Baseball 5/23/2009 12:00:00 AM

Martinez' Ninth-Inning Grand Slam Propels ORU to 9-6 Comeback Win over Southern Utah

TULSA, Okla. – Juan Martinez hit a two-out grand slam to cap a six-run ninth inning as the Oral Roberts University baseball team rallied to defeat Southern Utah by a score of 9-6 and advance to the title game of the Currington Mortgage Summit League Championship on Friday afternoon at J.L. Johnson Stadium. The Golden Eagles improved to 30-13 on the season and 38-1 all-time in conference tournament play.

With one out in the top of the ninth and down 6-3 with 29 consecutive tournament victories on the line, P.J. Sequeira (Petaluma, Calif.) doubled to right center. Two batters later with two outs, Colby Price (Brenham, Texas) crushed his second homer of the tournament to right field to bring ORU within a run.

The Golden Eagles then loaded the bases on three consecutive walks in 12 pitches from Keli'i Zablan before right fielder Ray Wright came on to pitch to Martinez. With a 3-2 count, the ORU senior lifted his 14th homer of the season to left center.

Jeff Burleson (3-0) earned the win after allowing only two hits over the final three innings. After the leadoff hitter reached in the bottom of the seventh, Burleson struck out the side and went on to retire seven consecutive batters before surrendering a one-out single in the ninth. Burleson struck out five batters and issued no walks in the victory.

The Golden Eagles committed two errors that led to four runs to fall behind to 6-2 in the bottom of the sixth.

Kyle Melling held the ORU batters hitless through the opening three innings until the Golden Eagles plated two runs in the top of the fourth to take the 2-0 lead. Seth Furmanek (Gilbert, Ariz.) led off with a walk and Sequeira drove in the run with a single up the middle before getting caught in a run down.

Johnny Roberts (Pryor, Okla.) followed with a shot over the right field wall for his eighth home run of the season and fourth RBI of the tournament.

The Thunderbirds countered in the bottom of the fourth for two runs to tie the contest. Bo Cutherbertson led off the inning with a single up the middle and Nick Freitas drew a walk before Bucky Aona doubled down the left field line to drive in both runners.

Southern Utah took the lead in the bottom of the fifth win a run for the 3-2 advantage. With the leadoff runner on after getting hit, Colby Ford attempted to sacrifice the runner over, but an errant throw put the runners on the corners with no outs. Ray Wright then hit into a double play to push the run across.

The Thunderbirds tacked on three more runs in the sixth inning to push the margin to 6-2. After Freitas led off with a single up the middle, another error put runners on the corners before Zablan crushed a two-out homer to right field.

The Golden Eagles plated a run in the top of the eighth when Furmanek hit a two-out RBI double, but Furmanek was thrown out trying to reach third to end the inning.

ORU senior Mark Serrano (Downey, Calif.) pitched six innings, giving up six runs, only two of which were earned, and struck out 12 batters while only walking one. Serrano climbed into a tie for third all-time at ORU with 119 single-season strikeouts.

The Golden Eagles will meet the winner of tonight's game between South Dakota State and Southern Utah tomorrow at 1 p.m.

- ORU -

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Players Mentioned

#24 Jeff Burleson: RHP/INF; 6' 2"; Junior

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

#33 Johnny Roberts: OF; 6' 1"; Senior

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

Players Mentioned

#24 Jeff Burleson
: 6' 2"; Junior
: RHP/INF

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

#33 Johnny Roberts
: 6' 1"; Senior
: OF

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