ORU Smashes IPFW In Game 1 Of Series

The bottom of the Oral Roberts lineup led the way Friday night as the Golden Eagles raced past IPFW 14-7 in the first game of the Summit League series. Emmanuel Forcier, Nick Roark and Chase Stafford combined for nine hits, eight runs and nine RBI.

Roark led the way with four hits, three runs and three RBI, while Stafford had three hits, two runs and six RBI, matching the most in a game this season for ORU. Derrian James was the other Golden Eagle to drive in six runs, doing so against Louisiana Tech March 1.

Guillermo Trujillo (3-2) went 5.2 innings for the win, but was hit with all seven IPFW runs. Hayden Holley earned his first save of the season pitching the final three innings and only allowing one hit.

IPFW's leadoff man Evan VanSumeren was 4-5 on the day with three RBI. Trevor Storie (2-3) took the loss on the mound, lasting 3.2 innings and getting touched for seven runs on seven hits.

Turning Point

ORU rallied for five runs in the bottom of the seventh to put the game out of reach.

Individual Leaders

Oral Roberts: Roark was 4-5 on the day with three runs and three RBI. Forcier also scored three times while Stafford led the way with six RBI. Trujillo struck out seven batters in 5.2 innings, while Holley registered four strikeouts in three innings.

IPFW: VanSumeren had four of the Mastodon's nine hits in the game.

Inside the Box Score

- Stafford pounded his second, and the team's seventh home run of the season. It is the third three-run home run of the season for the Golden Eagles.

- Roark started the game 4-4 from the plate, the third Golden Eagle this season to tally four hits in a game.

- Stafford got hits in three of his first four at bats to notch his first multi-hit game of the year to easily extend his on-base streak to 14 games.

- ORU had 12 hits in the contest, the second time in three games in which ORU has had at least 10 hits.

- The 14 runs scored by the Golden Eagles are the most this season and the most since topping Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 17-6 April 27, 2014.

Scoring Summary

- Three straight singles by IPFW to leadoff the third inning scored the first run of the game as Evan VanSumeren's RBI single scored Jonathan Reece.

- After a double by play Matt Brandy erased one of the runners, Kendall Whitman pulled a pitch over the right field wall to put the Mastodons up 3-0.

- ORU answered right back in the bottom of the third after a leadoff walk by Forcier and a single to left by Roark put two on with no one out. Stafford cleared the bases with his second home run of the season, tying the game 3-3.

- The Golden Eagles weren't done scoring in the inning as Noah Cummings reached on a single and stole second base. Brandy poked one over the shortstop's head and Cummings read it well, scoring to put ORU up 4-3.

- A ground rule double by Forcier in the fourth put runners on second and third with no outs and Roark put a single up the middle to score the run and make it 5-3, and a bunt single by Stafford made it 6-3.

- Cummings followed with a hot shot that went through the shortstop's legs to plate Roark and open up a 7-3 lead.

- In the fifth inning, ORU tacked on two more runs on a double by Audie Afenir and single by Roark to make it 9-3.

- IPFW came roaring back in the sixth with four runs in the top half of the inning. After a bases loaded walk, two shots up the middle scored three more for the Mastodons to cut ORU's lead to two at 9-7.

- With the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, Roark came through in the clutch again, knocking a single through the right side to score Afenir.

- Stafford continued the hot hitting at the bottom of the ORU order, following Roark with a single up the middle of his own to score to and push the third run of the inning across to make ORU's lead 12-7.

- The final two runs came on an RBI ground out from Matt Whatley and a sacrifice fly from Cummings to give the final 14-7 margin.

Up Next

The two teams will play game two of the three-game series at 2 p.m. Saturday.