TULSA, Okla. (July 1, 2025)—John Klein set the tone with five strong innings of one-run baseball in a 7-1 victory for the Wichita Wind Surge over the Tulsa Drillers at ONEOK Field. While jumping into the Top 5 in the Texas League in wins, he’d start a stretch of eight scoreless innings to put a cap on the sixth win for the Wind Surge in their last 10 games.
Damon Keith pushed a sacrifice fly to right field to get Tulsa on the board with a run scored in the bottom of the first. That would be the only run the Drillers would put up all night, as the starter Klein earned the win after giving up the earned run on four hits with a walk and four strikeouts over five frames.
Wichita put up four runs in the top of the second inning. Kyler Fedko slid in safely at the plate after a rundown ensued between first and second to tie the game. Kaelen Culpepper singled to left to bring around Ben Ross to give the Wind Surge the lead. Culpepper and Gabby Gonzalez later scored on a bases-loaded infield error off the bat of Walker Jenkins.
Jorel Ortega went the opposite way for a solo home run, his eighth of the season, in the top of the fourth. Ricardo Olivar added on with a two-run single to left before the stretch in the seventh to make the score 7-1 Wichita, which would become the future final.
Cole Percival and Michael Martinez combined to no-hit Tulsa over the final four innings out of the Wind Surge bullpen. Each of the righthanders struck out three men each to get the Wichita staff to 10 punchouts on the night in the series opener.
POSTGAME NOTES
- Yesterday, Kaelen Culpepper was announced as the Minnesota Twins representative for the 2025 MLB All-Star Futures Game on July 12th at 3 PM CST at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia.
- During the game, the updated MLB Pipeline Top 100 Prospects List was announced, and two current Wind Surge players are on the list. Walker Jenkins is #15, while Kaelen Culpepper enters at the #96 spot. A pair of 2024 Wichita teammates in Emmanuel Rodriguez and Luke Keaschall are also on the list at #46 and #47 respectively.
- The Wind Surge staff held Tulsa hitless for the final five innings of the game.
- Wichita trails 7-6 in the Propeller Series after the win tonight.
- The Wind Surge have won six of their last 10 games.