BERKELEY, Calif. �€" Oral Roberts
University�€™s baseball team fell to Pac-10 foe
California, 8-3, on a sunny Friday afternoon at Evans Diamond.
California�€™s Josh Satin hit a home run over the
left field fence as Cal (13-13) took a 1-0 lead in the second
inning.
ORU
(11-10) responded in the fourth inning to take a 2-1 lead when
Chad Rothford (Fresno, Calif.) hit his
team-leading sixth home run to deep center field, scoring
Jake Kahaulelio (Windsor, Calif.).
The
Golden Bears tallied a run in the bottom half of the fourth to tie
the game at 2-2. Satin opened the inning with a single through the
right side and later scored on a single to center field by Ryan
Hanlon.
The
Golden Eagles had a quality scoring chance in the fifth when
Pat Warfle (Melbourne, Fla.) singled through the
left side. Warfle went on to steal second and then went to third
base after a wild pitch. With only one out and Warfle on third, the
Golden Bears got the next two Golden Eagles out to end
ORU�€™s chances.
California took the lead for good in the fifth inning, scoring
three runs for a 5-2 lead. The Golden Bears had four singles in the
inning and knocked out ORU�€™s starter
Jeremy Hefner (Perkins, Okla.) in the process.
Hefner
(3-1) finished with five earned runs in five innings pitched. The
junior righthander tied his career-high with seven strikeouts
despite earning his first loss of the season.
After
the Golden Bears scored three more runs in the bottom of the
seventh to extend their lead to 8-2, ORU tried to rally in the top
of the eighth.
David Genao (Newark, N.J.) started the inning with
a free trip to first on a walk; then was followed by
a Kahaulelio single and a Rothford walk to load the bases
off California�€™s Mike Cassady. Stephen
Pearson (Petaluma, Calif.) reached on a
fielder�€™s choice to plate Genao to make it an
8-3 game. Cal�€™s reliever Matt Gorgen ended the
ORU rally by forcing Brian Van Kirk (Southwest
Ranches, Fla.) to ground into a double play.
Cal
pounded out 12 hits in the game with nine of their players
recording at least one hit.
Rothford and Pearson each went 2-of-3 to pace the Golden Eagles
attack. ORU finished the day with seven hits.
ORU and
California will play the series finale tomorrow at 1:00 p.m.
(PST).
-ORU-
