Tulsa Drops Northwest Arkansas in Extras

The Drillers blew a four-run advantage, but took advantage of Naturals' mistakes in extras to win.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:23 pm

By: News On 6

Tulsa Drops Northwest Arkansas in Extras

Originally Published: May 9, 2011 11:15 PM CDT

Gerald Goodridge
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

SPRINGDALE, Arkansas -- After giving up a four-run deficit, the Tulsa Drillers capitalized on Northwest Arkansas’ miscues in extras to top the Naturals 6-4 Monday.

The Drillers (18-11) scored all four of their runs in regulation in the top of the second inning.

With one out and runners on first and third, James Cesario knocked a soft grounder to right field to score both WIlin Rosario and Mike Daniel to take a 2-0 advantage. In the next at-bat, Thomas Field singled to center, bringing Cesario home from second base to extend the lead to three runs.

Tim Wheeler followed with a shard double to right field to bring Field home to take a 4-0 lead.

Northwest Arkansas (13-14) broke the coring barrier in the bottom of the third, when an Anthony Seratelli grounded out to first, allowing Mario Lisson to score from third. Christian Colon singled to left field in the next at-bat to bring Nick Van Stratten home to cut the deficit to 4-2.

The Travelers cut the lead to one run in the bottom of the fifth thanks to an RBI single from Van Stratten and tied it thanks to a Lisson solo home run in the seventh.

However, it took Tulsa just one extra frame to retake the lead.

With two outs and runners on first and third, a wild pitch from Buddy Baumann allowed Daniel to come home from third and a throwing error on the same play allowed Wheeler to score to take a 6-4 lead.

The Drillers retired three of the next four batters to end the game.

Tulsa will close out the four-game road series at 11 a.m. before taking a day off to travel to Little Rock, Ark. to take on the Arkansas Travelers.