The Surge Square off Against Familiar Foe

The Wind Surge will continue their longest road trip of the 2022 season as they head to rival Tulsa for a six-game series against the Drillers. The Wind Surge come back from Little Rock, Arkansas as they played a six-game series against the Travelers where they dropped four of six. Louie Varland and Spencer Steer were named Minnesota Twins minor league pitcher and hitter of the week (read more below). The Wind Surge currently stand at first place in the Texas League and the Driller are in second place.

Wichita Wind Surge (32-23) vs. Tulsa Drillers (30-24)

Tuesday, June 14 | 7:05 | Tulsa, Oklahoma (ONEOK Field)

RHP Casey Legumina (1-2, 8.02 ERA) vs. Andrew Heaney (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Wednesday, June 15 | 4:35 | Tulsa, Oklahoma (ONEOK Field)

RHP Louie Varland (5-1, 3.24 ERA) vs. RHP Landon Knack (1-4, 4.13 ERA)

Wednesday, June 15 | Game 2 | Tulsa, Oklahoma (ONEOK Field)

LHP Kody Funderburk (6-1, 2.17 ERA) vs. LHP John Rooney (2-2, 5.40 ERA)

Thursday, June 16 | 7:05 | Tulsa, Oklahoma (ONEOK Field)

RHP Simeon Woods-Richardson (2-3, 3.40 ERA) vs. TBA

Friday, June 17 | 7:05 | Tulsa, Oklahoma (ONEOK Field)

RHP Blayne Enlow (0-1, 6.38 ERA) vs. TBA

Saturday, June 18 | 7:05 | Tulsa, Oklahoma (ONEOK Field)

RHP Sawyer Gipson-Long (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. TBA

Sunday, June 19 | 1:05 | Tulsa, Oklahoma (ONEOK Field)

RHP TBA vs. TBA

PROPELLER SERIES - The Surge and Drillers met 30 times in 2021 with the teams splitting the season series. The Surge won the inaugural Propeller Series by winning the tiebreaker. The teams will meet 24 times this season with 15 of the 24 played in Wichita. Tulsa leads the series 5-3.

THE DRILLERS - Tulsa is affiliated with the LA Dodgers and has dropped eight of its last 11 games.

THE PENNANT RACE -Wichita leads Tulsa by 1½ games for the division lead and Arkansas by two games with 13 games left in the first half, Surge still have seven games to go against Drillers. The winner of the first half will have a spot in the Texas League Playoffs.

OPENING STATEMENTS - The Wind Surge are 25-5 when scoring the game’s first run, and 7-18 when the opponent scores the opening run.

THE ROSTER – Wichita made a series of roster moves today RHP Argenis Angulo was placed on the development list, LHP Evan Sisk was promoted to Saint Paul Saints, RHP Jordan Gore was assigned to Wichita, OF Cole Sturgeon was assigned to Wichita, RHP Sawyer Gipson-Long was promoted from Cedar Rapids, C Jair Camargo was activated from 7-day injured list, C Kyle Schmidt was assigned to Cedar Rapids, OF Kennie Taylor was assigned to Cedar Rapids.

CLOSE CALLS - The Wind Surge are 12-6 in one run games; the 12 wins are the most in the Texas League

ROAD WARRIORS - The Wind Surge have the league’s best road record at 17-11. The team is batting .219 on the road this season, last in the league but the 4.40 road ERA is second in the league. The Wind Surge will play their first home game on Wednesday away from Riverfront Stadium. The second game of the doubleheader on Wednesday will be a Wind Surge home game as a makeup of a rain out in May.

NEED FOR SPEED- Wichita is 75 for 92 in stolen base attempts this season, second in the Texas League. Austin Martin is second in the league with 21 bags and DeShawn Keirsey is 5th in in the league with 16 stolen bags. The Wind Surge had 75 stolen bases last season in 87 games, this season 51 games. The Surge have not stolen a base in their last four games, prior to that had not gone more than two games without swiping a base.

PITCHING – The Wind Surge are second in the Texas League with a 4.37 team ERA, the team leads the league with 547 punchouts. The Surge have allowed 53 homers, second fewest in the league…. The 263 walks issued is third most.

ACCOLADES - Right-handed pitcher Louie Varland was named the Twins minor league Pitcher of the Week. Varland, 24, made two starts (6/4 vs. Frisco and 6/10 at Arkansas) for the Wind Surge, going 1-0, 1.64 ERA (11.0 IP, 2 ER) with eight hits allowed two walks and 18 strikeouts. It’s his first honor of the season. Varland won the award twice last season while pitching at Class A Cedar Rapids.

JUNE BLUES - The Wind Surge offense has struggled in the month of June batting .211, last in the Texas League. The club has scored 43 runs, 7th of 10 in the league. The team has the best ERA in the month of June at 3.16.

OUCH - Austin Martin is tied for the league lead with 14 HBP. Martin was hit by a pitch 24 times last season and 29 times in his three-year college career. He was hit four times in the Arkansas series.

NOTES – The five errors on Sunday set a franchise high for most in a game… The team had three balks in Saturday’s game, also a franchise high…. The two ejections on Sunday, first time in club history. Chris Williams has 10 RBI in June, second most in the Texas League…. He is batting .229 (8x35) for the month with 3HR, 7 of 8 hits are for extra bases… Eddy Julien and Anthony Prato have reached base in 8 consecutive games… The Surge have turned the fewest double plays in the league, 27. Surge manager Ramon Borrego has 477 career wins

ON DECK- The Wind Surge will return home to Riverfront Stadium on Tuesday, June 21st where they will play a six-game series against the San Antionio Missions. The Missions currently reside in first place in the Texas League South division (29-25).