WICHITA, Kan. (September 4, 2025)—Kaelen Culpepper hit his 20th overall home run of the season across a split doubleheader. After throwing a combined two-hitter in Game 1, the Wichita Wind Surge split the doubleheader against the Tulsa Drillers with a 2-0 win in Game 1 and a 14-5 defeat in Game 2. The Wind Surge are now one game behind of the Drillers for a playoff spot.
Ricardo Olivar and Ben Ross lined a pair of RBI singles toward center in the bottom of the first to give Wichita the first runs of Game 1.
Sam Armstrong would work with that by giving up just a hit and a walk over five strong innings with four strikeouts to earn the win and improve to 2-1 with the Wind Surge. Mike Paredes earned his sixth save after striking out four over the final two frames of the 2-0 shutout victory.
Tulsa struck first in Game 2 on a run-scoring single by Eduardo Guerrero and a sac fly to right from Zach Ehrhard in the top of the second inning. Maddux Houghton and Kaelen Culpepper each hit a solo home run in the home half of the third to tie the game.
Seven straight runs came across for the Drillers over the fourth and fifth innings, with a Zach Ehrhard grand slam doing the damage in the fourth. Guerrero singled in another, and James Tibbs III made his first hit of the series count on a two-run knock to right to make the score 9-2 Tulsa heading into the bottom of the fifth inning.
Kala’i Rosario singled in Kyle Hess in the bottom of the fifth, then the Drillers got the run back on a base hit to center by Nelson Quiroz in the top of the sixth, 10-3 Tulsa.
A Griffin Lockwood-Powell RBI single to left, a bases-loaded fielder’s choice, and a two-RBI double to right by Taylor Young added four more for the Drillers in the seventh. A run-scoring double from Rosario and a sac fly by Ben Ross made it 14-5 in the home half of the frame, but Wichita would fall by that final score.
C.J. Culpepper fell to 2-2 on the year after taking the loss. Six earned runs came across on nine hits and three walks over three and two-thirds innings; he also had three strikeouts.
POSTGAME NOTES
- With the Game 1 victory, the Wind Surge tied their franchise-high with an eight-game winning streak.
- Kaelen Culpepper’s home run in Game 2 gives him a combined 20-20 season between High-A Cedar Rapids and Wichita. He’s the third Twins farmhand to record the feat, alongside Kyler Fedko and Kala’i Rosario.
- Game 2 marked the final Tumba Vacas game of the 2025 season.
- The team’s doubleheader record this year is 1-1-2.
- The Wind Surge are one game back of Tulsa for the playoff spot in the Texas League North.