TULSA�€"Oral Roberts University pounded out 15 hits en
route to an 11-2 victory over Southern Utah in a Mid-Continent
Conference Tournament winner's bracket game, Friday at J.L Johnson
Stadium.
ORU advances to the
championship round Saturday at 1 p.m. against either Southern Utah
or Centenary, who face each other in an elimination game Friday
evening. The Golden Eagles will be looking for their eighth
straight Mid-Con Tournament title.
The Golden Eagles
(39-18), playing as the visiting team, started strong against
Thunderbirds starting pitcher Dusty Nielsen (4-5). Michael Hollimon (Dallas,
Texas) and Tim
Torres (Rocklin, Calif.) led off with singles and scored
on Kelly
Minissale's (Murphy, Texas) triple for a 2-0 lead.
Minissale scored on a double play grounder for a 3-0 lead, but the
Golden Eagles missed out on an even bigger inning when Nielsen
fanned Brian
Hanson (Kelseyville, Calif.) with the bases loaded to end
the inning.
Down 3-0, the T-Birds
fought back against ORU starter Taylor McIntyre (Edmond,
Okla.) in the bottom of the inning. Jeff Oliverson knocked in SUU's
first run with a single and Aaron Nelson's RBI single three batters
later made it a 3-2 game.
The game remained a 3-2
affair as both McIntyre and Nielsen settled down over the next
three innings.
But the Golden Eagles
touched Nielsen for a run in the fifth on an RBI single by
Minissale for a 4-2 lead, then knocked the SUU right-hander from
the game with a four-run sixth. An RBI single by Brian Aguailar (Lompoc,
Calif.), a run-scoring double by Hollimon and a two-run base hit by
Torres gave ORU an 8-2 lead.
The Golden Eagles
extended the lead to 9-2 on a sac fly by Aguailar in the seventh,
and the Golden Eagles added a pair of insurance runs in the top of
the ninth on a double by Rene Recio (Corpus Christi,
Texas) and a single by Hanson.
McIntyre tired with one
out in the ninth and runners on second and third. Tim Robertson (Huntington
Beach, Calif.) came on and struck out the game's final two
batters.
McIntyre (7-6)
scattered 10 hits over 8.1 innings, surrendering two runs and two
walks while striking out seven.
Minissale led ORU's
offense, going 3-for-4 with a single, double, triple and three RBI.
Hollimon, Torres, Recio and Jon Tackett (Tulsa, Okla.)
each had two hits.
--ORU--
