Drillers Sweep Frisco in Doubleheader

Frisco, TX – After Tuesday’s series opener in Frisco was rained out, the Tulsa Drillers and Frisco RoughRiders opened their six-game series with a doubleheader on Wednesday night at Riders Field. The Drillers earned a dominant 5-0 win in game one behind starting pitcher Adam Serwinowski, who threw six shutout innings and struck out eight batters. In the nightcap, the Drillers rallied from a five-run deficit and scored 11 unanswered runs to earn a 12-6 victory.

With these two victories, the Drillers improved their record to 13-4, matching their best start since 1996 under the Drillers all-time winningest manager Bobby Jones.

GAME 1 BOXSCORE

GAME 2 BOXSCORE

The Drillers game one win was their second shutout victory of the season, thanks to a dominant performance from lefthander Serwinowski. The South Carolina native began the evening by retiring 14 consecutive Frisco hitters, including striking out the side in the third inning. Serwinowski went on to toss six scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and striking out eight without issuing a walk.

Tulsa’s offense supported Serwinowski with five runs, three of them scoring in the first inning. The Drillers first four batters reached base safely to begin the game followed by Kendall George scoring on a wild pitch and Zyhir plateing Josue De Paula and Kyle Nevin on a two-run single.

In the second inning, Sean McLain tripled and scored Tulsa's fourth run on George's RBI single.

The Drillers plated their final run in the fourth inning when De Paula drove in McLain with his third hit of the game.

Kelvin Ramirez was the only reliever Tulsa needed to secure the win, pitching a clean seventh inning with two strikeouts.

Game two began similarly to the opener as George opened the first inning by scoring on a fielding error.

The RoughRiders answered with six straight runs against Tulsa starting pitcher Roque Gutierrez. The rally included solo home runs from Frainyer Chavez, Marcus Lee Sang and John Taylor.

The Drillers gained two runs back in the fourth inning when Nelson Quiroz scored on a throwing error, followed by De Paula’s RBI groundout that cut the deficit to 6-3.

Tulsa tied the game in the sixth inning. Quiroz and McLain began the inning with a single and a double before George scored both on a single. Nevin followed with a double that scored George and tied the game at 6-6.

Both teams failed to score in the seventh inning, sending the game into extra innings. In the eighth, Tulsa took a commanding lead by producing six runs that began with Nevin’s go-ahead, RBI single. The Drillers followed with five more runs that scored on a bases-loaded walk, a three-run double from Joe Vetrano and a RBI single from Quiroz that made the score 12-6.

Reliever Carson Hobbs needed just six pitches to work a scoreless bottom half of the eighth inning to close the game and complete the sweep.

GAME NOTES

*The outstanding performance by Serwinowski in game one earned him his first Double-A win.

*George earned a combined three hits across the two games to increase his hitting streak to 11 straight games and raise his season batting average to .411.

*McLain had a big night, totaling three hits and four runs scored across the two games.

*Nick Robertson was credited with the win in game two by blanking the RoughRiders for two innings. He is a perfect 3-0 on the season and has not allowed a run to score in eight innings pitched.

*Relievers Cam Day and Evan Shaw pitched a combined three scoreless innings in game two.

*The Drillers earned 15 hits in game two to match their season high.

UP NEXT

The Drillers will continue their six-game road series against RoughRiders at Frisco’s Riders Field on Thursday night. Game three will begin at 6:35 p.m. and the starting pitchers are expected to be:

TUL – RHP Patrick Copen (2-0, 1.72 ERA)
FRI – RHP Winston Santos (0-0, 13.50 ERA)