The Basics
Score: Oral Roberts 6 – Evansville 7
Records: ORU (1-2), EV (2-1)
Location: Tulsa, Okla. (J.L. Johnson Stadium)
Win: Kevin Reed (1-0) | Loss: Keaton Ruthardt (0-1)

TULSA, Okla. – The Oral Roberts baseball team came up just short to Evansville, 7-6, Sunday afternoon as the Golden Eagles debuted their new uniforms at J.L. Johnson Stadium.

Holden Breeze hit his first homer of the 2024 campaign and Elijah Rodriguez has now started his NCAA career with three consecutive multi-hit games.

Evansville would strike first in the opening action, driving in four runs and causing ORU to have to reach into the bullpen early.

The Purple Aces would tack on another run off a double-play but the Golden Eagles would cut their lead to three after an error on a Garrett Casey pop-up allowed two runs to score.

Breeze would continue to apply pressure in the bottom of the third as he would launch a rocket over the trees in left field.The Purples Aces would later answer with two more runs to build a 7-3 lead heading into the seventh inning stretch.

The Golden Eagles would not go down without a fight however as Drew Stahl would poke a two-RBI single to right field and would later score off a Kyle Booker ground out to bring ORU within one.

Dalton Patten would come out of the bullpen and deliver a shutout inning in the ninth to keep ORU alive heading into the final frame.ORU would battle to final at-bat, but a strike-three call in a full-count would give Evansville the series win on Opening Weekend.

Inside the Box Score
-  Elijah Rodriguez notched his third-straight multi-hit game.
- Dalton Patten pitched a shutout inning of relief.
- Ryan Carmack fanned five batters in a relief effort during his ORU debut.
- Rodriguez would bat an impressive .538 with a 1.186 OPS in his first NCAA series.
- Drew Stahl drove in his team-leading fifth RBI of the season.
 

Notes
- Rodriguez, Booker, and Breeze reached base safely in all three games to start the season
-  ORU is now 27-6 all-time against the Purple Aces and 16-3 in games played at home.
- Today marked Breeze's 10th career home run and he is now 14 shy of 100 career RBIs at ORU.

Up Next
The Golden Eagles and Missouri State will face off in a standalone game on Tuesday afternoon starting at 3PM.

For the latest information on ORU Baseball, follow the Golden Eagles on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, or go to www.ORUAthletics.com. Fans can also receive updates on the team by downloading the ORU Athletics app from the App Store or Google Play Store.

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