Today, top-seeded Oral Roberts jumped out to an 11-0 lead through two innings of play and cruised to its league-record seventh straight Mid-Continent Conference Tournament title, beating fourth-seeded Southern Utah by a 12-4 count in the championship game at Shehee Stadium on the campus of Centenary College in Shreveport, La. The nationally ranked Golden Eagles will represent the Mid-Con in the NCAA's for the seventh time in as many seasons since joining the Mid-Con, and will make their 16th NCAA Tourney appearance overall.

Yesterday started with fourth-seeded Southen Utah knocking the No. 3 seed and host Gents from the tourney by a 7-4 score in the event's first elimination game. In the second game of the day, top-seeded Oral Roberts advanced to its seventh straight Mid-Con Tourney title game by outlasting No. 2 seed Western Illinois, 8-5. The final game of the day proved to be the most exciting, as Western Illinois rallied from a 5-1 deficit to tie the game with four runs in the top of the ninth inning, only to see Southern Utah win 6-5 on Mike Martin's solo homer with one out in the bottom of the inning. Oral Roberts and Southern Utah will meet in the championship round at 1 p.m on Friday.

Thursday, ORU got the tournament off to a record-setting start. The top seed and six-time defending champion, which is ranked among the nation's top teams in all four of college baseball's polls, opened the double-elimination tournament by establishing a new tournament record for runs scored in a 28-8 win over No. 4 seed Southern Utah. The second contest of the first day saw host and No. 3 seed Centenary, in its first Mid-Con Tourney appearance, fall to second-seeded Western Illinois, 5-3.

Click here for the 2004 Mid-Con Baseball Championship Bracket

Visit the Mid-Con website for more tournament information at: http://www.mid-con.com/sports/baseball/