Drillers' Bats Overcome Ninth-Inning Meltdown

Originally Published: Jul 10, 2010 9:47 PM CDT

Corey DeMoss
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Tulsa Drillers’ dominant pitching fell apart in the ninth inning, but their explosive offense was still enough to coast to a 12-6 win over the Corpus Christi Hooks Saturday.

The Drillers (39-43) scored the game’s first run on an RBI groundout by Lars Davis in the second inning, but they blew the game open in the middle innings.

With two outs in the fourth inning, Tulsa strung together a walk and three base hits, all of which drove in runs. Ryan Harvey and Jason Van Kooten delivered back-to-back two-run singles to stretch the lead to 5-0 in the span of four pitches.

After Keil Roling walked, Matt Repec drove both Roling and Van Kooten home with a double to give Tulsa a six-run inning, all of which scored with two outs.

The Drillers continued to roll in the fifth inning, when their first four batters reached base. Charles Blackmon capped off that run with a two-run double, and Van Kooten later added an RBI single to stretch the lead to 10-0.

Tulsa added insult to injury with two more runs in the ninth inning to take a 12-run lead into the bottom of the frame. The Drillers’ pitchers had cruised to that point, giving up a total of just three hits in the first eight innings.

But Craig Baker entered in the ninth and promptly surrendered a home run to Jonathan Gaston on the second pitch he threw. Things just got worse for Baker from there, as the Hooks (36-49) finally managed to generate some offense.

He allowed the first six batters he faced to reach base, giving up more hits in seven pitches than Tulsa had surrendered in the previous eight innings combined. Baker allowed a total of six runs in the inning until he was pulled in favor of Rex Brothers, who retired the only batter he faced to end the game.

The win gave the Drillers a sweep of the four-game series, their third consecutive series victory. They will conclude their road trip with a visit to San Antonio, where they will play a doubleheader starting at 6:05 p.m. Sunday.