MACOMB,
IL�€"Dennis Bigley (Lancaster,
Texas) hurled a four-hit shutout in game two �€" his
third straight complete game shutout and fourth of the season
�€" to lead Oral Roberts University to 3-0 win and a
doubleheader split with Western Illinois in Mid-Continent
Conference play, Saturday at Vince Grady Field. Western won the
opener 8-7 in 10 innings.
Bigley (9-3) has now
gone 42.1 innings without allowing an earned run, and has yet to
give up a run in five starts in Mid-Con play (34.1 innings). The
senior right-hander gave up three singles and a double and struck
out five batters with two walks, lowering his season ERA to
1.64.
ORU (31-18, 16-2
Mid-Con) was held in check offensively through the first three
innings by WIU lefty Clint Buchen (6-2). But the Golden Eagles
scored a pair of unearned runs with two outs when Leathernecks
first baseman Dab Davy misplayed Bigley's grounder with the bases
loaded.
Shortstop Michael Hollimon (
Dallas, Texas) gave Bigley and ORU an insurance run in the top of
the seventh when he blasted his league-leading 10th home
run of the season.
Bigley set down the
Leathernecks (23-25, 13-4) in order in the bottom of the seventh,
fanning designated hitter Tyler Johnson to end the game.
The opener started out
strangely and ended with the Golden Eagles playing the last three
innings under protest.
Western took a 1-0 lead
in the first when Jim Sanew scored from third on a wild pitch by
Taylor
McIntyre (Edmond, Okla.). The Leathernecks appeared to
take a 2-0 lead when Ryan Schmidgall drove in Dan Davy with a
sacrifice fly. But Kyle Malan, trying to move up from second to
third on the fly ball, was called out on an appeal play and the run
was taken off the scoreboard by the home plate umpire.
ORU grabbed a 2-1 lead
in the fourth on RBI base hits by Brian Hanson (Kelseyville,
Calif.) and Bigley. Western tied it in the bottom of the fourth on
a bases loaded walk to Davy.
The Golden Eagles
exploded for four runs on five hits in the top of the sixth. Hanson
had an RBI single, Bigley ripped an RBI double and Hollimon knocked
in a pair with a single as ORU opened up a 6-2 lead.
But the Leathernecks
responded with three runs in the bottom of the sixth, chasing
McIntyre from the game and making it 6-5.
After ORU took a 7-5
lead in the top of the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Travis DeBondt
(Bakersfield, Calif.), a 20-minute discussion ensued in the middle
of the seventh over the run being taken away from Western in the
bottom of the first. Eventually it was ruled the run should have
counted, and ORU head coach Rob Walton immediately notified the
umpires he was playing the game under protest.
The call would prove
pivotal as the Leathernecks tied the game in bottom of the ninth on
a one-out RBI single by Johnson.
After ORU went down in
the top of the 10th, Davy singled with one out and tried
to score from first on a hit-and-run single by Malan. But DeBondt
threw Davy out at the plate for the second out. Malan moved up to
second on the throw and Joe Pcyga bounced the first pitch from
Daniel
Greenwalt (LaHabra, Calif.) up the middle for the winning
hit.
ORU pounded out 15 hits
in game one, with Hanson, Bigley and Kelly Minissale (Murphy,
Texas) each getting three hits.
Greenwalt (5-3), who
came on for Tim Robertson (Hutnington Beach, Calif.) with one out
in the ninth, took the loss, allowing a run on four hits in one
inning of work. John Matlick (3-0) picked up the win with 4.0
shutout innings of relief.
The Golden Eagles and
Leathernecks conclude their series on Sunday with a 12 noon
doubleheader.
--ORU--
