Wichita Strikes Early to Beat Drillers
WICHITA, KS – Entering Wednesday afternoon’s game in Wichita, the most hits a Tulsa Drillers opponent had in a game this season was 14. The Wind Surge nearly matched that total in the first three innings on Wednesday, pounding 11 hits and scoring 9 runs at Wichita’s new Riverfront Stadium.
WICHITA, KS – Entering Wednesday afternoon’s game in Wichita, the most hits a Tulsa Drillers opponent had in a game this season was 14. The Wind Surge nearly matched that total in the first three innings on Wednesday, pounding 11 hits and scoring 9 runs at Wichita’s new Riverfront Stadium. The end result was 9-3 loss for the Drillers that snapped their three-game winning streak.
Tulsa reliever Justin Hagenman made just his second career start in the game and worked a 1-2-3 first inning, but Wichita bats quickly came to life in the second. The first three batters in the inning hit safely, producing two runs and ending the day for Hagenman.
Michael Grove came on and was greeted with consecutive doubles that upped the Wind Surge lead to 4-0.
An RBI double by Michael Busch got one of the runs back for the Drillers in the top of the third before the Wichita onslaught continued in the bottom half of the inning. The first six batters reached safely against Grove on five hits and one walk. The big blow was a three-run homer by Wichita catcher Chris Williams. When the dust settled on the inning, the Wind Surge owned a 9-1 lead.
The Drillers were unable to challenge the Wichita lead, but they did add a pair of consolation runs in the eighth inning on RBIs from Miguel Vargas and Devin Mann.
The Wind Surge finished with 15 hits in the game.
The win for Wichita trimmed Tulsa’s lead in the Propeller Series to 8-6. The winner of the season series between the two teams will be presented with the Propeller Trophy by Coors Light.
THE HIGHLIGHTS
*Offensively, the Drillers grounded into three double plays in the game.
*Hunter Feduccia singled in the top of the seventh inning to extend his hitting streak to eight straight games.
*Busch collected two hits and has now hit safely in eight of his past nine games, going 10-31 for a .323 average during the stretch. Vargas was the only other Tulsa batter with more than one hit in the game, finishing 3-5.
*Hagenman was charged with the loss, dropping his season record to 5-2. He was charged with three hits and three runs in one official inning of work.
*After the five runs in the third inning, Grove settled in to retire six of the final seven hitters he faced. In three innings, he was charged with six runs on eight hits.
*Wichita reliever Kody Funderburk allowed just four hits and one unearned run in five innings to pick up the win in his Double-A debut.
*Bryan Warzek and Edward Cuello each threw two scoreless innings to close out the game for the Drillers.
UP NEXT
Tulsa at Wichita on Thursday, July 15 at 7:05 PM at Riverfront Stadium.
The pitching matchup will be Tulsa RHP Ryan Pepiot (3-2, 1.77 ERA) against Wichita RHP Jordan Balazovic (1-1, 3.56 ERA).