Sloppy Drillers Outslug Travs 11-9
Published on April 23, 2008 under Texas League (TL1)
Arkansas Travelers News Release
Drillers Stadium, Tulsa, OK - Outstanding pitching has been the calling card for the Travs early in the 2008 season. Pitching was not the strength Wednesday night as the Tulsa Drillers banged out eight extra-base hits including three homers in an 11-9 defeat of the Travs. Tulsa overcame five errors and other misplays in the field to record their second win in three games against Arkansas. Travs starter RHP Anthony Ortega (2-2) lasted just two innings allowing seven runs on eight base hits. Drillers RF Matt Miller had two hits including a home run (2) and drove in four runs. Jeff Dragicevich (2) and Brian Esposito (2) also homered for Tulsa.
The Travs swung the stick fairly well, but they left eight men on base and went without a run for five innings while Tulsa built its lead. Cody Fuller homered (2) and drove in two runs, while LF Coby Smith collected three base hits to extend his on-base streak to 19 games.
Tulsa starter LHP Xavier Cedeno tossed six innings for the victory, allowing five runs (three earned) on seven hits and one walk. He was the victim of extremely poor defense in the first three innings, but left the bases loaded in the first to keep Tulsa within striking distance.
Smith started the game with a hard single to left then Hainley Statia's grounder kicked off SS Chris Nelson's glove close to second base for a hit. Tulsa 2B Eric Young, Jr. committed errors on the next two plays helping Smith to score while the Travs loaded the bases. They managed just one run out of the situation when Cedeno walked Adam Morrissey to force in Statia. Cedeno induced Jordan Czarniecki to pop out before getting Fuller on a bouncer to third base.
Tulsa came right back to tie the game on a two-out, two-run homer by Miller in the bottom of the first.
Arkansas 3B Ryan Leahy began the second inning by reaching second base on a throwing error by Dragicevich and advanced to second base when Smith hit a ground ball to Young and nobody covered first base. Statia scored Leahy for a 3-2 Travs lead on a fielder's choice, then 1B Mike Collins yanked an RBI triple to center and scored when Corey Smith's bounced an RBI single over third base for a 5-2 lead.
Ortega had trouble putting away the Drillers once he got to two strikes. The first three batters of the second inning all reached base on two strike counts. Jeff Kindel hit a leadoff double and went to third on a single by Justin Nelson. Dragicevich tied the game with a three-run blast to left field. After two outs Tulsa CF Dexter Fowler hit a hard grounder into center and caught Fuller off guard for a hustling double. Back-to-back RBI doubles followed from Nelson and Miller giving the Drillers a 7-5 lead.
Cedeno settled in afterwards and tossed three shutout innings while Ortega was pulled for the third. RHP Bill Edwards kept the Drillers off the board in the third inning, but got wild in the fourth. He hit Young with a pitch, and he stole second base then a wild pitch sent him to third. A walk put Fowler aboard, and Nelson brought home Young with a sacrifice fly to center.
After the sixth inning, Arkansas had LHP Doug Brandt enter the game and he allowed three runs on two hits and two walks. A two-run homer by Esposito and a sacrifice fly by Miller closed out Tulsa's scoring.
Trailing 11-5 in the eighth inning the Travs cut the lead to 11-7 against RHP Eduardo Valdez thanks to a two-run homer from Fuller. Smith doubled, stole third and scored on a passed ball to cut the deficit to 11-8.
Tulsa had RHP Ryan Mattheus pitch the ninth and he walked the leadoff batter Smith. Two groundouts sent Smith third base and a double by Czarniecki scored him and brought the tying run to the plate. Mattheus got Fuller to bounce to short to end the game giving him his second save.
Time of game was 2:40 and the paid attendance was 2,226.
The Travs and Drillers wrap up this four-game series Thursday night in Tulsa. Arkansas has RHP Bobby Mosebach (2-0) pitching against Drillers RHP Tomas Santiago (0-0). First pitch at Tulsa is set for 7:05 p.m.
Texas League Stories from April 23, 2008
- Hounds Take a Bite out of the Hooks - Corpus Christi Hooks
- Sloppy Drillers Outslug Travs 11-9 - Arkansas Travelers
- Drillers Outscore Travelers 11-9 - Tulsa Drillers
- Wednesday Night's Game vs. Springfield Rained Out - Northwest Arkansas Naturals
- Double-Header Thursday in Springdale - Springfield Cardinals
- Cortes placed on DL, Hayes promoted from Wilmington - Northwest Arkansas Naturals
- Hooks Face RockHounds Tonight - Corpus Christi Hooks
- Hooks Take the Long Way Home - Corpus Christi Hooks
- Cards Rally for 14-Inning Win - Springfield Cardinals
- Naturals Work Overtime, Come up Short - Northwest Arkansas Naturals
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