Box Score The Basics
Score: Oral Roberts 9, Western Illinois 1
Records: ORU (22-19, 13-5 Summit), WIU (10-25, 6-16 Summit)
Location: Tulsa, Okla. (J.L. Johnson Stadium)
 
TULSA, Okla. –  The Oral Roberts baseball team scored eight runs in the seventh and eighth innings to take down Western Illinois, 9-1 on Saturday afternoon.

After tallying five hits on Friday, Jake McMurray continued to torch the Western Illinois pitching staff with another multi-hit game.

The Golden Eagles struck first with an RBI double from Ryan Cash in the first inning to score McMurray.

Western Illinois evened the game at one in the third inning on a double steal. The two teams remained deadlocked at one until the seventh when ORU managed to push three runs across.

A single from Joshua Cox scored Anthony Martinez to get the rally started before Caleb Denny ripped a double to the corner to score Cox. A few pitches later, McMurray scored from third on a wild pitch.

In the eighth inning, ORU scored five runs, needing just one hit to do so. Six Golden Eagles drew walks or were hit by a pitch to score three runs before Blake Hall laced a two-run single back through the middle to push ORU's lead to eight.

Turning Point
A career day for senior Matt Gaskins was exactly what the Golden Eagles needed on Sunday. Gaskins tossed six scoreless innings, matching his longest outing of the season, while striking out a career-high nine.

Inside the Box Score 

• Hunter Swift earned his first win of the season on the mound, maintaining his perfect 0.00 ERA. In 4.0 innings, Swift struck out four while allowing just three hits.
• Jake McMurray, Ryan Cash, and Isaac Coffey all recorded multi-hit games on Saturday.
• The 9-1-2 hitters of Anthony Martinez, Joshua Cox, and McMurray combined to score seven of ORU's nine runs in the game.
• Allowing just one run in 5.0 innings, Matt Gaskins dropped his season ERA to 3.10.
• Three Golden Eagles were hit by a pitch in the eighth inning.

 Up Next
Oral Roberts and Western Illinois will conclude their series on Sunday afternoon. The Golden Eagles will look to clinch the series victory beginning at 1 pm and all of the action can be streamed on the ORU Sports Network.
 
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