TULSA, Okla. �€" Newcomers Carter McQuigg (Miami, Okla.) and Jake Kahaulelio (Windsor, Calif.) combined for six hits and five RBIs as the Oral Roberts University baseball team totaled 13 hits as they topped Missouri Southern, 9-2, in their 2006 season opener, Friday afternoon at JL Johnson Stadium.

McQuigg went 3-for-4 with a home run, 4 RBIs and two runs scored in his first day in a Golden Eagle uniform, while Kahaulelio was 3-for-5 with an RBI.

Nick Jones (Broken Arrow, Okla.) picked up the win for ORU (1-0), allowing only one run on four hits with four strike outs in seven innings of work.

The game was tied at 0-0 after the first three and a half innings, but the Golden Eagles combined four hits with a pair of Lion errors to push across five runs in their half of the fourth. McQuigg got things started with a two-out double to left field, plating Brian Aguailar (Lompoc, Calif.) and Pat Warfle (Melbourne, Fla.) for a 2-0 lead.

A dropped pop-up and an overthrown pick off attempt led to another pair of ORU runs before Kelly Minissale (Murphy, Texas) used an RBI single to give the home team a 5-0 cushion.

Lion starter Michael Meyer (0-1) was finished after the fourth, having given up five runs on five hits with four walks.

The score was 6-1 in the bottom of the seventh when McQuigg hit the first Golden Eagle home run of the 2006 season, a two-run shot that just cleared the wall in left. A Minissale sac fly two batters later made the score 9-1 in favor of ORU.

Minissale finished the afternoon 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. Aguailar added a pair of hits with two runs scored, while Travis DeBondt (Bakersfield, Calif.) was 2-of-3 with three runs scored.

The two teams will be back in action tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 p.m. before closing out the series with a 1:00 p.m. start on Sunday. The series' final contest will be on the radio in Tulsa on KCFO AM 970 or via the web at www.orugoldeneagles.com.

--ORU--