CEDAR CITY,
Utah-Oral Roberts split a Summit League doubleheader with Southern
Utah on Saturday, winning the opener 16-9 but falling in the
nightcap, 10-9, in extra innings at Thunderbird Park.
In the
opener ORU (18-15 overall, 6-1 Summit) banged out 16 hits, with
five players enjoying multi-hit games. The Golden Eagles never
trailed in the game, jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the
first inning as Nick Baligod laced an RBI
double and Chris Elder added a
three-run homer.
Southern
Utah (8-25, 2-5) briefly tied the game in the bottom of the first,
but ORU went back on top in the second when Jared Schelhuber's
two-run single made it 6-4.
A two-run
homer by Tyler
Saladino in the fourth made it 8-4, and a five-run sixth inning
gave the Golden Eagles a 13-4 advantage.
Southern
Utah scored twice in the bottom of the sixth and once in the
seventh to make it 13-7, but an RBI double by Brett Sowers in the
eighth and two more runs in the ninth gave ORU a 16-7 advantage.
Southern Utah tacked on a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth
for the final score.
Seth
Furmanek (4-1) earned the win on the mound for ORU, allowing
six runs on 12 hits. The right-hander struck out four and walked a
pair. Kyle Hamman (0-7) started and suffered the loss for the
Thunderbirds.
Saladino led
ORU at the plate in game one, going 4-for-5 with a pair of RBI and
four runs scored. Schlehuber had three hits and Elder knocked in
five runs.
Game two was
a see-saw affair which saw both squads waste leads before Southern
Utah walked off with a win.
ORU jumped
ahead 1-0 on a home run by Baligod in the top of the first.
Southern Utah scored three runs in the second for a 3-1 lead -
their first lead of the series - but the Golden Eagles scored three
in the top of the third. The first run scored on a wild pitch and
Schlehuber finished off the scoring with a three-run homer as ORU
grabbed a 4-3 lead.
Southern
Utah bounced right back, scoring two runs in the third and three
more in the fourth for an 8-4 lead. ORU scored an unearned run in
the fifth and Saladino put the Golden Eagles on top 9-8 with a
grand slam in the sixth.
But ORU's
bullpen couldn't hold the lead. Bucky Aona tied the game with a
two-out single off reliever Dallas
Beeler in the sixth inning. Neither team scored in the seventh,
sending the game into extra innings.
Joey Winiecki laced a
two-out double in the top of the eighth, but couldn't score. In the
bottom of the inning Southern Utah's D.J. Andrade drew a lead-off
walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. After another walk,
Matt Sanford hit an infield single to load the bases. ORU reliever
Sean
Johnson (1-1) then walked Aona to force in the winning run.
Schlehuber
and Colby
Price each had a pair of hits to lead ORU in game two. Johnson
suffered the loss for the Golden Eagles, allowing a run in 1.1
innings of work.
Kelsey
Outram (2-2) tossed two shutout innings of relief to get the win
for the T-Birds.
ORU and
Southern Utah conclude their series at 1 p.m., Saturday.
--ORU--
