Tulsa, OK – For the third time in the past 24 hours, a Tulsa Drillers player had a two-home run performance to help lead to another record-breaking win. On Friday night, Joe Vetrano produced his first career, multi-home run game in Tulsa’s 46th comeback victory of the season and the fourth straight over the Wichita Wind Surge in a 7-4 final at ONEOK Field.
The win increased the Drillers record-breaking win total. It was their 82nd victory of the season, the most in Drillers franchise history, which began play in 1977. The last Tulsa professional team to win more games was the 1968 Tulsa Oilers, who totaled 95 wins in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League.
Tulsa reached another milestone in the victory. With the Drillers seven runs scored, they have now tied the franchise record of 806 runs scored in a season, set by the 2000 team. This year’s squad still has eight games remaining in the regular season.
Wichita opened the scoring in the second inning when Jaime Ferrer doubled to right to score Andrew Cossetti from first base.
Tulsa tied the game one inning later when Vetrano led off the third with an opposite-field home run into the COUNTRY Financial Terrace.
The game remained tied until the fourth when the Wind Surge regained the lead. The inning began with Christian Zazueta quickly recording two groundouts, but Cossetti hit of his at-bat onto the left field berm for a home run that put Wichita up 2-1.
In the fifth, Tulsa used two singles from Kole Myers and Josue De Paula to put runners at first and third for Griffin Lockwood-Powell. The Tulsa catcher brought Myers home to with a sacrifice fly to again tie the score.
The Drillers took the lead for good by scoring five runs in the bottom of the sixth. Michael Young and Elijah Hainline began the half inning by drawing consecutive walks, and Logan Wagner worked a seven-pitch at-bat that resulted in an RBI single that gave Tulsa a 3-2 lead.
Vetrano added to it with his second homer of the night that produced three more runs. De Paula drove in the inning’s final run with an RBI double that gave the Drillers a 7-2 lead.
Wichita put two more runs on the scoreboard in the eighth inning as a leadoff walk preceded Marek Houston’s home run that cut the margin to three runs.
The Wind Surge did not score again. After surrendering Houston’s home run, Tulsa reliever Myles Caba recovered and struck out the next three hitters to end the inning.
Lucas Wepf took over in the ninth inning and retired all three hitters he faced to record his third save of the season.
With the win, the Drillers now have an overall record of 82-48.
GAME NOTES
*Zazueta, the Los Angeles Dodgers top pitching prospect, made his second quality start in his 11th game with the Drillers as he tossed six innings and allowed just two runs on four hits. He did not issue a walk and struck out seven. It was also the seventh time that he has struck out seven or more hitters in a game. The Mexico native also picked up his third win to improve his Double-A record to 3-2.
*Zach Gelof finished 0-4 in the game and remains one home run away from tying the modern-era Tulsa record of 33 homers in a season held by former Drillers outfielder Tim Wheeler. The modern-era of Tulsa baseball is considered to have begun in 1932.
*Vetrano joined Myers and Gelof to have a two-home run game over the past two nights. Vetrano has now recorded 12 homers for the season. He also collected four RBI in Friday’s win, matching his season high.
*With his scoreless inning, Wepf has not allowed an earned run in his last 12 outings and 13.1 innings pitched.
*Gelof’s 11-game hit streak ended on Friday. The streak finished tied for the second-longest by a Tulsa hitter this season and was also Gelof’s second 11-game hit streak in 2026.
*Before Friday’s game, the Drillers announced that outfielder Chris Newell had been transferred to Triple-A Oklahoma City.
UP NEXT
The two teams will meet again on Saturday night with Tulsa looking for its fifth consecutive win. Starting time at ONEOK Field is set for 7:00 p.m. and the starting pitchers are scheduled to be:
Wichita – RHP Riley Quick (0-2, 5.79 ERA)
Tulsa – RHP Patrick Copen (7-7, 6.32 ERA)