TULSA-
Bryce Smolen struck out 11
batters in a complete game effort as Oral Robert defeated Centenary
4-2 in the Currington Mortgage Summit League Tournament opener for
both teams, Thursday at J.L. Johnson Stadium.
The victory, ORU's 31st straight in tournament play, puts the
Golden Eagles (33-25) in a winner's bracket matchup with top-seeded
South Dakota State on Friday at 3 p.m.
Smolen (9-3) out-pitched Summit League Pitcher of the Year Boone
Whiting (6-2) by allowing just one earned run in his sixth complete
game of the year. Smolen scattered five hits and walked only two
batters.
Centenary (28-25), however, opened the scoring in the top of the
first. Keegan Acker led off with a single and moved to second when
leftfielder
Chris Elder mishandled the
ball. Acker advanced to third on a wild pitch and later scored on
groundout by Scott Pasket for a 1-0 Gents lead.
ORU got the run back in the bottom of the inning, but also missed
out on an opportunity for a big inning. Joey
Winiecki reached on a error and Tyler
Saladino walked to start the inning.
Nick Baligod doubled
off the wall in right, scoring Winiecki and tying the game at 1-1.
After
Seth Furmanek struck out,
Whiting walked
Chris Elder to load the
bases.
But ORU couldn't take advantage as Whiting whiffed
Jared Schlehuber and
P.J. Sequeira to end the
threat.
Centenary grabbed a 2-1 lead in the second. Michael Tompkins led
off with a double and scored two batters later when Baligod
misplayed a Jeff Ericson's fly ball to right. But the lead didn't
last long.
The Golden Eagles tied the game at 2-2 with a run in the bottom of
the fifth. After Saladino was plunked with one out, Baligod blooped
a single to leftfield, putting runners on first and second.
Furmanek followed with a single through the left side, scoring
Saladino with the tying run.
Brett
Sowers led off the sixth inning with solo home run just inside
the leftfield foul pole, giving ORU a 3-2 lead, and Schlehuber
lifted a sacrifice fly in the seventh for a 4-2 advantage.
Smolen took care of the rest, allowing just three baserunners over
the final three innings.
Baligod finished with three hits and an RBI for ORU, while Furmanek
had a pair of single and an RBI. Whiting allowed three runs in six
innings, striking out eight but walking five in suffering the
loss.
Centenary faces Oakland at 11 a.m., Friday in an elimination
game.
--ORU--
