SAN ANTONIO, Texas�€"Dennis Bigley (Lancaster,
Texas) continued his recent hot hitting, driving in six runs in
Oral Roberts University's 15-8 win over Notre Dame in the Alamo
City Irish Baseball Classic, Friday at Wolff Stadium.
The win propels ORU
(8-6) into Saturday's championship game against Texas-San
Antonio.
Bigley, who drove in
seven runs in ORU's opening round win over Southwest Missouri State
on Wednesday, helped the Golden Eagles claw out of a 3-0,
first-inning deficit.
Notre Dame scored three
runs in the first off ORU starter Justin Edwards (Muldrow,
Okla.), who failed to make I out of the first. Daniel Greenwalt (LaHabra,
Calif.) replaced Edwards with two on and two out and prevented any
further damage.
Kevin Lamb (Owasso, Okla.)
drove in a run in the top of the second to trim ND's lead to 3-1,
but the Irish added another run in the bottom of the fourth to make
it 4-1.
Bigley helped the
Golden Eagles take the lead during a two-out rally in ORU's
four-run fifth. He ripped a two-run double to make it a 4-3 game,
and Tim
Torres (Rocklin, Calif.) and Ricky Rivera (Santa Isabel,
P.R.) followed with RBI singles as ORU grabbed a 5-4 lead.
Bigley laced a
three-run double in the top of the sixth for an 8-4 ORU lead, and
the Golden Eagles got five more runs in the top of the seventh for
a 13-4 lead. The big blow in the seventh was a two-run double by
Michael
Hollimon (Dallas, Texas). Bigley drove in his sixth run of
the game with a sacrifice fly three batters later.
Notre Dame scored a
pair of runs in the seventh and eighth innings off reliever Dane Towery (Mustang,
Okla.), but the Golden Eagles added an insurance run in the top of
the ninth when Bigley led off with a double and scored two batters
later on a single by Lamb.
Bigley was 3-for-5 on
the day with a school-record tying three doubles and two runs
scored. Torres had three hits and Hollimon drove in tree and stole
a base while going 2-for-4. Lamb and Rivera each had two hits.
Every ORU starter collected at least one hit.
Greenwalt (1-0) earned
the victory with five strong innings of relief. Greenwalt allowed
one run on four hits while walking one and striking out one.
Tom Thornton took the
loss for Notre Dame.
--ORU--
