TULSA, Okla. –
Jerry Sullivan threw a one-hit
complete-game and head coach Rob
Walton earned his 250th career victory as the Oral Roberts
University baseball team cruised to a 9-1 victory over Centenary on
Thursday night in the opening round of the Currington Mortgage
Summit League Championship at J.L. Johnson Stadium.
Sullivan (7-3), a junior right-hander, retired the final 16 batters
of the contest and pitched six perfect innings for his
fourth-career complete game. The Budd Lake, N.J., native struck out
10 and issued only one walk. Sullivan moved to sixth all-time at
ORU with 260 career strikeouts.
Johnny Roberts (Pryor, Okla.) paced the offense,
going 3-for-3 with three RBI, while Colby
Price (Brenham, Texas) went 2-for-4 and drove in three
runs.
The Golden Eagles jumped on the Gents early, plating three runs in
the first inning.
Tyler Garewal (Bakersfield, Calif.) and Juan
Martinez (Bakersfield, Calif.) led off with consecutive infield
singles and
Seth Furmanek (Gilbert, Ariz.) blooped a single
over third base for the game's first run.
P.J. Sequeira (Petaluma, Calif.) grounded out to
drive in another run and Roberts lined a single to center field for
the inning's third run.
Centenary scored their lone run in the top of the second to cut the
lead to 3-1. Jeff Ericson drew a two-out walk and advanced on a
wild pitch before Jeff Schaffert drove him in with a bloop single
over third base.
ORU added runs in the third and fourth inning to take a 5-1 lead.
In the home half of the third, Roberts drilled the ball into left
center for an RBI triple. Danny
Duffy (Glendale, Ariz.) led off the following frame with a
single to right center and later advanced to third on two errors
before Garewal hit a sacrifice fly to drive in the run.
The Golden Eagles loaded the bases in the sixth inning and Roberts
drove in his third run of the game with a single through the left
side to score Garewal and extend the ORU lead to 6-1.
ORU rounded out the scoring in the bottom of the eighth when Price
hammered a three-run homer to left field for his fourth long ball
of the season.
The Golden Eagles extended their streak to 28 consecutive Summit
League Tournament victories and improved to 37-1 overall.
ORU will face Southern Utah on Friday at 3 p.m.
- ORU -
