TULSA�€"Sean Sorrow (Bakersfield,
Calif.) pitched eight shutout innings in game one, and the Golden
Eagles sent 14 batters to the plate during a nine-run fifth inning
in game two as No. 21 Oral Roberts swept a Mid-Continent Conference
doubleheader from Western Illinois on Friday, winning 1-0 and 13-2
at J.L. Johnson Stadium.
ORU (29-7, 6-0) is now
20-1 at home this season and improves the Golden Eagles' Mid-Con
regular-season winning streak to 22 games. Western Illinois drops
to 16-25 and 3-3 in league play.
Sorrow (6-1) locked up
in a pitcher's duel with Western's James Kalinowski (3-3), as each
pitcher tossed up zeros until the Golden Eagles broke through for a
run in the seventh.
Nate Griffin (Tulsa, Okla.)
opened the inning with a groundout, but Ryan Welborn (Yukon, Okla.)
followed with a single to left field. Welborn advanced to second on
what proved to be a costly balk by Kalinowksi, and scored two
batters later on a single by Brian Hanson (Kelseyville,
Calif.) for the game's only run.
The Leathernecks went
in order in the eighth, and Justin Ramsey (Elk Grove,
Calif.) came on and pitched the ninth for his fifth save of the
season.
Sorrow scattered five
hits in his eight innings, walking one and striking out six. He
faced significant trouble only once �€" when WIU had
runners on the corners with one out �€" but got out of
it when Kyle Malan grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Hanson had two of ORU's
season-low five hits in game one.
The Golden Eagles
didn't wait around to score late in game two. Matt VanDerBosch (Hastings,
Minn.) led off the game with a walk, stole second and came around
to score on Grant
Plumley's (Lake Foest, Calif.) infield single for a 1-0
lead.
VanDerBosch was at it
again in the second inning, driving in Griffin with a single for a
2-0 lead.
Western trimmed the
lead to 2-1 on a sac fly by Dan Davy in the fourth off Dennis Bigley
(Lancaster, Texas). But the Leather necks missed out on a chance
for a bigger inning when Bigley (7-1) coaxed Pete Tronick into an
inning-ending double play with the bases loaded.
ORU took a 4-1 lead in
the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single by Griffin and a
bases-loaded walk to Josh Lex (Elk Grove,
Calif.).
The Golden Eagles put
the game away with their big fifth inning, scoring nine runs off
three WIU pitchers. VanDerBosch had the big blow �€" a
bases-loaded, three-run triple �€"and ORU pounded out
six hits and took advantage of two walks, two hit batters and an
error for its second-biggest inning of the season.
Bigley was solid in six
innings of work, allowing one run on six hits, walking two and
striking out one. Patrick Kohort (3-5) took the loss for
Western.
Griffin and Hanson each
had three hits in game two for ORU, while VanDerBosch had two hits,
two steals and four RBI.
The Golden Eagles and
Leathernecks conclude their four-game series with a 1 p.m.,
Saturday doubleheader.
--ORU--
