Oral Roberts Runs Over South Dakota State

Originally Published: May 28, 2010 6:21 PM CDT

Andrew Topps
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

TULSA, Oklahoma -- Oral Roberts offense exploded for 21 runs in the Golden Eagles 21-6 victory over South Dakota State in the semifinals of the Summit League Tournament. ORU will play for the conference crown at 1:00 p.m. Saturday.

The Golden Eagles were down 1-0 in the bottom of the first, but that deficit did not last long. P.J. Sequeira scored ORU’s first run to tie the game 1-1. Seth Furmanek drew a walk to load the bases for Chris Elder.

Elder delivered in a big way hitting a grand slam to right field to give ORU a 5-1 advantage. Brett Sowers followed up by hitting a solo homer to right as the Golden Eagles took a 6-1 lead.

Elder had a near repeat performance in the fourth inning. He hit a two-run homer to cap a four-run fourth for ORU. The Golden Eagles would add three more runs in the fifth inning to go on top 14-4.

Eric Cain answered back in the top of the sixth, hitting a two-run home run to right to make it a 14-6 contest. Cain also scored in top of the fourth inning to cap a two-run inning for SDSU.

Zach Rhodes hit a solo home run in the second inning two give South Dakota State its second run of the game.

The Golden Eagles added two more run in the sixth and seventh inning.

Seth Furmanek gave up four runs in four innings for Oral Roberts, but helped his own cause with a three-run homer in the eighth to give the Golden Eagles their 21-run tally.

Mark Guest (3-4) earned the win for ORU giving up two runs in two innings.

Blake Trenien suffered the loss, allowing 14 earned runs on 14 hits in four innings.

Oral Roberts face the winner of the Oakland-SDSU game for the championship Saturday.