Calhoun, Frankoff Lead Drillers to Sweep of RoughRiders

The Tulsa Drillers continued their mastery of the Frisco RoughRiders Sunday afternoon at ONEOK Field. Tulsa used a pair of homers from Willie Calhoun and strong outing from starting pitcher Seth Frankoff to defeat the RoughRiders 11-3. The win gave the Drillers a three-game sweep of the Riders and kept them undefeated against Frisco this season with a perfect 8-0 record.

The RoughRiders took a rare lead against the Drillers when they opened the game with a run in the top of the first inning. Eduard Pinto singled off Frankoff and scored on a two-out double by Joe Jackson. It was the first time since May 26 that the Riders had led the Drillers in a game.

The lead was short lived however as Tulsa responded with three runs in the bottom of the first. Frisco starting pitcher Connor Sadzeck walked the first two batters of the inning, with eight of his first nine pitches missing the strike zone. After a ground out, Sadzeck was burned for the walks when Calhoun belted his first home run of the day to put the Drillers on top 3-1.

Sadzeck's troubles continued in the second inning when he surrendered a single to Edwin Rios before throwing consecutive wild pitches. Rios would travel the final 90 feet to home on a two-out single by Tim Locastro that increased the lead to three runs.

In the third, Jacob Scavuzzo led off with a double, moved to third on a balk from Sadzeck and scored on the right-hander's third wild pitch. The inning continued with Cody Bellinger and Shawn Zarraga drawing consecutive walks. Sadzeck's defense failed to do him any favors as third baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa and shortstop Alberto Triunfel allowed a soft ground ball off the bat of Lars Anderson to roll slowly through the left side of the infield for a run-scoring single that increased Tulsa's lead to 6-1.

Calhoun struck again in the fifth as he led off with his second homer of the game and his 25th of the season. 

He capped his three-hit afternoon when he doubled and scored in the bottom of the seventh.

Calhoun now trails Matt Chapman of Midland by only four homers for the Texas League lead. In addition, Calhoun's four runs batted in moved him to within five of Chapman's league-leading 83 RBI.

Scavuzzo put the Drillers in double figures with a home run of his own in the bottom of the eighth. His three-run homer was his ninth of the year and upped the Tulsa lead to 11-1.

A two-run homer from Frisco's Kellin Deglan in the ninth closed out the scoring.

The power display from Calhoun and Scavuzzo helped to give Frankoff his first Double-A win of the season. The right-hander worked the first six innings, allowing just the one run. The victory improved his record to 1-3.

The Drillers will have a day off on Monday before opening a six-game road trip Tuesday night in Midland. Andy Sopko is scheduled to pitch in the opener for Tulsa. Starting time is scheduled for 6:30pm.