TULSA�€"Dennis Bigley (Lancaster,
Texas) tossed a complete game seven-hitter in leading Oral Roberts
University to 6-1 win over Centenary in the first round of the
Mid-Continent Conference Tournament, Thursday at J.L. Johnson
Stadium.
With the win ORU
(38-18) faces
Southern Utah, a 6-2 winner over Western Illinois, in a winner's
bracket matchup at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. Centenary faces WIU in an
elimination game at 12 noon.
Bigley (11-1) picked up
his 41st career victory but by his own lofty standards,
he struggled after getting hit by a pitch while batting in the
third inning. Bigley allowed a run with two outs in the fifth
inning, snapping his scoreless streak at 33.0 innings. It was also
the first earned run Bigley has allowed in 55.0 innings.
The Golden Eagles
staked Bigley to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first without a
hit. Centenary (25-29) starter Matt Clark (2-4) walked three
batters and Gents defense committed an error. Rene Recio (Corpus Christi,
Texas) drew a bases-loaded walk, and Brian Hanson (Kelseyville,
Calif.) knocked in ORU's second run on a fielder's choice
grounder.
ORU took a 5-0 lead
with a three-run fourth. Brian Aguailar (Lompoc,
Calif.) drilled an RBI
single and Tim
Torres (Rocklin, Calif.) followed two batters later with a
2-run single, chasing Clark from the game.
The Gents finally got
to Bigley in the fifth. Justin Darr led off with a single, moved to
third on a two-out single by A.J. Howes and scored when J.C. Biagi
bounced one through the hole on the right side of the infield,
cutting ORU's lead to 5-1.
The Golden Eagles got
the run back in the bottom of the fifth on another RBI single by
Aguailar for a 6-1 lead.
Bigley settled down the
rest of the way, allowing only a lead-off double in the sixth and a
pair of singles in the eighth. He retired the game's final five
batters for the win.
Aguailar, Jon Tackett (Tulsa,
Okla.) and Kelly
Minissale (Murphy, Texas) led ORU's 8-hit offensive
effort. Biagi was the only Gent with more than one hit, going
2-for-3.
--ORU--
