Oral Roberts Knocks Off Wichita State

The Oral Roberts Golden Eagles moved their record past .500 Tuesday, knocking off the Wichita State Shockers 7-1, their second consecutive win.

ORU (8-7) got a great outing from starter Alec Smith (1-0) pitched six shutout innings for the Golden Eagles, giving up just six hits and striking out five. Dan Martony pitched the final three innings and received a save for his work, giving up one run on three hits in three innings.

The Golden Eagles jumped out to a big lead in the second inning, thanks to the bat of freshman Tyler Coker. Already leading 1-0 with two runners on base and two outs on the board, Coker knocked a three-run, inside-the-park home run to take a 4-0 lead.

An RBI single in the top of the fifth by Kevin Cho and a two-run home run by Chris Williams in the top of the sixth put the game out of reach.

A.J. Ladwig (1-1) received a loss for his outing, giving up six hits and five runs – just one earned – in five innings pitched, for his first loss of the season.

Oral Roberts will now host the Missouri State in back-to-back games before heading to Springfield, Missouri to close out the four-game series against the Bears.