SHREVEPORT, LA�€"Josh Lex (Elk Grove,
Calif.) homered twice and drove in seven runs and No. 14 Oral
Roberts University pounded out a season-high 27 hits in a
record-setting 28-8 win over Southern Utah in the opening game of
the 2004 Mid-Continent Conference Tournament, Thursday at Shehee
Stadium.
ORU (46-9) next faces
Western Illinois, which defeated Centenary 5-3, in a winner's
bracket contest at 3:30 p.m., Friday. The winner of the game
advances to Saturday's championship round.
The Golden Eagles set a
Mid-Con Tournament record with 28 runs, breaking the previous mark
set in ORU's 26-2 win over Youngstown State in the 2000 tournament.
Second baseman Brian
Hanson (Kelseyville, Calif.) also set an ORU single-game
record by scoring six times. ORU hit a season-high six home runs as
eight of nine starters had at least two hits each.
Lex put the Golden
Eagles on top in the bottom of the first when his two-out single
scored Hanson from second base. After Kurt Elliott's one-out solo
home run in the top of the third tied it at 1-1, Lex belted the
first of his two three-run homers in the bottom of the inning for a
4-1 ORU lead.
Southern Utah (17-29)
closed to within 4-2 with an unearned run in the top of the fourth
but ORU exploded in the bottom of the inning, sending 12 batters to
the plate against three different pitchers and scoring eight
runs.
Hanson hit a one-out
grand slam for an 8-2 lead, chasing SUU starter Dusty Nielsen (2-3)
from the game. Consecutive singles by Matt VanDerBosch (Hastings,
Minn.) and Lex, followed by a Grant Plumley (Lake Forest,
Calif.) sacrifice fly gave ORU a 9-2 edge. Scott Modeste (Sacramento,
Calif.) walked and Ricky Rivera (Santa Isabel,
P.R.) hit a monstrous homer over the left-centerfield wall for a
12-2 lead.
Southern Utah trimmed
it to 12-4 on a two-run blast by Amos Burgess in the top of the
fifth, but again the Golden Eagles responded in the bottom of the
inning. Plumley ripped a one-out, two-run single for a 14-4 lead,
Modeste doubled in another run and Rivera followed with a two-run
single for a 17-4 advantage.
ORU added to its lead
in the bottom of the sixth when a run scored on a double play and
Plumely hit a solo home run for a 19-4 edge.
The Golden Eagles
ripped off their second 8-run inning of the day in the seventh
after the Thunderbirds made it a 19-7 game with three runs in the
top of the inning. Nate Griffin (Tulsa, Okla.)
doubled in a run for a 20-7 lead and Ryan Welborn (Yukon, Okla.)
drove in two runs with a single up the middle for a 22-7 lead.
After Hanson was plunked and VanDerBosch popped up, Lex hit a line
drive over the leftfield wall for his second three run homer of the
day and a 25-7 lead. Jeff Tuttle doubled two batters later and
Kevin Lamb �€" pinch-hitting for Rivera
�€" slammed a 1-and-2 pitch over the left-centerfield
wall for a 27-7 lead.
VanDerBosch capped
ORU's scoring with an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth.
Burgess hit a solo homer in the top of the ninth off reliever
Conner
Tinkler (Ada, Okla.) for the final 28-8 margin.
Dennis Bigley (Lancaster,
Texas) stuggled in his seven inning of work but managed to pick up
the in. Bigley (12-1) scatted 10 hits, allowing six earned runs
while walking a season-high four batters and striking out
three.
Lex finished the day
5-for-7 with seven RBI, just one of many Golden Eagles with a huge
day at the plate. Rivera was 4-for-4 with five RBI, and Hanson went
4-for-5 with four RBI and six runs
Burgess led Southern
Utah with a 3-for-5, 3-RBI performance.
--ORU--
