TULSA, Okla. -- Tournament MVP Dennis Bigley
homered and drove in three runs in leading Oral Roberts University
to its sixth straight Mid-Continent Conference Tournament
championship with an 8-2 victory over Southern Utah, Saturday at
J.L. Johnson Stadium.
ORU (41-18) now advances to NCAA Regional play next weekend for
the 15th time in the program's history. The Golden Eagles will
learn their fate when the NCAA announces the field of 64 at 11:30
a.m. Monday on ESPN2.
Bigley hit a two-run home run in the third inning and singled in
another run in the sixth as ORU defeated Southern Uath (21-29) in
the title game for the fourth consecutive season.
Andy Hargrove's solo homer in the second put ORU up 1-0, and
Josh Lex doubled home Scott Campbell four batters later for a 2-0
lead. Bigley's homer in the third off Chris Mower (2-2) made it
4-0, and ORU grabbed a 5-0 advantage on Ryan Welborn's bases loaded
walk in the fifth.
Southern Utah fought back with two runs off ORU starter Taylor
McIntyre (7-2) in the sixth. McIntyre balked in a run with the
bases loaded and reliever Sean Sorrow, who replaced McIntyre with
one out and runners at second and third, surrendered an RBI single
to Jona Droubay as the Thunderbirds closed to within 5-2.
But ORU extended the lead to 6-2 on Bigley's single in the
sixth, and Nate Griffin's solo home in the seventh run made it 7-2.
Matt VanDerBosch tripled to open the eighth and scored on Grant
Plumley's sacrifice fly for the final 8-2 margin. The T-Birds went
in order in the ninth against Sorrow.
Bigley finished the day 2-for-5 with three RBI and belted three
home runs in the tournament. He als threw a one-hit shutout against
Valparaiso in the opening game of the tournament, striking out 12
without a walk to earn tourney MVP honors.
Plumley was 2-for-5 with an RBI and David Castillo also had two
hits for ORU. McIntyre worked 5.1 innings and allowed two runs on
five hits, walking five and striking out three. Sorrow picked up
his second save with 3.2 shutout innings. He fanned four.
2003 Mid-Continent Conference All-Tournament
Team
MVP: Dennis Bigley -- ORU
David Castillo -- ORU
Dallas Martin -- ORU
Scott Campbell -- ORU
Nick Simmons -- Western Illinois
Marc Boggio -- Valparaiso
Sean Peickert -- Valparaiso
Jason Gillins -- Southern Utah
Jake Reynolds -- Southern Utah
Tom Ford -- Southern Utah
Josh Lex -- ORU
Justin Ramsey -- ORU
Ryan Duvall -- Southern Utah
Nate Griffin -- ORU
