The Basics
Game One: Oral Roberts 3 – North Dakota State 1
Game Two: Oral Roberts 2 – North Dakota State 4
Oral Roberts (38-23, 21-9) – North Dakota State (21-32, 13-15)
Location: Tal Anderson Field (Omaha, Nebraska)
Game One Win: Dalton Patten (6-0) • Save: Conner Floyd (9) • Loss: Parker Puetz (1-3)
Game Two Win: Hayden Sylte (1-0) • Save: Danny Lachenmayer (8) • Loss: Keaton Ruthardt (0-1)

OMAHA, NEB. – The Oral Roberts baseball team forced a winner-take-all championship game with a clutch 3-1 win over North Dakota State in the opening game of Saturday's Summit League title doubleheader, but fell short in the nightcap, 4-2, as the Bison claimed the league crown at Tal Anderson Field.
 
Game One Recap: ORU 3, NDSU 1
Dalton Patten delivered a masterful performance in his first career start, going seven strong innings with five strikeouts and allowing just one unearned run on four hits. Conner Floyd earned his ninth save of the season, closing the door with two scoreless frames as the Golden Eagles forced the decisive game.

ORU jumped on top early as Jack Schark executed a textbook safety squeeze to score Cooper Combs in the top of the first. They added to their lead in the fourth after Wailele Kane-Yates and Schark notched back-to-back singles, setting up an Ethan Fender sac fly to make it 2-0.

After NDSU trimmed the lead to 2-1 in the fifth, Combs gave the Golden Eagles breathing room with a solo home run to lead off the eighth—his ninth of the season.
Floyd shut the door from there, stranding five Bison runners over the final two innings to preserve the win.

Game Two Recap: ORU 2, NDSU 4
In the championship-deciding game, ORU battled to the end but couldn't overcome timely hits and late-inning execution by the Bison.

After falling behind 2-0 in the third, ORU loaded the bases in the fourth and scratched a run across on a Schark RBI single. Keaton Campbell would later draw a bases-loaded walk in the sixth to pull ORU within 3-2, but North Dakota State's bullpen proved too strong.

Danny Lachenmayer entered in the sixth and struck out seven Golden Eagles across 3.1 innings, including fanning the final batter with the tying run on third base in the ninth. Wailele Kane-Yates led ORU at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double in the loss.

Inside the Box Score:

Game One

• Patten pitched a career-high 7.0 innings in his first career start
• Combs hit his ninth home run of the season
• Floyd recorded his ninth save
• ORU outhit NDSU 8-5

Game Two

• Kane-Yates went 3-for-4 with a double
• ORU pitchers combined to allow just one walk and struck out nine
• Golden Eagles stranded nine runners and were held to six hits

Game Notes

• ORU ends the season 38-23 overall and 21-9 in Summit League play
• The Golden Eagles forced the "if necessary" game for the second straight title series held in Omaha (2021, 2025)
• Patten, Combs, Schark, Asher, and Kane-Yates were all named to the Summit League All-Tournament Team

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