TULSA-Oral Roberts scored early and held on late for a
series-sweeping 4-3 win over Bethune-Cookman, Sunday at J.L.
Johnson Stadium. The win is ORU's fourth straight.
The Golden Eagles won despite leaving 15 runners on base.
Bethune-Cookman wasn't much better, stranding 12 base runners.
ORU (7-5) started the scoring in the first when Nick
Baligod scored from third on a two-out error by Wildcats
pitcher Scott Garner, giving the Golden Eagles a 1-0 lead.
The Wildcats (8-10) tied it a 1-1 in the top of the second on an
RBI single by Alejandro Sanchez.
Baligod gave the Golden Eagles a 2-1 lead when he led off the third
inning with a solo home run, his first of the season. Brandon
King and Chris
Elder followed Baligod's home run with consecutive doubles and
King, who stopped at third on Elder's hit, eventually scored on a
wild pitch to give ORU a 3-1 lead.
King gave ORU a 4-1 lead in the fourth when he plated Joey
Winiecki with a groundout to first.
Bethune-Cookman made it a 4-2 game in the fifth when Emmanuel
Castro knocked in a run with a groundout.
Both teams mounted threats in the middle innings but couldn't
convert. ORU left two runners on in the bottom of the fifth and
left the bases loaded in the sixth, while the Wildcats left two on
in the sixth and failed to score after loading the bases in the
eighth.
The Wildcats made it interesting in the ninth. After Lars
Liguori retired Matt Wright to start the inning, Matt
Rush relieved and immediately ran into trouble. Ryan Durrence
doubled to left and scored two batters later on a double by Castro.
But with the tying run at second, Rush retired D.J. Leonard on a
grounder to second to end the game.
Bryce
Smolen (2-1) picked up the win with five solid innings of work
in his third start of the season. The senior right-hander allowed
two runs on seven hits while striking out four batters. Rush picked
up his second save of the season.
Garner (2-1) suffered the loss for B-CU.
ORU opens a three-game series at Arizona State, 8:30 p.m., Friday
in Tempe, Ariz.
--ORU--
