TULSA�€"Brian Aguailar scored from
second base on a wild pitch in the 10th inning as Oral
Roberts University rallied from an early 4-0 deficit for a 5-4 win
over Centenary in the opening round of the Mid-Continent Conference
Tournament, Thursday at J.L. Johnson Stadium.
The win propels the
Golden Eagles (36-14) into Friday's winner's bracket final against
Western Illinois at 3:30 p.m. The Leathernecks defeated Oakland 9-6
in the tournament's opening game. Centenary faces Oakland at noon
in an elimination game.
Aguailar singled with
one out in the bottom of the tenth to start the game-winning rally.
After Travis
DeBondt struck out, Aguailar moved to second on a walk to
Brendan
Duffy.
Aguailar scored the
winning run when reliever Kris Calhoun's (4-5) 2-1 pitch to Tim
Torres bounced in front of home plate and rolled toward the first
base dugout. Aguailar's head-first slide just beat catcher Alex
Maldonado's tag, setting off a celebration and earning ORU the
win.
Centenary starter
Brandon Fulencheck controlled the Golden Eagles throughout most of
the game, nearly handing ORU just its second Mid-Con Tournament
loss in its nine-year history in the league. But good fortune
shined on the Golden Eagles in the latter innings.
Centenary (23-29) took
control of the game with back-to-back two-run frames in the fourth
and fifth. The Gents scored their first run on a passed by catcher
Andy Bouchie
and Maldonado smacked on RBI single two pitches later for a 2-0
lead.
In the fifth, the Gents
received consecutive RBI singles from Justin Darr and Jimmy Baker
for a 4-0 advantage.
Fulencheck worked into
and out of trouble during the middle innings. The Golden Eagles had
two on and one out in the fourth but failed to score, and hit
consecutive two-out singles in the fifth but came up empty.
Carter McQuigg finally put
ORU on the board with a two-out solo home run in the sixth to make
it 4-1.
The Golden Eagles
inched closer in the seventh, but missed an opportunity to tie the
game or take the lead. Pat Warfle led off the
inning with a double and scored on Duffy's single up the middle,
trimming the lead to 4-2.
Tim Torres singled,
moving to Duffy to third and Duffy scored when third baseman Jimmy
Baker misplayed Jake
Kahaulelio's grounder for an error. With ORU down 4-3 and
two on and none out, Calhoun (4-5) relieved Fulencheck and struck
out Bouchie and Chad
Rothford, and induced Kelly Minissale to hit a
combacker to end the threat.
The Golden Eagles
completed the comeback on a strange turn of events in the bottom of
the eighth. McQuigg was plunked by Calhoun leading off the inning.
He advanced to second on a wild pitch and moved to third on a
sacrifice bunt by Aguailar.
Pinch-hitter Travis DeBondt
bounced a 2-2 pitch to second and knocked down first baseman Darr
as Darr was straddling the bag. McQuigg raced home after the
collision with the trying run. The play prompted an argument from
both sides: ORU head coach Rob Walton arguing for DeBondt to be
safe and Centenary head coach EdMcCann wanting interference.
ORU starter Nick Jones was
roughed up for four runs (three earned) on nine hits in five
innings. Jones did strike out eight batters with only one walk.
The Golden Eagles'
bullpen tossed 5.0 innings of one-hit relief. Sean Jarrett (6-1) picked
up the win with two shutout innings.
Duffy, Torres,
Kahaulelio and McQuigg each had two hits for ORU. Baker had three
hits for Centenary while Tim Ryan and Darr had two apiece.
--ORU--
