Drillers Come Up Short In 4-3 Loss To Arkansas Thursday Night

The Tulsa Drillers' six-game opening homestand against the Arkansas Travelers has had its share of tough breaks through the first three games.

The Drillers dropped the home opener on Tuesday night, 4-3 in 12 innings. Tulsa bounced back on Wednesday, the first home day game of the season, by beating Arkansas in a rain-shortened game 14-5. That tough luck came back Thursday night at ONEOK Field.

After falling behind 2-0 after a couple of errors in the first two innings, Tulsa tied the game in the third. Brandon Lewis belted a solo homer, his 1st of the year, followed by Dalton Rushing's solo homer, the second of the season for the Dodgers #1 prospect. The Drillers took the lead in the fifth inning thanks to Austin Gauthier's RBI single. 

After tying the game at 3-3 in the sixth, Arkansas took the lead for good in the eighth thanks to a couple of steals and an RBI single from Jake Anchia.

Tulsa had a runner at first with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but Jared Oliva made a sensational catch at the right field wall to rob Rushing of a walk-off home run.

Former Oklahoma State Cowboy Justin Wrobleski started on the mound for the Drillers. He pitched five innings, allowing only one earned run with six strikeouts in his second career start for the Drillers.

Game four of the series will be played Friday night at ONEOK Field, with the first pitch set for 7 pm. It's also the first News On 6 Friday Night Fireworks of the season.