CEDAR CITY, Utah –- Oral Roberts University suffered a 16-4 loss to Southern Utah in Summit League competition on Saturday afternoon at Thunderbird Park.

The Golden Eagles fell to 31-11 on the year and 13-3 in The Summit League while Southern Utah improved to 23-18 overall and 10-5 in league play.

Southern Utah used a two-run home run from Joe Wright in the top of the second off Andre Lamontagne (2-2) to grab an early 2-0 lead. It was the first time all series that the Thunderbirds were able to score the first runs of the contest.

ORU sliced into the Thunderbirds lead in the top of the third. Brendan Duffy led off with a single, his second of the day, and then three consecutive walks by SUU's starter Mac Nelson (4-1) brought Duffy all the way around to score the Golden Eagles first run.

Southern Utah used the long ball again in the bottom of the third to stretch their lead to 4-1.

The Golden Eagles responded when Adam Younger hammered the first pitch from Nelson in the top of the fourth over the left field fence to make it a 4-2 game. Younger's long ball was his third of the season.

Southern Utah was able to score five runs in the fifth and two in the sixth for an 11-2 advantage.

ORU snapped seven unanswered runs by the Thunderbirds when Michael Notaro belted a solo home run over the center field fence in the seventh inning.

SUU pushed across five more runs in the seventh to take a commanding 16-3 lead before ORU scored a run in the eighth to make it 16-4.

Younger led off with a triple to left field in the eighth then was plated on an RBI single from Brian Van Kirk.

ORU had nine hits in the contest, but left 13 runs stranded while Southern Utah had 16 hits.

The series split was the first for the Golden Eagles since ORU split a two-game series at Chicago State on April 21, 2001.

ORU returns to action on Friday, traveling to Brookings, S.D. to battle Summit League member South Dakota State.

--ORU--