Tulsa Drillers Blown Out at Home

Originally Published: Apr 24, 2010 9:22 PM CDT

Corey DeMoss
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

TULSA, Oklahoma – The Tulsa Drillers fell at home yet again Saturday, this time 11-4 at the hands of the Springfield Cardinals.

The Cardinals (11-4) were on fire at the plate from the start. Steven Hill and Curt Smith both connected on RBI singles in the first inning to give them an early 2-0 lead, and they would hold the lead for the rest of the night.

The Drillers (5-10) scored in the first and second innings on an RBI single by Scott Beerer and RBI groundout by Anthony Jackson. But Springfield continued to add runs almost at will, constantly keeping Tulsa in catch-up mode.

After the teams traded runs in the second inning, Springfield broke the game open with a three-run home run by Pete Kozma to increase the lead to 6-2. Tulsa scored two in the bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Harvey and an RBI groundout by Dayton Buller, but the Cardinals answered again.

Mike Foli hit a two-run home run in the top of the seventh to start the scoring, and Steven Hill added a two-run single to stretch the lead to 10-4.

Keith Weiser was credited with the loss after giving up nine hits and five earned runs in five innings of work. Andy Graham struggled even more in relief, giving up four runs in just 1.1 innings.

David Kopp earned the win by holding Tulsa to three earned runs and five hits in six innings. He still has not surrendered a home run yet this season.

The Drillers still have only won one game at home since building the new ONEOK Field. They will try to change that with the series finale at 2:05 p.m. Sunday.