LAWRENCE, KS�€"Scott Modeste (Sacramento,
Calif.) delivered a game-winning pinch-hit RBI double in the top of
the 10th innings as No. 14 Oral Roberts University
defeated Kansas 4-3, Tuesday at Hoglund Ballpark.
Dennis Bigley (Lancaster,
Texas) led off the 10th with a double, and Jon Tackett (Tulsa,
Okla.) bunted pinch-runner Kevin Lamb (Owasso, Okla.)
to third. Modeste then pinch-hit for rightfielder Ricky Rivera (Santa Isabel,
P.R.) and slammed a 3-2 pitch from reliever Ryotaro Hayakawa (0-1)
off the wall in right-centerfield, easily scoring Lamb from
third.
ORU closer Justin Ramsey (Elk
Grove, Calif.), who blew his first save of the season in 11 tries
after allowing a game-tying two-run homer in the bottom of the
eighth, set down the Jayhawks in order in the bottom of the
10th to preserve the win.
The previous meeting
between ORU (38-8) and Kansas (26-30-1) also went 10 innings, with
ORU coming out on top 2-1 on March 16 in Tulsa. Early on, the
rematch seemed destined for another dramatic finish as ORU's
Adam Lesko
(Las Vegas, Nev.) and KU's Clint Shambach kept the game scoreless
until ORU broke through in the seventh.
Matt VanDerBosch (Hastings,
Minn.) gave ORU a 1-0 lead with a sacrifice fly, and Brian Hanson (Kelseyville,
Calif.) made it 2-0 with an RBI double. Grant Plumley (Lake Forest,
Calif.) drove in Hanson with a single and ORU had a 3-0 lead.
Kansas scored an
unearned run in the bottom of the seventh to make it 3-1. Ramsey
(6-0) came on to start the eighth and pinch-hitter Travis Dunlap
blasted a two-run homer to tie the game at 3-3.
Kansas had a chance to
win the game in the bottom of the ninth but the ORU defense turned
its third double play of the game to end the inning and set up
Modeste's heroics in the top of the 10th.
ORU managed 11 hits,
with Plumley and Josh
Lex (Elk Grove, Calif.) each getting two apiece. Five of
ORU's hits were doubles.
The Golden Eagles close
out the home portion of their 2004 schedule when they host
Mid-Continent Conference foe Oakland for a four-game series,
beginning with a 2 p.m. Saturday doubleheader.
--ORU--
