Tacoma, Oklahoma City meet in key PCL matchup, Mosser faces Ferris

Tacoma and Oklahoma City met with almost nothing separating them in the Pacific Coast League standings, and that narrow gap made a routine April game at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark feel like an early pressure point. The Comets entered at 12-12, the Rainiers at 11-13, and Oklahoma City had a chance to turn a one-game edge into momentum by beating a Tacoma club that had already shown it could trade punches in the series.

The pitching matchup only sharpened the stakes. Tacoma was set to send right-hander Mosser, who had gone 1-0 with a 2.33 ERA and 18 strikeouts, against Oklahoma City left-hander Jackson Ferris, who was 0-0 with a 7.84 ERA and six strikeouts. On paper, Mosser carried the cleaner profile, while Ferris needed a sharper outing to steady a Comets staff that had been asked to cover for early traffic in recent games. In a league where offense can erase a lead in a hurry, the first trip through the order mattered as much as any single inning.

The clubs had already spent the week reminding each other how quickly a game could swing. Oklahoma City won the opener 5-4 on April 21 after scoring four runs in the first inning, capped by Austin Gauthier’s two-run homer. James Tibbs III added an RBI double and Jack Suwinski followed with another RBI double in the early burst. Tacoma answered with contact from Ryan Bliss, Carson Taylor and Jhonny Pereda, who combined to go 6-for-13 in the loss, and the Rainiers’ bullpen held Oklahoma City scoreless over three innings.

The next two games kept the series tight. Tacoma dropped a 9-7 decision on April 22 after trailing 9-2 after six innings, then snapped a three-game losing streak with a 3-1 win on April 23 behind Randy Dobnak’s 5.0 innings of one-run ball. That left the teams still locked in a small-space race, the kind that can shift fast when one side strings together two or three clean innings. Oklahoma City also wrapped the homestand in a fuller ballpark frame, with Dodgers Celebration Night, Way Off Broadway Night, a Friday poster giveaway, Bedlam Night and fireworks around a six-game series that came with the club’s 2026 Home Run For Life partnership with INTEGRIS Health in its 15th consecutive season.