OKC last season Aug. 8-13 at Cheney Stadium...OKC has lost back-to-back season series against the Rainiers for the first time since 2006 and 2007...Going back to 2022, OKC is 15-21 over the last 36 games against the Rainiers, and Tacoma has won seven of the last 13 games in OKC...Seven of OKC's last 12 home wins against the Rainiers have been walk-off victories, including four straight before Saturday's 9-3 win.

Down the Stretch: Oklahoma City sits 5.5 games out of a playoff spot with only seven games remaining in the 2024 season. Entering today's slate, there are three teams separated by 1.5 games chasing the second-place Reno Aces, including OKC...Sugar Land won the first half PCL title in June and currently leads the second-half standings by 1.0 game ahead of Reno. However, if the Space Cowboys also win the second half, the second-place team in the second half will advance to the postseason. Las Vegas sits in third place, 4.0 games behind Reno, while Tacoma is 4.5 games back in fourth place and OKC is 5.5 games back in fifth place...After today's game against Tacoma, OKC finishes the season with six games in Salt Lake, which is currently in sixth place and 6.5 games behind Reno.

Getting Offensive: Oklahoma City's offense broke out Saturday night and scored nine runs for the team's most runs since a 9-1 win in Round Rock Sept. 1. OKC also finished last night's game with 15 hits for the team's highest hit total during the second half of the PCL season and highest for the team since June 8 against Round Rock - a 10-9 win at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark - during which OKC also had 15 hits...Overall this season, OKC has recorded 15 or more hits 12 times, with 11 of those occurring during the first three months of the PCL season...Six OKC players finished with multi-hit games Saturday night - the most for the team since six players recorded multi-hit games July 24 against Tacoma in OKC.

Rush Hour: Dalton Rushing reached base four times Saturday and went 3-for-4 with his seventh home run of the season with OKC. He has now homered in two of his last three games...His three-hit game Saturday matched his season-high mark with OKC as he also recorded three hits Aug. 27 in Round Rock...On Saturday, he also recorded three RBI to reach at least three RBI for the third time with OKC and first time since racking up five RBI Aug. 27 in Round Rock...Rushing has reached base in 31 of his first 32 games with OKC.

Dinger Details : Oklahoma City hit two home runs Saturday and has now hit six home runs over the last four games following a season-high four-game drought and hitting just five homers over the previous 12 games. With homers by Dalton Rushing and Andre Lipcius Saturday, OKC has posted back-to-back multi-homer games for the first time since a three-game stretch Aug. 16-18 (10 HR)...On the other hand, OKC has allowed just two homers over the last five games and four over the last eight games. OKC's seven homers allowed since Sept. 1 are fewest in the PCL. However, all of those home runs have been hit with at least one runner on base.

Lip Service : Andre Lipcius finished with two hits - a home run and a double - along with two RBI and scored two runs Saturday night. He is now 7-for-18 during the current series and has reached base in 32 of his last 33 games...Lipcius' home run was his career-high 25th of the season, nearly doubling his previous career high of 13, set last season...He leads OKC with 146 hits - tied for most in the PCL - and has also set a new career-high mark for hits...His 251 total bases pace the PCL, while his 25 homers are tied for fifth in the league, his 86 RBI rank sixth and his 53 extra-base hits are tied for sixth.

The Warden: Ryan Ward picked up two hits and a walk as he also added to his team-leading RBI total Saturday. His 95 RBI with OKC this season ranks third overall in the PCL and Ward is just the second player in OKC's Bricktown era to record back-to-back 95-plus RBI seasons, as he finished 2023 with 95 RBI. Scott Sheldon had 96 RBI in 1998 followed by 97 RBI in 1999...Ward hit his league-leading 30th home run of the season Friday and became just the fifth OKC player during the team's Bricktown era (since 1998) to hit 30 or more homers in a season and the first since Jason Martin in 2022 (32 HR). He is one of five players across the Minors this season with at least 30 homers.

Mound Matters : OKC limited Tacoma to three runs and three hits Saturday for the Rainiers' lowest totals of the series. It was also the first time OKC limited an opponent to three hits or less since throwing a one-hitter Aug. 24 against El Paso...Entering Saturday, OKC had allowed six or more runs in five straight games (37 R) for the first time since a six-game stretch July 30-Aug. 4 in El Paso (43 R)...Entering a 7-2 loss to Sugar Land Sept. 8, OKC had allowed four runs or less in three straight games as well as in 15 of the last 18 games, including 12 games with three or fewer runs allowed. OKC posted a 2.83 ERA over the 18-game span and had allowed as many as six runs just twice...Entering Saturday, OKC had recorded just three 1-2-3 innings over the previous 53 innings and had not retired the side in order in 27 straight innings. On Saturday, OKC recorded four 1-2-3 innings between the fourth and eighth innings...OKC did issue seven more walks Saturday and has issued 35 walks over the last four games.

Around the Horn: Alan Trejo extended his team-best hitting streak to six games with a single and scored a run Saturday. He is 7-for-22 during the stretch...Hunter Feduccia went 2-for-5 last night and is now 9-for-19 over his last five games with three doubles...Kody Hoese picked up a hit and scored a run as he has also hit safely in five straight games (6x22)...OKC has committed just three errors over the last 16 games...Drew Avans recorded the 448th hit of his OKC career Friday, moving him into a tie with Kelly Dransfeldt (1999-2002) as the Bricktown-era career hits leader. He now has four straight multi-hit games (8x21) and has hit safely in five straight games, going 9-for-24...OKC is 7-2 over its last nine series finales and is 8-4 this season in home series finales.

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