TULSA – Oral Roberts' baseball rallied from a 1-0 deficit in
the fourth inning in beating Dallas Baptist, 5-1, Thursday night at
J.L. Johnson Stadium.
With the win, the Golden Eagles extended their home unbeaten streak
to six and improved to 12-4 on the year while DBU fell to 11-6.
Dallas Baptist grabbed an early lead off starter Jerry
Sullivan (3-2) on an RBI single by Ryan Goins in the second
frame.
DBU's starter Victor Black (0-3) did not allow any ORU hits in the
first three innings but the Golden Eagles' batters were able to
disrupt the right-hander in the fourth by taking a 2-1 lead. Brian
Van Kirk led off the inning with a walk and later advanced to
third on two wild pitches by Black. Van Kirk was then plated for
ORU's first run when
Ben Petralli hit an opposite field double
down the left field line. Petralli later scored to give the Golden
Eagles the lead on a balk by Black.
The Golden Eagles extended their lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the
sixth when
Ryan Groth belted a two-run home run over the
right field fence. Van Kirk scored on Groth's team-leading second
home run of the year.
ORU manufactured a run in the eighth extending their lead to 5-1.
Van Kirk singled to start inning then was pitch-ran for by Justin
Mitchell. Mitchell proceeded to steal second and third and
later scored on a Petralli RBI groundout.
Sullivan struck out eight batters while only allowing one earned
run in seven innings of work.
Van Kirk went 2-for-3 with two runs scored to lead the offensive
attack for the Golden Eagles. Groth and Petralli each had two
RBI.
DBU's Black went six innings, allowing three hits and four earned
runs while striking out six.
ORU and DBU resume their series tomorrow with a 7 p.m. first pitch
at J.L. Johnson Stadium.
--ORU--
