Drillers Blanked in Road Trip Finale, Head Home for Thursday's Opener

The Tulsa Drillers concluded their season-opening road trip on a losing note Tuesday night in west <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:state w:st="on">Texas. The Midland RockHounds got a dominant outing from starting pitcher Joel Seddon and a first-inning home run from Tyler Marincov to blank the Drillers 5-0 at Security Bank Ballpark. Despite the defeat, the Drillers finished the opening trip with a 3-3 record.
The Drillers will have their first off day of the season on Wednesday before playing their home opener on Thursday night at ONEOK Field. It will be the first game of a six-game homestand.  
Seddon, who was making his second start of the season, was in mid-season form. The <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">University of <st1:placename w:st="on">South Carolina product needed only 89 pitches to breeze through seven innings. Seddon allowed just three hits and one walk while striking out five.  
The RockHounds staked their starter to an early lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning off <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Tulsa starter Dennis Santana. Eli White singled with one out, and Marincov delivered the key hit of the night with a two-out homer off Santana to give <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Midland a lead that Seddon would not relinquish.  
The homer was the only blemish on Santana's line. The <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Tulsa right-hander, who was also making his second appearance of the season, allowed only the two runs on three hits in five innings of work. He walked two hitters while striking out five.
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Tulsa's only real scoring threat in the game came in the fifth inning. Will Smith led off with a double, and Jacob Scavuzzo followed with a single. With runners at the corners, Seddon got a fly out, a strikeout and a ground out to end the threat.
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Midland scored two runs off reliever Daniel Corcino in the seventh and added an insurance run in the eighth off lefthander Brian Moran.
WHAT YOU MISSED
The two teams totaled just nine hits in the game which took only 2:30 to complete.
The shutout marked the first time this season that the Drillers were held without a run. They had scored 30 total runs in their first five games of the season.  
Two of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Tulsa's four hits were singles. The only extra-base hit was Smith's leadoff double in the fifth. It was the first hit off Seddon.
Kyle Garlick accounted for half of the hits, finishing 2-4.
*Moran, who pitched for the Drillers late last season during the club's run to the Texas League playoffs, joined <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Tulsa prior to Tuesday's game, coming from Triple-A Oklahoma City. The Drillers sent reliever Vinny Santarsiero to <st1:place w:st="on">Great Lakes to make room for Moran.
UP NEXT
The Drillers now return to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Tulsa for their 2018 home opener at ONEOK Field on Thursday, April 12. First pitch for the opener against the Frisco RoughRiders is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. The pitching matchup will be:
            Tulsa                LHP Caleb Ferguson (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
            Frisco             RHP Collin Wiles (0-1, 9.00 ERA)