WICHITA, Kan. – Arizona's Bill
Rhinehart singled in the game-winning run in the bottom of the
seventh as Arizona defeated Oral Roberts University, 4-3, in the
first round of the NCAA Wichita Regional, Friday afternoon at Eck
Stadium.
After a 77 minute rain delay,
Arizona (41-15) started its two-out rally by recording three
consecutive singles off ORU (40-16) reliever Erik
Crichton (Seal Beach, Calif.) in the seventh.
Facing a 0-2 count and two outs,
Arizona's Colt Sedbrook blooped a single into right field between
ORU's right-fielder Brendan Duffy and second basemen Jake
Kahaulelio to keep the inning alive for the Wildcats. C.J. Ziegler
followed with a single up the middle to advance Sedbrook to second
base. Rhinehart then hit another blooper to left field for the
Wildcats as Sedbrook scored the winning run.
Crichton (4-5) worked the final two
innings for ORU.
Arizona's Jason Stoffel relieved
starter Preston Guilmet (12-2) after the rain delay and worked the
last two innings to earn his fourth save of the year.
Arizona took an early 1-0 lead in
the second inning when John Daston hit a run-scoring double down
the right field line. With Daston on second and no outs, ORU's
starter Chance Chapman (Paso Robles, Calif.) got a
strikeout and two groundouts to end the Wildcats threat and keep
the Arizona's lead at 1-0.
The Wildcats extended their lead to
3-0 in the third. Bill Rhinehart plated the first run of the inning
with a sac fly and then C.J. Ziegler scored on an RBI groundout by
Brad Glenn.
ORU rallied in the fourth with a
single run to cut the Wildcats advantage to 3-1. Chad
Rothford (Fresno, Calif.) led off the inning with a double
to left center and was brought around to score the first Golden
Eagle run on Carter McQuigg's (Miami, Okla.) RBI
single.
The Golden Eagles tallied two runs
in the fifth inning to tie the ball game at 3-3. Brendan
Duffy (Glendale, Ariz.) reached on an infield single to
lead things off. A double down the right field line by
Kelly Minissale (Murphy, Texas) advanced Duffy to
third. Jake Kahaulelio (Windsor, Calif.) and
Rothford each had RBI groundouts to even the score.
Chapman was credited with a
no-decision while scattering three hits and three runs (two earned)
in six innings of work. The right-hander struck out six batters
while just walking two.
Rothford finished the day 2-for-4
with an RBI and a run scored to pace the Golden Eagle attack.
ORU will try to stave off
elimination tomorrow at 1 p.m., facing the loser of the tonight's
game between Wichita State and New Orleans.
Wichita Regional
Notebook
Friday's loss to Arizona drops ORU's all-time NCAA post-season
record to 25-37 ... the Golden Eagles have now lost three straight
post-season games, including a pair of losses to Clemson in the
2006 Super Regional ... Chance Chapman struck out six batters,
raising his season total to 127 which now ranks second on the ORU
single-season list. Chapman is second behind Michael Rogers, who
fanned 131 in 2001 ... Chad Rothford went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a
run scored on Friday, and is now 11-for-26 (.423) with three home
runs and 12 RB I in six career NCAA post-season games ... Rothford
was the only Golden Eagle with more than one hit, and also the only
ORU batter who didn't strike out ... the 16 strikeouts by Arizona
pitching was the second-highest total by an ORU opponent this
season (17 vs. California, March 22) ... the loss to No. 11 Arizona
drops ORU to 4-10 against Top 25 opponents this season ... RHP
Jeremy Hefner (9-1, 2.53) will start for ORU on Saturday regardless
of the opponent.
