Toles finishes 5-for-6 in Drillers rout

North Little Rock, AR - The Tulsa Drillers belted 18 hits in a 10-3 win over the Arkansas Travelers on Wednesday night at Dickey-Stephens Park.

Drillers CF Andrew Toles opened the game with a triple and produced hits in each of his first five plate appearances. In the eighth, Toles lined out to short and finished 5-for-6 with a double, triple. two runs scored and two RBIs.

Former Travs 2B Sherman Johnson has the only other five-hit game in the Texas League this season.

Tulsa scored one in the first, one in the second and three in the fourth to jump out to a 5-2 lead. Arkansas DH Jabari Henry led off the fourth with a homer to slice the deficit to 5-3, but the Drillers added two in the sixth, two in the eighth and one in the ninth.

Henry finished 3-for-4 and has four multi-hit games in his last eight played.

Travs RHP Alex Blackford (L, 2-3) was knocked out after 3.2 innings. The righty allowed five runs on eight hits with two walks and a strikeout. He threw 94 pitches.

RHP Chase De Jong (W, 7-4) surrendered the three runs (one earned) on five hits over six innings of work.

C Paul Hoenecke and 3B Adam Law both finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored for Tulsa.

2B Willie Calhoun went 2-for-4 with a home run and five RBIs.

With the win, Tulsa scooted a half game ahead of the Springfield Cardinals atop the Texas League North division with five games remaining in the half.

The Travs and Drillers will play game two of the four-game series on Thursday night at Dickey-Stephens Park. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.