Tulsa Drillers Win Opener in Springfield

Originally Published: Jun 9, 2010 10:46 PM CDT

Andrew Topps
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

SPRINGFIELD, Missouri -- The Tulsa Drillers held on for a 2-1 victory over Springfield Wednesday. All three runs in the game were scored in the eighth inning.

Charles Blackmon hit an RBI single and drove-in a run in the top of the eighth to give Tulsa a 2-0 lead. However, that advantage looked to evaporate quickly in the bottom half of the inning.

Springfield loaded the bases thanks to two walks and a single. Scott Rice beaned Aaron Luna with the bases loaded to bring in Antonio DeJesus for the Cardinals first run. Rice was able to avoid further damage getting Matt Carpenter to groundout to end the inning.

Starter Bruce Billings (5-3) earned the win after giving up just one earned run in 7.2 innings.

Casey Mulligan (0-1) was tagged with the loss after allowing two earned runs in an inning of work.

The two teams continue their series at 7:10 p.m. Thursday.