OKC Comets Game Notes - April 1, 2025
April 1, 2025 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Oklahoma City Comets News Release
El Paso Chihuahuas (2-1) at Oklahoma City Comets (2-1)
Game #4 of 150/First Half #4 of 75/Home #1 of 75
Pitching Probables: ELP-LHP Wes Benjamin (0-0, 5.40) vs. OKC-LHP Justin Wrobleski (NR, -.--)
Tuesday, April 1, 2025 | Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 7:05 p.m. CT
Radio: KGHM-AM 1340 The Game, 1340thegame.com, iHeartRadio; Video: MiLB.tv, Bally Sports Live
Today's Game: The Oklahoma City Comets open the home portion of their 2025 schedule and debut their new look and uniforms on the field at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark at 7:05 p.m. against the El Paso Chihuahuas to start a six-game home series...The Comets have won back-to-back games and won their first road series of the season, 2-1, in Sugar Land...Opening Night fireworks are scheduled to follow tonight's game, which falls on a $2 Tuesday.
Last Game: The Oklahoma City Comets scored the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth inning when Alex Freeland drew a bases-loaded walk on the way to a 3-2 win against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys Sunday afternoon at Constellation Field. Oklahoma City grabbed the first lead of the day in the second inning when Ryan Ward knocked a two-run double into right field. Sugar Land scored one run in each the sixth and seventh innings to even the score. In the top of the ninth inning, OKC loaded the bases with one out before Freeland drew a walk to bring in OKC's third run of the afternoon. Comets reliever Jack Little held the Space Cowboys scoreless in the bottom of the ninth inning and left the tying run at third base to record his first save of the season.
Today's Probable Pitcher: Justin Wrobleski takes the mound to make his season debut in OKC's home opener...The lefty spent time at three levels in the Dodgers organization last season, appearing in 13 games with Double-A Tulsa, seven games with OKC and eight games with Los Angeles...Wrobleski made his MLB debut July 7, 2024, pitching five innings against Milwaukee at Dodger Stadium. He went on to post a 1-2 record with a 5.70 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP, notching 26 strikeouts against 16 walks with the Dodgers...With OKC last season, he recorded a career-best 11 strikeouts in five innings June 22 against Albuquerque. In Triple-A games, he went 1-2 with a 5.46 ERA...He was Tulsa's Opening Night starter last season and enters 2025 rated as the Dodgers' No. 9 prospect by Baseball America and No. 11 by MLB Pipeline...Wrobleski was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 11th round of the 2021 MLB Draft from Oklahoma State University.
Against the Chihuahuas : 2025: 0-0 2024: 10-8 All-time: 60-50 At OKC: 30-20
The Comets and Chihuahuas face off 12 times during the first half of the PCL season in 2025 after facing each other for all 18 of their head-to-head games during the second half of the 2024 season within a span of 39 games. This season, the teams meet an additional six times during the second half...OKC enters the current series having won six of the last seven games overall against El Paso, including five of six games during the final 2024 series between the teams Aug. 20-25...Kody Hoese hit a team-leading five homers and racked up 13 RBI...OKC won the season series, 10-8, for the team's second season-series win against the Chihuahuas since 2018, but El Paso outscored OKC, 94-76, and outhit OKC, 161-141, over 18 games last season...At Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark last season, OKC went 8-4 against the Chihuahuas.
Out of This World: For the first time at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, Oklahoma City will officially play as the Comets. The Triple-A affiliate of the 2024 World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers rebranded to the Oklahoma City Comets in October 2024 with a name that boasts strong ties to Oklahoma. The Comets brand honors Oklahoma native and Hall of Fame center fielder Mickey Mantle, known as the "Commerce Comet." The team's new space theme celebrates Oklahoma's ties to the aerospace industry while also drawing inspiration from the parent club Dodgers' legendary "shooting ball" logo...The Comets name is the sixth in Oklahoma City's Triple-A franchise history, following the Oklahoma City 89ers (1962-97), Oklahoma RedHawks (1998-2009), Oklahoma City RedHawks (2010-2014), Oklahoma City Dodgers (2015-23) and Oklahoma City Baseball Club (2024).
Homecoming: Oklahoma City is 10-16 in home openers since Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark opened in 1998, and this is the first time OKC has opened its home schedule against El Paso...Last season against Albuquerque, OKC won its home opener for the second time in the last three seasons, but for just the fourth time in the last 15 seasons. OKC went on to win five of six games against Albuquerque in its first home series of 2024...OKC has finished with a winning record at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark each of the last three seasons, including a 39-36 mark last year, and has finished with a winning home record seven times in nine seasons during the Dodgers affiliation (since 2015).
Balls and Strikes: The Comets pitching staff enters the series leading the Pacific Coast League in both strikeouts and walks. Sugar Land struck out 33 times against the Comets over the weekend, with at least nine strikeouts each game. OKC pitchers racked up 15 strikeouts Saturday, marking the team's highest total since recording a season-high 18 K's Aug. 28, 2024 in Round Rock over 10 innings. OKC finished the 2024 season with five games of 15 strikeouts or more by the pitching staff...However, OKC pitchers also issued 23 walks over the first three-game set of 2025, with at least six in each game...OKC held the Space Cowboys to a .183 batting average in the series, including 4-for-22 with runners in scoring position. Sugar Land was kept scoreless in 22 of 27 innings and scored more than one run in an inning just once.
Launchpad: Ryan Ward recorded his first extra-base hit of the season and collected his first two RBI of 2025 Sunday in Sugar Land, running his OKC career total up to 198 RBI. Ward has led OKC in RBI each of the last two seasons and became just the fourth player during the Bricktown era to reach at least 100 RBI in a season in 2024 when he finished with 101 RBI. Ward is now 32 RBI away from tying Jason Botts' Bricktown-era career record of 230 RBI from 2005-08...Ward led the Pacific Coast League with 33 home runs last season, finished second with 62 extra-base hits and finished third with 101 RBI. He became just the third player in OKC's Bricktown era (since 1998) to hit 33 or more homers in one season and the first to do it since Mike Hessman hit 35 home runs in 2012. Including a home run hit in the Arizona Complex League during a rehab assignment in May, Ward hit 34 home runs last season - second-most in the Minors...With 54 career homers in Oklahoma City, he is now six home runs away from tying Jason Hart's Bricktown-era career record of 40 home runs from 2002-03 and 2006.
Kimistry: Hyeseong Kim leads OKC with four RBI to start the season - all of which came during Saturday's game in Sugar Land. Kim broke out with two extra-base hits and four RBI in his second official game in the United States and catapulted OKC into the lead for good Saturday when he lined a two-run double into right field in the second inning. Kim reached base four times in the game, also drawing a pair of walks, and collected OKC's first triple of the season in the fourth inning...Kim signed a three-year Major League contract with the Dodgers in January after playing the last six years with Kiwoom Heroes of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO). Last season, he batted .326, with 11 homers and 75 RBI, setting career highs in each of the latter two categories...He won three straight KBO Fielding Awards from 2021-23 while playing four different positions and has already started at three different positions this season (2B, SS, CF).
Seeing Stars: OKC's current roster features two of the Los Angeles Dodgers' top three prospects, and three of the organization's top nine prospects, per Baseball America : Catcher Dalton Rushing (No. 2), infielder Alex Freeland (No. 3) and pitcher Justin Wrobleski (No. 9). Starting pitcher Nick Frasso is rated No. 17 among Dodgers prospects by Baseball America. The roster features nine total members of the Los Angeles Dodgers' 40-man roster including pitchers Noah Davis, Landon Knack, Bobby Miller and Matt Sauer, catcher Hunter Feduccia, infielder Hyeseong Kim, and outfielder James Outman in addition to Wrobleski and Frasso. A total of 17 players on the roster spent at least part of the 2024 season in Oklahoma City and 13 players have previous Major League experience, with five appearing for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2024 while five others appeared elsewhere in the Major Leagues last season.
Mission Control: Scott Hennessey joins the Comets for his first season as manager as he becomes Oklahoma City's fourth manager during the team's affiliation with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Hennessey previously managed Double-A Tulsa from the middle of the 2017 season through 2024. With 455 career wins with the Drillers, including 16 playoff victories, he is the second-winningest manager in Tulsa professional baseball history since 1905. In 2018, Hennessey led Tulsa to the team's first Texas League title in 20 years and made the Texas League Championship Series in 2017 and 2019.
Pacific Coast League Stories from April 1, 2025
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- OKC Comets Game Notes - April 1, 2025 - Oklahoma City Comets
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