SAN DIEGO,
Calif.-Brett
Sowers had two hits and knocked in a pair of runs to help lead
Oral Roberts to a 5-4 victory over San Diego State, Friday at Tony
Gwynn Stadium. The win snapped ORU's three-game losing streak.
The Golden
Eagles (9-10) wasted no time taking control of the game, scoring
three runs in the top of the first inning. With one out Cam
Schiller was hit by a pitch and Nick
Baligod followed with a single. Chris
Elder knocked in Schiller with a single to right field, giving
ORU a 1-0 lead. After Spencer
Barnett filed to right for the second out, Sowers knocked a
two-run single, scoring Baligod and Elder for a 3-0 lead.
ORU tacked
on two more runs in the fourth. Schiller singled in Joey
Winiecki with two outs to make it 4-0 and Elder drove in his
second run of the game when he knocked in Schiller with another
single as the Golden Eagles went ahead 5-0.
ORU starting
pitcher Bryce
Smolen cruised through the first four innings, but ran into
trouble in the fifth. Smolen allowed three of the first four
batters to reach and left the game after surrendering a one-out RBI
single to Cody Smith. Alec
Smith relieved Smolen and gave up a bases loaded walk with two
outs as the Aztecs pulled to within 5-2.
San Diego
State (8-18) added two more runs in the seventh. Joe
Spring relieved Alec
Smith with a runner on first and one out and promptly allowed a
single to Evan Potter, then balked the runners over to second and
third. Spring bounced back by striking out Tim Zier for the second
out, but surrendered a two-run single to Pat Colwell as SDSU pulled
to within 5-4.
Matt
Rush pitched the last 1.2 innings to earn his fourth save of
the season. The junior right-hander had runners on the corners with
two outs in the ninth, but struck out Colwell to end the game.
Smith (2-0)
was credited with the victory, allowing one run in 2.0 innings in
relief of Smolen. Craig Rasmussen (1-2) suffered the loss after
allowing all five runs in 3.2 innings.
Baligod,
Elder, Sowers and Winiecki each had two hits for the Golden Eagles
as ORU collected 10 for the game.
The teams
resume their three-game series on Saturday at 8 p.m. CDT.
--ORU--
