ROCHESTER,
Mich.-Oakland scored five runs in the first three innings and held
on for a 6-4 Summit League win over Oral Roberts, denying the
Golden Eagles a series sweep, Sunday at OU Baseball Field.
The Golden
Eagles (25-18, 14-6) opened the game by taking a 1-0 lead in the
top of the first inning. Nick
Baligod led off with a walk, moved to second on a sacrifice
bunt by Joey
Winiecki, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored when Chris
Elder singled to left field.
But Oakland
(13-27, 6-14) quickly erased the deficit. Sophomore right-hander Alec
Smith, making his first start of the season after 18 relief
appearances, allowed the first three batters to reach base in the
bottom of the first. Oakland tied the game on a sacrifice fly by
Ryan Waldhart, and D.J. Jarrad scored the go-ahead run as Smith
uncorked back-to-back pitches.
Oakland
upped its lead to 3-1 in the second on a sacrifice fly by Eric Ogg,
and added two more runs in the third. Smith was lifted after
walking the first two batters in the inning. Aaron Wick knocked in
the first run with a single, and Aaron Cieslak followed with his
own RBI single as Oakland grabbed a 5-1 lead.
ORU closed
the gap with three runs in the fifth. Winikeci knocked in a pair of
runs with a single, and Jared
Schlehuber plated Winiecki two batters later with a single as
the Golden Eagles got to within 5-4.
But ORU
never got closer. The Golden Eagles went down in order in the sixth
and seventh innings, and had a rally snuffed out in the eighth.
Schlehuber led off with a single and was replaced by pinch runner
Graham
McIntyre. After Cam
Schiller flew out, Brandon
King lined a single to right field, but McIntyre was thrown out
trying to advance to third. Bennett
Pickar struck out to end the inning.
Oakland
added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth on its third
sacrifice fly of the game. Trailing 6-4, ORU brought the go-ahead
run to the plate with two outs, but Winiecki lined out to shortstop
to end the game.
Smith took
the loss for ORU after allowing five runs on three hits and three
walks in two-plus innings. Wick went the distance for Oakland and
earned the victory despite allowing four runs on 11 hits.
Baligod,
Elder and King had two hits apiece for ORU.
The Golden
Eagles next visit Wichita State, 6:30 p.m., Tuesday in Wichita,
Kan.
--ORU--
