Golden Eagles Fall 7-6 To Wichita State

Miscues proved to be too much for the Oral Roberts baseball team to overcome Tuesday night, falling 7-6 to Wichita State on a walk-off base hit.

The Golden Eagles saw their seven game winning streak snapped and fell for just the second time in midweek games.

After falling behind early the Golden Eagles rallied to eventually take the lead in the seventh inning after being held scoreless for the first four innings. ORU did manage to out-hit Wichita State 10-9, but committed four errors that proved to be costly.

Matt Whatley was 2-for- 5 and had the game tying RBI in the top of the ninth inning as he extended his hitting streak to 12 games.

The Golden Eagles used eight different pitchers and after the Shockers took a 4-0 lead after two innings, the bullpen threw five innings of one hit baseball.

Chase Rader had the game winning RBI and was one of just two Shockers to have multiple hits going 2-for-4 with two RBI.

Individual Leaders

Oral Roberts: Matt Whatley was 2-for-5 with a pair of RBI including the game tying RBI in the ninth inning. Dean Wilson was 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored.

Wichita State: Chase Rader was 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored along with the game winning RBI.

Inside the Box Score

- The Golden Eagles fall for the first time in seven games and have their six game road win streak snapped as well.

- Matt Whatley extended his hitting streak to 12 games.

- Noah Cummings had his 13 game hitting streak snapped.

- ORU is now 18-6 in road games and holds the sixth best road record in NCAA baseball.

- ORU has won 25 of their last 29 games dating back to March 20.

Scoring Summary

- Wichita State jumped out in front early with three runs in the bottom of the first inning with the help of just two hits and two errors. After reaching on an error, Kihle scored from third when another ORU error allowed Tinkham to reach.

- Rader followed with a RBI triple that scored Tinkham to put WSU up 2-0. The Shockers added their final run of the inning on a bunt single from Mucha that scored Rader.

- The Shockers added another run in the bottom of the second on a sacrifice fly from Tinkham that scored Eaton who walked to begin the inning.

- The Golden Eagles added their first run in the fifth inning when a fielder's choice to the right side of the infield allowed Sequeira to score after starting the inning with a single.

- Wilson followed as the next batter and drove in Martinez from second with a Texas Leaguer to right field cutting the WSU lead in half, 4-2.

- ORU got timely hitting as a two out rally started in the top of the seventh inning when Cummings walked. He would score two batters later on a RBI single from Wilson that fell out of the glove of a diving Wichita State left fielder

- Nick Roark tied the game at 4-4 when he singled home Martinez who also reached on a single. Whatley gave the Golden Eagles the lead on a single through the left side to score Wilson and put ORU up 5-4.

- The Shockers regained the lead in the bottom of the eighth when Burns singled to center to score Mucha with one outs. Kihle would single home Burns two batters later to give WSU a 6-5 lead as the Golden Eagles were unable to beat the hitter to first base.

- The Golden Eagles rallied in the top of the ninth to tie the game 6-6 when Whatley singled home Forcier who pinch ran for Martinez who walked.

- Wichita State was able to take advantage of the fourth error of the night by ORU when an error extended the inning and set up a walk-off base hit by Rader to score Hilliard. Hilliard had led off the inning with a walk and moved to third on the error before scoring on Rader's single to push the Shockers to a 7-6 win.

Up Next

ORU returns home to J. L. Johnson Stadium for its final regular season series against Western Illinois. The series will start Thursday with a first pitch at 6:30 p.m.