SHREVEPORT, LA�€"Oral Roberts University grabbed an
early 5-0 lead, and hung on for an 8-5 win over Western Illinois as
the 14th-ranked Golden Eagles advanced to the
Mid-Continent Conference Tournament championship game for the
seventh straight season, Friday at Shehee Stadium.
ORU (46-9) will play
either Western Illinois (29-35) or Southern Utah, who played an
elimination game late Friday night. The Mid-Con title game is set
for 1 p.m., Saturday. An "if necessary" game would be played at
4:30 p.m.
The Golden Eagles, who
set a Mid-Con Tournament record with 28 runs in an opening round
victory over Southern Utah on Thursday, appeared to be on their way
to another rout early on. Scott Modeste (Sacramento,
Calif.) gave ORU a 3-0 lead with a two-out, bases loaded double in
the top of the first and Ricky Rivera (Santa Isabel,
P.R.) followed with a single for a 4-0 lead against WIU starter
James Kalinowski (5-5).
ORU made it 5-0 on
Matt
VanDerBosch's (Hastings, Minn.) RBI fielder's choice in
the top of the second, but Western reliever Tim Navin held ORU in
check over the next three innings as the Leathernecks got back in
the game.
Western got on the
board in the bottom of the second. Kyle Malan opened the inning
with a single off ORU starter Sean Sorrow (Bakersfield,
Calif.) came around to score two batters later on Jake Gloude's
single to left field.
Trailing 5-1, Western
made it 5-3 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth when
ORU third baseman Jon
Tackett (Tulsa, Okla.) misplayed a potential double play
ball with the bases loaded and no outs. But Sorrow avoided further
damage when Dan Ainsworth popped out and Ryan Cougill grounded into
a double play.
ORU responded with a
run in the top of the fifth. VanDerBosch walked leading off, stole
second with one out and came around to score on Grant Plumley's (Lake
Forest, Calif.) RBI double for a 6-3 ORU lead.
Down three runs,
Western chased Sorrow in the fifth when Blake Schultz opened the
inning with a double. Tim Robertson (Huntington
Beach, Calif.) relieved and walked a batter and hit another to load
the bases with no outs. Nick Simmons plated a run with a sacrifice
fly and Ryan Schmidgall singled in a run to put Western within 6-5,
before Robertson retired the next two batters to end the
inning.
The Golden Eagles again
answered right back. Tackett led off the inning with a double and
scored on Brian
Hanson's (Kelseyville, Calif.) single to centerfield,
giving ORU a 7-5 lead.
ORU added an insurance
run in the top of the ninth when Tacket doubled in Plumley with two
outs for an 8-5 lead.
Justin Ramsey (Elk Grove,
Calif.) notched his 12th save of the season by allowing
only a lead-off single in the bottom of the ninth.
Plumley led ORU's
offense by going 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Rivera
and Tacket each had two hits and an RBI while VanDerBosch drove in
a run, scored twice and stole a pair of bases to increase his
league-leading total to 41.
Schultz and Malan each
had three hits for Western.
--ORU--
