Baseball 2/20/2009 12:00:00 AM

ORU Holds Off Western Michigan in Season Opener, 9-7

TULSA – The Oral Roberts University baseball team held off a late rally to defeat Western Michigan by a score of 9-7 on Friday afternoon at J.L. Johnson Stadium.

The Golden Eagles led off the game with a bang, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning. With one out, senior shortstop Juan Martinez (Bakersfield, Calif.) singled up the middle, and then stole his first base of the season. Two batters later, newcomer P.J. Sequeira (Petaluma, Calif.) singled to right field to give ORU the early 1-0 advantage.

Fellow newcomer Chris Elder (Fairfield, Calif.) followed with a double to left center, plating first baseman Michael Notaro (Westlake Village, Calif.). Senior Johnny Roberts (Pryor, Okla.) then singled to right field scoring two to put ORU up 4-0.

The following inning, senior Justin Mitchell (Broken Arrow, Okla.) walked and later stole third, while Martinez doubled to center field, putting ORU up 5-0 at the end of two.

The Golden Eagles pushed their lead to six runs in the bottom of the third when Danny Duffy (Glendale, Ariz.) hit a sacrifice fly to plate Roberts.

ORU starter Andre Lamontagne (Santa Maria, Calif.) got through the first three innings with relative ease until Western Michigan's Max Kelmigian homered to left field to begin the fourth. Two more batters reached after the homer, leading to another run, before an error tightened the contest to a two-run margin.

Senior Mark Serrano (Downey, Calif.) took over for Lamontagne, who scattered five hits and struck out a career-high seven batters in 3.2 innings pitched.

After retiring three consecutive batters, including two strikeouts, WMU's Nathan Marquardt homered off of Serrano to bring the contest to 6-5. Serrano would go on to retire nine of the next 10 batters, and ended the night with six strikeouts in 4.1 innings pitched to pick up the win.

The Golden Eagles picked up two more runs in the fifth inning to increase their lead to 8-5. After Mitchell singled to shortstop, Duffy doubled to the gap in left center, plating Mitchell. Duffy later scored after a Western Michigan error.

ORU pushed its lead to 9-5 the following inning after another error, and would hold the four-run margin until the top of the ninth, when T.J. Kelly (Bakersfield, Calif.) surrendered three consecutive hits and two runs before settling down to close out the game and give the Golden Eagles their first win of the season.

Duffy and Roberts batted in two runs apiece for ORU on Friday, while Martinez, Mitchell, Roberts and Sequeira all posted multi-hit performances.

Western Michigan's Billy Morrison suffered the loss, giving up six runs in 3.0 innings pitched.

The Golden Eagles return to action against the Broncos at 2 p.m. on Saturday at J.L. Johnson Stadium.

- ORU -

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Players Mentioned

#2 Danny Duffy: INF; 5' 11"; Junior

#12 Chris Elder: OF; 5' 11"; Junior

#34 T.J. Kelly: RHP; 6' 1"; Senior

#18 Andre Lamontagne: RHP; 6' 4"; Senior

#5 Juan Martinez: INF; 5' 10"; Senior

#25 P.J. Sequeira: OF; 6' 3"; Junior

#8 Mark Serrano: RHP; 6' 1"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#2 Danny Duffy
: 5' 11"; Junior
: INF

#12 Chris Elder
: 5' 11"; Junior
: OF

#34 T.J. Kelly
: 6' 1"; Senior
: RHP

#18 Andre Lamontagne
: 6' 4"; Senior
: RHP

#5 Juan Martinez
: 5' 10"; Senior
: INF

#25 P.J. Sequeira
: 6' 3"; Junior
: OF

#8 Mark Serrano
: 6' 1"; Senior
: RHP