ORU Baseball Sweeps IPFW, Takes Series

Solid starting pitching and timely hitting helped the Oral Roberts baseball team to a sweep of IPFW winning game one 13-3 in seven innings, before a 4-3 victory Friday in game two.

The Golden Eagles won their sixth straight as they pounded out 13 runs on 16 hits in game one and scored in every inning but the fifth for a run rule victory. ORU got solid pitching to hold off a rally from IPFW as the Golden Eagles tallied 12 strikeouts in the nightcap to finish the sweep.

All nine Golden Eagles recorded a hit in game one as Chase Stafford went 3-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored. Rolando Martinez and Noah Cummings also had three hits each and a pair of RBI as Martinez also scored three runs in game one.

Audie Afenir homered in game two starting a four run, fourth inning that proved to be enough for ORU in the game two win. Stafford added another hit in the nightcap and two more RBI.

Xavier Altamirano was solid going 6.1 innings with nine strikeouts and allowing just one run while scattering seven hits. Altamirano picked up the win as Anthony Sequeira pitched the final two innings to earn his eighth save.

Guillermo Trujillo threw five innings and allowing just four hits and striking out six. Trujillo walked just one batter as he earned his eighth win of the season.

Individual Leaders

Oral Roberts: Chase Stafford had four hits with five RBI in the double-header. Noah Cummings was 5-for-7 with two RBI and three runs scored.

IPFW: Brandon Soat was 3-for-6 and scored three of the Mastodons' runs on the day. Lucas Salerno also had a hit in each game and a solo homer in game one.

Inside the Box Score

- Noah Cummings extended his hitting streak to 13 games, the longest hitting streak for any ORU player this season. Cummings has also reached base safely in 17 straight games.

- Matt Whatley extended his hitting streak to 10 games, the third double digit hitting streak for the Golden Eagles this season.

- ORU has won six straight games and 24 of their last 28 games dating back to March 20.

- Game two was just the 14th time this season the Golden Eagles were out hit by their opponent. ORU is 5-9 when being out hit and 27-3 when they have more hits.

- In game one it was the seventh time this season the Golden Eagles have run-ruled an opponent.

- In game two it was just the fourth 1-run win for ORU this season. The Golden Eagles are 4-5 in 1-run games..

Scoring Summary Game 1

- ORU jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first inning when Audie Afenir singled home Matt Whatley. The next batter, Rolando Martinez doubled down the left field line scoring both Afenir and Matt Brandy who had reached via base on balls.

- IPFW cut into the 3-0 ORU lead in the bottom of the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Kendall Whitman to score Brandon Soat who walked to lead off the inning.

- Whatley belted a two-run homer to left field in the top of the second inning to extend the ORU lead to 5-1.

- Lucas Salerno hit a solo home run in the bottom of the second to pull the Mastodons within 5-2.

- The Golden Eagles added two more runs in the third inning when Chase Stafford singled home Martinez. Whatley followed with a sacrifice fly to left as Noah Cummings scored making it 7-2.

- The back and forth continued in the bottom of the third inning when Soat tripled to lead off the inning and scored on a sacrifice fly from Whitman.

- However, ORU answered in the fourth inning when Cummings tripled into the gap to score Martinez and Afenir. Dean Wilson pushed Cummings home to give the Golden Eagles a 10-3 lead.

- ORU put the game out of reach with two more runs in the top of the sixth inning when Martinez led off the inning with a single and scored when Stafford doubled. Wilson also scored on the Stafford double giving ORU an 11-3 advantage.

- The run rule came into effect I the top of the seventh when Anthony Sequeira belted his team leading eighth home run of the season to left center putting ORU up, 13-3.

Scoring Summary Game 2

- Audie Afenir led off the fourth inning with a solo home run to center to put ORU on the board first.

- The Golden Eagles added two more runs on a bases clearing, two RBI double from Stafford. Domenico and Cummings both scored to put ORU up 3-0 after a single from Cummings and a walk by Domenico.

- The next batter, Whatley doubled home Stafford to put the Golden Eagles in front 4-0.

- IPFW scored their first run of the game on a RBI single from VanSumeren to score Soat who started the inning with a single.

- The Mastodons cut the lead in half when Logan singled through the right side to score Kaiser making it a 4-2 Golden Eagle lead. IPFW quickly made it a one run game on a wild pitch from Sequeira as Salerno scored from third to make it a 4-3 ORU lead.

Up Next

ORU and IPFW close out the three game series Saturday in the finale at 1 p.m. (CST).