TULSA, OK – Tulsa outfielder Jeren Kendall homered twice Tuesday night at ONEOK Field in the Tulsa Drillers 8-3 win over Wichita.
The big blow was in the bottom of the seventh inning. With the Surge leading 3-2 and Drillers runners at the corners, Kendall hit his second home run of the night into the right field bullpen to give Tulsa a lead it would maintain.
Early in the game, the two teams traded runs. Wichita jumped in front in the top of the first inning when Jermaine Palacios drew a two-out walk, advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches and scored on a base hit by Ernie De La Trinidad.
In the bottom half of the inning, Donovan Casey put the Drillers on the scoreboard with this second homer of the season. Casey sliced a drive just inside the right field foul pole to tie the game at 1-1.
The Wind Surge continued the early scoring in the second when Caleb Hamilton led off with his third home run.
The lead increased to 3-1 in top of the third when Palacios again walked and scored on a double from De La Trinidad.
Kendall’s first homer, which cleared the fence just inside the right field foul pole, trimmed Tulsa’s deficit to just one run.
It remained that way until the seventh when Kendall struck again with his three-run shot.
The Drillers tacked on three insurance runs in the eighth when Devin Mann brought home a pair of runs with a double that landed just in front of centerfielder Aaron Whitefield, and Hunter Feduccia plated the game’s final run with an infield ground out.
It's an afternoon tilt in game two of the series Wednesday. First pitch is set for 12:05 p.m. from ONEOK Field.