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Drillers Win Streak Snapped by Hicklen and Naturals

James Outman led Tulsa with 3 hits on Sunday and has now hit safely in 8 straight games. He has also reached base safely in 18 straight games. (Rich Crimi)
July 23, 2021

TULSA – A familiar storyline played out Friday night at ONEOK Field, but this time the roles were reversed. In the three previous games between the two teams, Northwest Arkansas jumped out to an early lead only to see the Tulsa Drillers rally each time to claim three straight wins.

TULSA – A familiar storyline played out Friday night at ONEOK Field, but this time the roles were reversed. In the three previous games between the two teams, Northwest Arkansas jumped out to an early lead only to see the Tulsa Drillers rally each time to claim three straight wins.

On Friday, the Drillers scored the early runs with two in each of the first two innings to initially go in front. Northwest Arkansas eventually tied the game before Brewer Hicklin completed the comeback with his second home run of the game. His three-run blast in the top of the ninth inning gave the Naturals a 7-4 win and ended the Drillers four-game winning streak.

BOX SCORE

The Drillers quick start began in the bottom of the first inning when the first three batters reached on a walk and a pair of singles to load the bases. After two outs, it looked as if the Drillers might waste the opportunity, but James Outman came through. In his first-ever at-bat at the Double-A level, Outman lined a single into right-center field to plate a pair of runs.

The Naturals got on the scoreboard in the top of the second inning when Freddy Fermin doubled and scored on a sacrifice fly from Jimmy Govern.

The Drillers matched their first-inning output with two more runs in the bottom half of the second when Hunter Feduccia led off with his 8th home run of the year, and Romer Cuadrado followed with his 6th of the season to make it 4-1.

The home-run display continued into the third when the leading home run hitter in Double-A struck for the Naturals. MJ Melendez belted his 21st homer of the season to cut Tulsa’s lead back to two runs.

Northwest Arkansas continued to chip away at the Drillers lead in the sixth inning and Melendez was again involved. He led off with his second hit of the night, a double to right. He eventually came home on a ground out from Fermin to make it 4-3.

Tulsa starting pitcher Bryan Brickhouse departed after six innings, giving way for reliever Justin Hagenman to open the seventh. After a strikeout to open the inning, Hagenman surrendered a solo home run to Hicklen that tied the game.

Hicklen completed his big night and the Naturals comeback in the ninth. After striking out the inning’s leadoff hitter, Tulsa reliever Mark Washington walked a batter and hit another to bring Hicklen to the plate. The ninth-place hitter for the Naturals came through in a big way with a drive deep into the Budweiser Terrace beyond the left field fence to give Northwest Arkansas its first lead of the night.

The Drillers did not have an answer in the bottom of the ninth, going down in order.

THE HIGHLIGHTS

*Brickhouse failed to get his second win of the year, but he turned in a quality start by surrendering just three runs on seven hits in six total innings. Brickhouse did not walk a batter and struck out three. The six-inning start was his longest of the season and matched the second-longest for a Tulsa pitcher this season.

*Hicklen entered the game with a .199 average, but he looked nothing like a sub .200 hitter on Friday. He finished 3-4 with 4 runs batted in, adding a single to his 2 homers. It was his first multi-homer game of the season and only his second three-hit game. The Alabama-Birmingham product did have a three home run game in 2019 while playing with Class-A Lexington.

*The Drillers lost despite matching a season high with 14 hits. Eight of Tulsa’s nine starters had at least one hit.

*Jacob Amaya and Donovan Casey matched Hicklen with three hits each in the game.

*For Washington, it was his first loss of the season.

UP NEXT

NW Arkansas at Tulsa on Saturday, July 24 at 7:05 PM at ONEOK Field.
The pitching matchup will be NW Arkansas LHP Austin Cox (1-1, 3.89 ERA) against Tulsa RHP Gerardo Carrillo (3-1, 4.20 ERA)