Drillers Fall To Cardinals In Regular Season Finale

The Tulsa Drillers closed out the 2014 regular season Monday afternoon with a 9-8 loss to the Springfield Cardinals at ONEOK Field. The Drillers jumped to an early five-run lead but watched the Cardinals rally late for the win.

The result left the Drillers with a final regular season record of 71-68. Tulsa and Springfield split 28 meetings with each team winning 14 times.

Tulsa will open play in the Texas League Playoffs on Wednesday.

Paid attendance for the finale in downtown Tulsa was 4,511 and upped the season attendance total to 403,732. It marks only the second time in the 100-plus year history of professional baseball in the city of Tulsa that attendance has topped the 400,000 mark. The only other time the mark was reached was in 2010, during the first season of ONEOK Field.

The total was obtained despite five rainouts, as the season featured a record-breaking 18 home sellouts.

Monday's finale began promisingly for the Drillers as they surged to an early lead in the contest. After the Cardinals opened the scoring in the top of the first inning, Tulsa responded with two runs in the second and three more in the third to go in front 5-1.

The Redbirds added another run in the top of the fifth before the Drillers made it 7-2 with two more runs in the bottom half of the inning.

Tyler Massey added a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth, his eighth of the year, but the Cardinals produced most of the fireworks in the late innings.

The Cards began their comeback with three runs in the top of the sixth, and then capped it with a big, two-out rally in the seventh. Reliever Nate Striz retired the first two batters of the inning before a pair of hits and a walk loaded the bases. Striz threw a wild pitch that brought in the first run that cut the lead to two before third baseman Patrick Wisdom cleared the bases with his 14th homer of the year. The three-run shot gave Springfield its first lead of the game at 9-8.

The Drillers had a chance to move back in front in the eighth, loading the bases with two outs, but Springfield reliever Joey Donofrio struck out Jayson Langfels to end the threat.

Donofrio then worked a 1-2-3 ninth to close out the game.

With the exception of the pitcher's spot, every Drillers starter had at least one hit in the game. Will Swanner finished 3 for 5, while Massey, Humphries and Langfels added 2 hits each.

The two hits for Massey raised his season average to .260 and extended his hitting streak to eight straight games, while Ryan Casteel finished the year with a ten-game streak after sitting out the finale.

Tuesday is a day off before the Drillers open the Texas League Playoffs the following night at ONEOK Field.

Tulsa will host the Arkansas Travelers in games one and two of the best-of-five North Division Playoff Series. In Wednesday's opener, Eddie Butler (6-9, 3.58) will take the mound for the Drillers while the Travelers will counter with Tulsa Union High School product Drew Rucinski (10-6, 3.15 ERA).

Starting time on Wednesday is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.