TL1 Tulsa Drillers

Tulsa Sweeps Doubleheader from Frisco

Published on June 1, 2016 under Texas League (TL1)
Tulsa Drillers News Release


After having a day off on Monday followed by the series opener in Frisco getting rained out on Tuesday, the Tulsa Drillers just missed tying the club's best May record since 2006. The Drillers finished May with a 17-11 record, coming up just short of the 18-11 mark set ten years ago. But that did not appear to faze this year's club as the Drillers combined strong pitching with timely offense to get the month of June off to a rousing start, sweeping a twin bill from Frisco Wednesday night.

The Tulsa pitching staff combined to allow just 1 run on 4 hits over 14 innings to set the tone for the Drillers as they defeated the RoughRiders 4-0 in the first contest, followed by a 3-1 triumph in the second game.

With the pair of victories, the Drillers have now won 19 of their last 26 contests and sit just 1.5 games behind first-place Springfield in the Texas League North Division.

The night also marked the eighth straight loss for Frisco whose losing streak began when the Drillers swept a three-game set from the RoughRiders in Tulsa last week.

Game 1

Both teams started their aces in the opening game and both starters pitched like it over the first four innings. But the Drillers broke through in the fifth inning.

After Brock Stewart worked around a one-out triple by Frisco's Ryan Cordell to end the fourth, Tulsa's Paul Hoenecke broke up the scoreless game on the first pitch of the fifth inning with his fifth homer of the year.

Hoenecke's blast seemed to rattle Frisco starter Connor Sadzeck as the right-hander went on to load the bases courtesy of base hits from Andrew Toles and Brandon Trinkwon to go with a two-out walk issued to Cody Bellinger. Willie Calhoun then calmly watched four straight pitches go by as Sadzeck walked in the second run of the game to put Tulsa in front 2-0.

That would be more than enough run support for Stewart as the Illinois native was dominant.

With his six innings of shutout ball Wednesday night, Stewart continued his outstanding run this season. Over his last five outings, Stewart has allowed just 2 earned runs in 32.1 innings of work. During that span, the righty has given up just 15 hits while racking up 39 strikeouts against only 5 walks.

Thanks to his work Wednesday, Stewart also lowered his Texas League leading ERA to 1.09.

The Drillers added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh as Bellinger and Jacob Scavuzzo came home to score when RoughRiders second baseman Evan Van Hoosier threw wildly home, trying to cut Bellinger down at the plate.

Reliever Scott Griggs came on and pitched a clean bottom of the seventh inning to close out the 4-0 victory for Tulsa.

Stewart earned his second win of the year for the Drillers while Sadzeck suffered his second loss. Sadzeck's only two losses this season have both come against the Drillers.

Game 2

In the nightcap of the doubleheader, it was another pitcher's duel as Scott Barlow and Victor Payano faced off.

For Tulsa's Barlow, it was his first appearance in 13 days. The Los Angeles Dodgers have a policy of giving their young minor league arms time off during the year, and it was Barlow's turn for some rest after Trevor Oaks and Stewart had also received a break earlier in May.

The time off did not appear to negatively affect Barlow one bit as the California native picked up right where he had left off.

Barlow came into the day riding a streak of five consecutive quality starts, and he kept that streak going with his work Wednesday. Taking a cue from Stewart's performance in game one of the twin bill, Barlow went six strong innings, allowing just a single run while picking up five strikeouts.

Tyler Ogle gave the Drillers an early lead in the second inning by launching a solo blast over the left-center field fence to put Tulsa in front 1-0. For Ogle, it was his second homer of the year with the two round-trippers coming in his last two games.

The RoughRiders knotted things up in the third inning on a Lewis Brinson RBI double and threatened to take the lead as they had runners on second and third with just one out. But Barlow buckled down, retiring rehabbing big-leaguer Robinson Chirinos on a groundout before getting Texas League RBI leader Cordell to pop out to first to escape further damage.

The score would hold there as Barlow and Payano traded zeros over the next three innings before Payano finally tired in the seventh.

After recording the first two outs of the frame, Payano gave up a double to Adam Law before hitting Drew Maggi to put two runners on. Frisco called in southpaw reliever Joe Filemeno, but the move backfired as Filemeno issued three straight walks to Toles, Calhoun and Scavuzzo to force in two runs and put the Drillers back on top 3-1.

Caleb Dirks came on to pitch the bottom of the seventh and struck out two of the four batters he faced to secure the doubleheader sweep for Tulsa.

Barlow improved to 3-2 with the victory while Payano was charged with the loss to drop his record to 4-3 on the season. Dirks earned his second save of the year.

The Drillers and RoughRiders will conclude their series Thursday night as Tulsa will go for its second sweep of Frisco in as many weeks. RHP Trevor Oaks (5-1, 2.92 ERA) will start the finale for Tulsa while RHP Sam Wolff (4-3, 5.12 ERA) heads to the mound for Frisco. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM from Texas.

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