WACO,
Texas-Senior right-hander Bryce
Smolen tossed five solid innings and an opportunistic offense
led the way as Oral Roberts opened the 2011 season with a 7-3 upset
win over No. 16 Baylor, Friday at Baylor Ballpark.
Smolen (1-0)
allowed one unearned run on four hits while striking out two and
walking a pair. He teamed with relievers Lars
Liguori and Sean
Johnson in limiting the Bears to seven hits.
The Golden
Eagles opened the scoring in the top of the third, getting four
runs and chasing Baylor starter and 2010 All-Big XII selection
Logan Verrett (1-0) from the game.
Sophomore
catcher Bennett
Pickar led off the third with a double and senior center
fielder Joey
Winiecki followed with a walk. Junior designated hitter Brandon
King knocked in both base runners with a double down the right
field line for a 2-0 lead.
After junior
shortstop Cam
Schiller's groundout moved King to third, senior right fielder
Nick
Baligod plated King with a double to right and the Golden
Eagles owned a 3-0 lead. Baligod eventually advanced to third on a
two-out wild pitch and came around to score on senior first baseman
Jared
Schlehuber's two-out double for a 4-0 lead.
Baylor
scored an unearned run off Smolen in the bottom of the third to
make it 4-1, but the senior right-hander held the Bears in check
over the next three innings before being lifted for Liguori to
start the sixth.
The Golden
Eagles put another crooked number on the scoreboard in the sixth,
scoring three runs and taking a 7-1 lead. Winiecki knocked in the
inning's first run with a two-out RBI single for a 5-1 lead. A wild
pitch and an error led to two more runs as ORU grabbed a six-run
lead.
Baylor
inched closer in the bottom of the eighth, pulling within 7-3 on a
two-run double by designated hitter Dan Evatt. But Johnson relieved
Liguori and, after issuing a walk to his first batter, struck out
the side to keep the advantage at four runs.
Though
Johnson didn't technically qualify for the save, he secured the
game late for ORU, allowing one hit and striking out four in two
innings of work. Liguori gave up two runs on two hits and fanned
three in two-plus innings in relief of Smolen.
King,
Baligod, Sclehuber and Chris
Elder paced ORU's 11-hit offensive attack with two hits
apiece
The Golden
Eagles and Bears play game two of their three-game set Saturday at
2 p.m.
--ORU--
