TULSA�€"Dane Towery (Mustang,
Okla.) allowed one run on five hits in 8.1 innings in leading Oral
Roberts University to a 4-1 win over No. 22 Wichita State, Tuesday
at J.L. Johnson Stadium. The win extends ORU's winning streak to a
season-high six games.
Towery (1-0) struck out
a career-high five and retired 13 of the last 15 batters he faced
before allowing a one-out double in the top of the ninth. Tim Robertson
(Huntington Beach, Calif.) retired the game's final two batters to
preserve the win and pick up his second save.
The Golden Eagles
(13-6) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Brain Hanson (Kelseyville,
Calif.) doubled with one out, advanced to third on a single by
Jon Tackett
(Tulsa, Okla.) and scored on a sacrifice fly by Dennis Bigley (Lancaster,
Texas).
Wichita State (19-6)
scored its only run with out benefit of a base hit in the top of
the second, as the Golden Eagles committed three errors. Tad Reida
reached leading off the inning on an error by shortstop Michael Hollimon
(Dallas, Texas), Towery mishandled Damon Sublett's come-backer and
catcher Brian
Aguailar (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) dropped a foul pop up
by Joe Muich. Reida then scored on the back end of a double steal
with Sublett as the Shockers tied the game at 1-1.
Rene Recio (Corpus Christi,
Texas) gave ORU a 2-1 lead with an RBI double in the fourth. But
Wichita State's bullpen held the Golden Eagles in check until ORU
broke through for two runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Hollimon and Hanson
drew one-out walks in the seventh and Tackett followed with a bloop
a single to leftfield, loading the bases. Reliever Rob Musgrave
uncorked a wild pitch, scoring Hollimon from third for a 3-1 lead,
and Bigley later delivered his second sacrifice fly of the night
for a 4-1 advantage.
Towery, meanwhile, was
seriously threatened only twice after the second inning. In the
third, the Shockers put two on with one out but Derek Schermerhorn
grounded into an inning-ending double play. In the fourth the
Shockers again put two on with one out but Muich lined into the
second double play of the night to end WSU's last true scoring
threat until the top of the ninth.
From the fifth inning
on, Towery allowed just three hits and a walk before leaving in the
after Phil Napolitan's one-out double.
Recio, Tackett and
Ricky Rivera
(Santa Isabel, P.R.) each had two hits for the Golden Eagles, as
ORU was limited to just seven hits by four Wichita State
pitchers.
Napolitan had two hits
for Wichita State. Reliever Danny Jackson (0-1) took the loss for
the Shockers.
The Golden Eagles
return to action when they open a three-game series at UC-Santa
Barbara, 4 p.m., Thursday.
--ORU--
