Tulsa had to win this one twice with the bats, first answering Wichita’s cleanest inning of the night and then building just enough cushion to survive a ninth-inning push.
Jake Gelof, Sean McLain and Logan Wagner supplied the middle-inning burst Saturday at ONEOK Field, where the Drillers turned a two-run deficit into an 8-6 win over the Wind Surge. Tulsa scored three times in the sixth and four more in the seventh, the kind of immediate response that kept Wichita from settling into a game it had just flipped.
McLain started the scoring in the fifth with his sixth home run, a fly ball to left-center off Riley Quick that broke a scoreless game. It was the first piece of a strong night for McLain, who went 2-for-4 with the homer and two RBIs.
For five innings, Patrick Copen gave Tulsa room to wait. He held Wichita scoreless through the fifth and worked around traffic by getting outs in bunches, including a caught stealing in the second and a double play after Marek Houston’s leadoff single in the fourth.
The sixth tested all of that. Danny De Andrade opened with a single, Houston later bounced a ground-rule double to left-center, and Caden Kendle’s ground ball to second brought in two runs with help from a throwing error. After Khadim Diaw was hit by a pitch, Andrew Cossetti lined a single to center to score Kendle and put Wichita up 3-1.
That inning could have become the game. Instead, it became the setup for Tulsa’s best stretch.
Mike Sirota and Elijah Hainline walked to open the bottom of the sixth, chasing Quick and bringing in Ty Langenberg. Gelof greeted him with a sharp single to left that scored Sirota. Wagner’s groundout brought home Hainline to tie it, and after Joe Vetrano walked, McLain pushed a ground-ball single through the right side of the infield to score Gelof for a 4-3 Tulsa lead.
The Drillers were not finished making Langenberg pay. In the seventh, Sirota walked again and Hainline singled. Gelof followed with the biggest swing of his night, a line-drive double to left that scored both runners and gave Tulsa separation. Wagner then lifted his fourth home run to right field, bringing Gelof home and stretching the lead to 8-3.
Gelof finished 2-for-4 with a double, three RBIs and two runs, driving in Tulsa’s first run of the comeback and then adding the two-run double that gave the bullpen margin. Wagner went 1-for-3 with the homer and a walk. Langenberg took the loss and a blown save after allowing five earned runs over two innings.
Copen’s final line looked sturdier because Tulsa answered so quickly. He earned the win after allowing three earned runs over six innings, striking out four and walking none. Carson Hobbs followed with a scoreless seventh for his seventh hold, striking out Kyle DeBarge before getting Jaime Ferrer and De Andrade to keep the lead at five.
Wichita did not let it stay comfortable. Kelvin Ramirez walked three in the eighth, including Garrett Spain with the bases loaded to make it 8-4. Evan Shaw got within one out of finishing the ninth, but Ferrer was hit by a pitch, Houston singled and Kendle drove a sharp double to right that scored both runners and cut the lead to two.
That brought in Cam Day with the tying run aboard. He needed one batter, getting Cossetti to roll a soft grounder back to the mound for his eighth save.
Kendle led Wichita by going 3-for-5 with a double, three RBIs and a run, and the Wind Surge finished with 10 hits. Tulsa finished with nine, but the Drillers’ damage came in the tighter window: seven runs across the sixth and seventh, enough to carry an 8-3 lead into the late innings and enough to withstand Wichita’s last swing at it.