CLASS AA-CENTRAL BASEBALL

WIND SURGE 7, TRAVELERS 6

Jermaine Palacious lined a one-out single to center in the bottom of the ninth to score Jose Miranda and give the Wichita Wind Surge a victory over the Arkansas Travelers Thursday night at Riverfront Stadium in Wichita, Kan. Wichita’s victory spoiled the Travelers’ comeback bid. Arkansas trailed 5-1 after six innings but rallied to take a 6-5 lead heading into the final inning.

Aaron Whitefield started Wichita’s ninth inning with a single to right field. Whitefield stole second and advanced to third on catcher Josh Morgan’s throwing error. After Miranda drew a walk, B.J. Boyd lifted a sacrifice fly to left to tie the game at 6-6. Palacious connected on a one-strike pitch to score Miranda from second with the game-ending run. Jovani Moran (2-1) retired all four batters he faced to pick up the victory. Michael Stryffeler (1-3), who came on to start the ninth, took the loss.

Wichita’s comeback also spoiled Connor Lien’s offensive effort. Lien belted a home run off Wichita starter Josh Winder in the third inning to tie the game at 1-1. Lien connected for his second home run of the night and of the season with a two-run blast in the seventh. Designated hitter Brian O’Keefe also homered for the Travs, smacking a two-run shot in the eighth inning.

O’Keefe finished 3 for 4 and raised his season batting average to .329. Stephen Wrenn had two hits for the Travs.

Arkansas starter Ian McKinney gave up five runs in three innings. He walked four and struck out two. Steven Moyers allowed only one hit in three innings of relief. Jake Haberer and Ray Kerr each threw one inning of hitless relief.

DRILLERS 7, NW ARKANSAS 6

Romer Cuadrado almost equaled his season offensive numbers on one swing of the bat Thursday night.

The Tulsa left-fielder had just two homers and six RBIs on the season for the Drillers prior to Thursday’s game at Arvest Ballpark, but his second-inning grand slam proved to be the difference in a win against Northwest Arkansas. The Drillers (16-11) took advantage of the Naturals’ inability to throw strikes as a double and two walks by Northwest Arkansas starter Alec Marsh loaded the bases for Cuadrado, the Drillers’ nine-hole hitter who was batting .200 coming into the game. Naturals walked eight batters in the game and hit another batter.

“We didn’t have our best stuff tonight,” said Naturals manager Scott Thorman. “These things happen. We’ll try to bounce back tomorrow and be better.” Marsh lasted just 2.2 innings and allowed five hits and four earned runs, but he struck out five.

The Drillers used starter Aaron Oschenbein for just 1.2 innings. Oschenbein allowed Northwest Arkansas just one hit. Andre Jackson came on for Oschenbein in the second with two outs and his first pitch to Naturals center fielder Dairon Blanco was blasted over the wall in right-center for a solo home run, his second of the season.

Jackson settled down after the homer and went 4.1 innings, allowing three hits with four strikeouts.

Trailing 4-1, the Naturals ran into an inning-ending out in the fourth that killed a potential rally. Freddy Fermin and Blanco walked to put two runners aboard. Travis Jones lined a single into center and Fermin tried to score from second, but on the play, Drillers center fielder Jeren Kendall fired a laser to third baseman Kody Hoese to nail Blanco, who was trying to go from first-to-third on the hit. The out was made before Fermin could touch the plate for the third out, preventing the Naturals from scoring the run. That run proved costly in the one-run loss.

“That came back to bite us for sure,” said Thorman. “That’s a lesson to be learned that every run is important until the game is over. It’s a teaching moment that we will learn from and move on.” Blanco had a big night at the plate for Northwest Arkansas, going 3-for-3 with three RBIs. Jones had the other two hits for the Naturals.

“He had a great night,” said Thorman of his center fielder who came into the game batting .138. “He got a big home run in the second off their reliever and I thought his timing on the fastball was there. Blanco can hit. It’s just a matter of time before it starts to come around.” Tulsa added two runs in the fifth to take a 6-1 lead before Northwest Arkansas (12-13) scored its second run on an RBI single by Blanco in the sixth, scoring Nick Pratto to make it 6-2. The inning was kept alive when Dennicher Carrasco hit a towering pop-up on the infield that Drillers’ second baseman Mann failed to catch. Blanco followed with his RBI single.

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