College Baseball Roundup: ORU Wins, While OSU And OU Fall On The Road

Oral Roberts picked up a win against Southeastern Louisiana, OSU lost on the road to TCU and OU fell on the road to Baylor.

Friday, April 12th 2013, 11:56 pm

By: News 9


Oral Roberts

TULSA, Okla.—A big first inning carried the Oral Roberts baseball team on Friday night as they rolled past conference leading Southeastern Louisiana at J.L. Johnson Stadium, 6-2.

With the support of the offense, junior Alex Gonzalez struck out nine batters and allowed just two hits in seven innings to earn the win, his fourth of the season.

Both squads face off in game two of the weekend series on Saturday, with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m.

Following a three-hit game this past Tuesday against Oklahoma State, Kevin Cho continued his hot hitting with a single up the middle to get the game started for the Golden Eagles. Matt Brandy followed with a double off the base of the wall in right-center and Cho eventually scored on a groundout off the bat of Logan Domenico.

Jose Trevino followed with the first of two hits for the sophomore in the contest with a single to right to score Brandy. The hit parade continued as Tyler Boss singled to center.

Chris Williams quickly expanded the Golden Eagle lead, following Nate Goro who reached on a fielder's choice, by sending a shot over the wall in left field for a three-run home run. It was Williams' fourth homer of the season.

Williams was the sixth ORU runner to cross the plate, doing so in the bottom of the sixth. The senior first baseman started the inning with a double to right-center and advanced to third on a single from Brandon Healy.

Austen Colt then stepped in and hit a deep fly ball to left, allowing Williams enough time to score.

Williams, Trevino, Boss and Colt all had two-hit ball games for the Golden Eagles, while Williams led the Golden Eagles with three runs batted in. Seven of the nine batters in the ORU lineup reached safely with hits.

With the effectiveness of Gonzalez in the game, the Lions were unable to get on the scoreboard until the sixth inning. Ladd Rhodes was hit by a pitch, Ben Hernandez drew a walk and Harry Slade singled to the load the bases with no outs in the inning.

Fortunately for the Golden Eagles, a sacrifice fly from Sam Roberson, that scored Rhodes, was all the damage that was done. The next Lion grounded to Nate Goro at short, he ran over and touched second, then sent the ball to first for a double play to end the inning.

In the bottom of the eight, with the bases loaded for the Lions, Slade grounded into a 6-4-3 double play that allowed Kyle Cedotal to score.

Hernandez, Slade, Cedotal and Jameson Fisher had the four hits in the game for the Lions.

Oklahoma State

FORT WORTH, Texas – Oklahoma State dropped its series opener against TCU, 2-0, Friday night at Lupton Stadium.

The 22nd-ranked Cowboys outhit TCU by an 8-5 margin but left 11 runners stranded on the base paths as they fell to 23-9 overall and 4-5 in Big 12 Conference play.

Jason Hursh lost his third-straight start to fall to 3-3 as the sophomore right-hander allowed two runs on five hits in seven innings. He struck out seven and walked four.

The Horned Frogs (15-19, 4-6) opened the scoring in the bottom of the third when Kyle Bacak, who led off the inning with a single, scored on a two-out single off the bat of Paul Hendrix to make the score 1-0.

TCU capped the scoring in the following inning. After drawing a leadoff walk and advancing to second on a wild pitch, Kevin Cron scampered home on a fielding error by OSU second baseman Donnie Walton to give the Frogs a 2-0 advantage after four innings of play.

OSU had several scoring opportunities early but failed to put up any runs. In the third inning, the Cowboys loaded the bases with one out, but Aaron Cornell grounded into an inning-ending double play. And in the fourth, the Pokes had runners on the corners with one out before a pair of pop ups ended their scoring threat.

That trend would continue throughout the contest against TCU ace Preston Morrison, who improved to 6-1 with 8.1 shutout innings in which he scattered eight hits and struck out four.

The Cowboys left at least one runner on base in each of the final seven innings, including stranding two in the ninth.

In the final inning, Robbie Rea led off with a single, and a one-out single by Donnie Walton put Cowboys on first and second. But Alex Young came out of the TCU bullpen and struck out pinch hitter Jarrett Higgins and designated hitter Corey Hassel to seal the win and earn his second save.

The two teams return to action Saturday at 4 p.m.

Oklahoma

WACO, Texas -- The University of Oklahoma baseball team suffered its first series-opening loss in Big 12 play with a 2-1 walk-off defeat to Baylor Friday night at Baylor Ballpark in Waco, Texas.

After OU (27-7, 7-3 Big 12) scored its first run and tied the game in the ninth inning, Baylor (18-16, 6-3) third baseman Cal Towey responded with a lead-off homer to right to win it for the Bears. It was just the second walk-off loss for the Sooners this year, who have seven walk-off victories.

In multi-game series, Oklahoma had won all nine of its series-openers to start the season before Friday night's contest. Both OU and Baylor have not lost a Big 12 Conference series this season.

OU's ninth-inning rally begin when Hunter Haley led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on Jack Mayfield's sacrifice bunt. Haley scored when Craig Aikin sent a grounder through the right side that glanced off the outstretched glove of the Baylor first baseman. Max White followed with a single, but an Oberste groundout and a Carpenter strikeout ended the inning before the go-ahead run could score.

Jonathan Gray pitched eight innings, allowed just one run and on four hits. The lone Baylor run came in the first inning, when he allowed three Baylor runners to reach base on two hits. After he allowed a single in the second, Gray settled down and retired 16-straight batters before a one-out walk in the seventh.

Friday's performance was the fourth time this season that Gray had pitched at least eight innings.

Baylor's Dillon Newman matched Gray's performance with a stellar outing of his own. The righty and allowed just one run on six hits and struck out five in 8.1 innings of work. It was the first time he had pitched into the ninth inning this season.

The Sooners' best scoring chance before the ninth inning came in the top of the sixth when Hunter Haley led off the inning with a single to right, but he was picked off first base with one out to end any scoring opportunity. Before the ninth, an OU base runner reached base just four times, but at no point did they advance past first base, and more than one runner didn't reach in the same inning until the rally in the ninth.

Despite the loss, Oklahoma holds a half-game lead in the Big 12 over Baylor and Kansas State.

The Sooners and Bears return to the field Saturday at 3:05 p.m. CT for the middle game of the series.

logo

Get The Daily Update!

Be among the first to get breaking news, weather, and general news updates from News on 6 delivered right to your inbox!

More Like This

April 12th, 2013

March 14th, 2024

December 4th, 2023

September 25th, 2023

Top Headlines

March 28th, 2024

March 28th, 2024

March 28th, 2024

March 28th, 2024