North Little Rock, AR – A late home run from the Arkansas Travelers was the demise of the Tulsa Drillers on Thursday night. Tulsa’s offense was led by catcher Hayden Gilliland, who gave the Drillers the lead on two different occasions, but the Travs responded to tie the game each time. The final blow came from the bat of Hunter Fitz-Gerald as his eighth-inning home run handed the Drillers a 5-4 loss at Dickey-Stephens Park.
Gilliland’s big night began in the second inning. The Drillers had the bases loaded on two singles and a walk, and Gilliland grounded into a force out that plated Jake Gelof to give Tulsa a 1-0 lead.
Arkansas also scored in the second inning when Blake Rambusch grounded out, and Josh Caron crossed home to tie the game.
Gilliland produced three more runs in the fourth inning with a three-run homer to put Tulsa in front 4-1.
The Travs once again tied the game in the bottom of the inning. With two outs, a walk and a stolen base led to Rambusch’s RBI double, which was followed by RBI singles from Josh Hood and Sammy Siani to make the score 4-4.
Both teams’ bullpens kept the other side from scoring over the next three innings before Arkansas used a big swing to break the tie.
With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Fitz-Gerald hit a solo homer to right that put the Travelers in front for good.
GAME NOTES
*Reliever Lucas Wepf gave up the home run and was charged with the loss, dropping his record to 2-1.
*Drillers starting pitcher Payton Martin worked 3 2/3 innings in his 18th start of the season. He was relieved after giving up four runs on five hits and three walks with three strikeouts.
*Gilliland finished with two hits and four runs driven in. The four RBI set a new career high for the Tennessee native as he has now hit four home runs and has driven in 13 runs in 12 games played with Tulsa.
*Zyhir Hope earned a hit to raise his on-base streak to 18 straight games and his hitting streak to six.
*The Drillers were again bit by the injury bug on Thursday. Before the game, pitcher Wyatt Crowell was placed on the Injured List, and Cam Day left the game after he entered in the sixth inning and threw only three pitches.
*Former University of Oklahoma pitcher Christian Ruebeck entered after Day’s departure and kept the Travs off the scoreboard for two innings. He did not give up a hit or a walk and struck out two.
*With the loss, Tulsa’s lead in the series with the Travelers was trimmed to 2-1.
*In Friday’s matchup, the Drillers will face Kade Anderson. The LSU product is ranked by MLB Pipeline as the #1 pitching prospect in all of Minor League Baseball. The lefthander suffered the only loss of his professional career (14 starts) in his last game, a 2-1 loss to Springfield.
UP NEXT
The Drillers will continue their series with the Travelers on Friday night at Dickey-Stephens Park with game four of the six-game set. Starting time is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. and the pitching matchup is expected to be:
Tulsa – LHP Adam Serwinowski (7-3, 5.223 ERA)
Arkansas – LHP Kade Anderson (8-1, 1.36 ERA)