This next series, against Northwest Arkansas, is actually being considered two separate series in the game, a two game series on the road and a two game series at home. For simplicity's sake, I'll be combining all four games into a single series in this post.

Sitting 10 games back on the Springfield Cardinals, after taking three of four against them in the previous series, the Drillers would now get a chance to not only hopefully close the gap further, but also screw up Northwest Arkansas' hopes as they sit just four games back of Springfield entering the game. Despite taking the first two games of the series, Northwest Arkansas would return the favor in the final two games, and we would be right back to the beginning, 10 games behind Springfield, as if nothing had changed.

Tulsa 3, Northwest Arkansas 2
Tulsa 6, Northwest Arkansas 3
Northwest Arkansas 10, Tulsa 1
Northwest Arkansas 5, Tulsa 4

First game of the series would be a no show for Goose as he would get a day of rest, watching the entire game from the bench.

The second game of the series would find Goose back in the lineup, batting third in the order. Goose would come up for his first at-bat in the top of the first inning with two outs and the bases empty. After swinging and missing at a slider low and outside, Goose would manage to keep the bat on his shoulder as he would watch four straight balls for a walk. Unfortunately Goose would end up stranded at first. Goose would return in the top of the third inning with two outs and no one on. Goose wouldn't make it on base this time, grounding out to the first baseman to end the top of the inning. Goose's next at-bat would come in the top of the sixth inning with one out and no one on. It would be a short lived at-bat as he would unload on a first pitch strike left up in the zone, only to fly out to the center fielder. Goose would come up for his last at-bat in the top of the ninth inning with no one out and a runner on first. Goose would get his first hit of the game in crowd silencing fashion, sending a first pitch fastball rocketing out of the stadium in right field for a two run home run to break a 3-3 tie and send us onto victory, as well as pushing Goose's hitting streak to 15 games. Unfortunately Ryan Casteel would steal player of the game honors over Goose thanks to his own home run and 3 RBIs. Final stats for Goose, he would go 1-3 with a home run, a walk, a run scored and two RBI.

The third game of the series would see Goose remain third in the batting order. He would get his first at-bat in the bottom of the first inning with two outs and no one on. Goose would get on base after dropping a bloop single right in front of the left fielder. Unfortunately the next batter would hit to the shortstop to cause the force out at second to end the inning. Goose would come up next in the bottom of the third inning with one out and no one on, a drastically different game after Northwest Arkansas would score 5 runs in the top of the inning, thanks to our crap pitching giving up five bloody walks in the goddamn inning. Despite working a couple balls out of the pitcher, Goose would end up sending a high fastball into right field for a fly out. Goose would get his next chance in the bottom of the fifth inning with two outs and no one on, but would end up striking out to end the inning. Goose would get his final at-bat in the bottom of the eighth inning with one out and no one on, and despite working a good 7 pitches out of the pitcher, he would end up striking out on a change up. Miserable final stats for Goose, 1-4 with a single and two strikeouts.

Side note, our pitchers SUCK! 10 goddamn walks issued by three pitchers this game. They all only lasted 3.0 innings, the first two gave up 5 runs each. Then you look at Northwest Arkansas' pitcher, he pitched a complete game, gave up 7 hits, one run, two walks and 5 strikeouts. We either need some new pitchers or I need a new team.

The fourth and final game of the series would see little change as Goose would again bat third in the order. Goose would come up in the bottom of the first inning with one out and a runner on first. Goose would send a high fastball into right field for an easy single, putting runners on first and second, but a strikeout and a pop out would end the inning. Goose would get tagged with an error in the field in the top of the second inning, throwing the ball over the first baseman's head on a put out attempt at first. Thankfully a double play would get us out of the inning without any damage. Goose would return to the plate leading off the bottom of the fourth inning. Goose would get things off to a great start with a stand up double off the right field wall to put the lead runner on for the inning. After a strikeout by the next batter, a ground out to the third baseman would see Goose advance to third on the play. Third base would be as far as Goose would get as a second ground out to third would end the inning. Goose would return to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning with one out and a runner on first. A pop up in the infield would end Goose's at-bat. Goose would get his final chance in the game in the bottom of the eighth inning, coming up with one out and a runner on first. Northwest Arkansas' starting pitcher was still in the game, approaching 110 pitches thrown. Goose would make the manager regret that decision as he would unload on a fastball left hanging in the middle of the zone, sending it straight into the gap between right and center field, all the way to the wall, giving Goose a stand up triple and one RBI. An infield single by Corey Dickerson would be enough to score Goose from third. Despite our best efforts, putting up four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, we would end up one run short of tying the game. Final stats for Goose, 3-4 with a single, a double and a triple, one run scored and one RBI.

Final series stats for Goose, he would play in the final three games of the series, starting and batting third in the batting order in all three games. After a slow start, Goose would breakout in the third game. He would bat .455 for the series, going 5-11 with two singles, a double, a triple, a home run, a walk, two runs scored, three RBIs and two strikeouts, along with a fielding error in the third game.

Next up for the Tulsa Drillers, it's a break from division play as we spend the next 12 games against the Frisco Roughriders and the Midland Rockhounds. We start with a three game series on the road against both Frisco and Midland, before returning home to play a three game series against both to close out the month of May.