Drillers and Travelers Split Doubleheader

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, AR - The Tulsa Drillers and Arkansas Travelers endured a long night of baseball that started on Friday and didn't end until the early hours of Saturday morning. The Drillers began the evening 2.5 games behind the first-place Travs, and that was exactly where they remained when a scheduled doubleheader was finally concluded. The two teams split the pair games, with <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Tulsa winning the first game 7-4 and the Travs taking game two by a 1-0 score.
The doubleheader started two hours late after rain delayed the first pitch of the opener until 7:20 p.m. at Dickey Stephens Park.
In game one, the Drillers jumped to a 6-0 lead with two runs in the first inning and four more in the second.
Zach Reks tripled home the game's first run before scoring on a sacrifice fly from Cristian Sanchez.
Reks struck again in the second inning. After Jared Walker walked and scored on a wild pitch, Cody Thomas and Gavin Lux singled. Reks followed with his eighth home run of the season, a three-run shot that upped the lead to six runs.
Tulsa starting pitcher Dustin May ran into trouble in the bottom half of the second as a walk, a pair of singles and a wild pitch produced two runs for the Travelers.
The scored remained 6-2 until Thomas led off the top of the sixth with a tape-measure home run that easily cleared the right field fence.
The Travelers closed out the scoring with a pair of runs off reliever Layne Somsen in the bottom of the seventh.
Parker Curry took the mound for his third start of the season in game two. Curry delivered his best start of the season, going four innings and striking out six.  
In a scoreless game, Chris Nunn came out of the pen in the top of the fifth, and was perfect for 1.2 innings. He struck out three of the five men he set down.
With the game still scoreless with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Michael Boyle came in out of the pen and got himself in immediate trouble. After a single and a walk, Jordan Cowan singled up the middle to give <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Arkansas a 1-0 lead.
 
The Drillers had the tying run on base in the top of the seventh after a Zach McKinstry single, but were unable to bring him around to score, giving the two teams a split of the doubleheader.  
 
WHAT YOU MISSED
Thomas had two of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Tulsa's four hits in the second game, and the only extra-base hit for the Drillers.  
First pitch for game two was at 10:43 PM, and the final strike was thrown at 12:46 AM.
May did not pick up the win in the game one victory as he worked only four innings. The right-hander allowed only two runs on four hits while striking out seven. He needed 86 pitches to work through the four innings.
Shea Spitzbarth worked two scoreless frames in relief of May to pick up the game one win. It was the sixth straight scoreless appearance for Spitzbarth.
UP NEXT: Tulsa at Arkansas, Saturday, May 11 at 6:10 PM at Dickey Stephens Park in North Little Rock, AR. RHP Yordy Cabrera (0-0, 9.72 ERA) vs. LHP Ricardo Sánchez (4-1, 1.75 ERA).