TULSA,
Okla. �€" Oral Roberts University�€™s
baseball team defeated Central Arkansas, 10-4, in non-conference
action on Friday afternoon at J.L. Johnson Stadium.
Kelly Minissale (Murphy, Texas) got ORU (6-8) on
the board first with a two-run home run over the right field fence,
scoring Brendan Duffy (Glendale, Ariz.).
UCA
(7-6) followed suit in the next inning to tie the game at 2-2. With
Chris Davis on first, Grant Gatlin homered off
ORU�€™s starter Marcus Tackett
(Tulsa, Okla.).
ORU
tallied another run in the bottom of the fourth on a single by
Adam Younger (Cape Coral, Fla.) to score
Stephen Pearson (Petaluma, Calif.) for a 3-2 lead.
UCA�€™s Jonathan Ashworth hit a solo home run to
center field in the top of the fifth to tie the game.
In the
sixth inning, Carter McQuigg (Miami, Okla.) hit
his third home run of the year to score Brian Van
Kirk (Southwest Ranches, Fla.) for a 5-3 ORU lead.
After
UCA scored an unearned run in the seventh, the Golden Eagles
punched four runs in the bottom half of the seventh. Pearson
doubled to right field scoring both Chad Rothford
(Fresno, Calif.) and Van Kirk. McQuigg then reached on an error
that scored Pearson and McQuigg later reached home on a Younger
single to right field.
ORU
added another insurance run in the bottom of the eighth. Duffy led
off the inning with a triple over the left fielder and scored on a
Jake Kahaulelio (Windsor, Calif.) ground out.
Jeremy Hefner (Stigler, Okla.) earned the win to
improve to 2-0 on the year. The righthander struck out six while
only allowing one hit and one unearned run in 4.1 innings of work.
Tackett allowed three runs on only three hits and struck out two in
4.2 innings.
Minissalle, Pearson, McQuigg, and Younger knocked in two runs each.
Overall, the Golden Eagles had 11 hits on the afternoon.
UCA�€™s James Parsons earned to loss to drop to
1-2 on the season.
ORU and
UCA play the middle game of the three-game set tomorrow afternoon
at 2:00 p.m. at J.L. Johnson Stadium.
-ORU-
