ORU Baseball Splits Doubleheader At Nicholls State

The Oral Roberts University baseball team rode a pair of arms to top Nicholls State 3-2 in the first game of a doubleheader, but the Colonels offense answered in the nightcap for a 10-6 victory.

With the doubleheader split, the Golden Eagles record moved to 12-13 and 3-5 in the Southland Conference, while Nicholls State stayed .500 with a 14-14 overall mark and a 6-2 conference record.

The Golden Eagles picked up solid pitching performances by starter Kurt Giller (2-3) and closer Jordan Romano in the victory. Giller threw seven innings and allowed two runs, while striking out six to earn the win. Romano picked up his fifth save of the season as he pitched the final two innings and struck out four.

ORU scored three runs off Nicholls starting pitcher Taylor Byrd (4-2), who took the loss in game one in 5.1 innings on the mound. Byrd entered the game with a 0.92 earned run average, the best ERA in the Southland.

Tyler Boss had two hits in the pair of games with a double in game one and a triple in the second contest, and three runs batted in. Matt Brandy drove in three of the Golden Eagle's runs on three hits in the doubleheader, while Jose Trevino picked up a double and a single.

Emmanuel Forcier picked up a two-run pinch hit single in the second contest.

Snapping a 19 inning stretch where he hasn't allowed a run, Guillermo Trujillo (1-2) struggled in the nightcap of the doubleheader, allowing seven runs in just an inning in the mound. Freshman Jacob Teague and junior Jacob McDavid allowed just one hit combined in the final 3.1 innings of game two.

After going 0-3 in the first game, Leo Vargas answered with three hits, including a double and three RBI's for Nicholls in the second game. Game two starting pitcher Grant Borne (4-1) went six innings and allowed four runs to earn the victory.

Game 1

ORU struck first with three runs in the first three innings. In the top of the first, the Golden Eagles loaded the bases with no outs and went on top 1-0 as Matt Brandy flew out to deep right to score Logan Domenico.

Brandy earned his second RBI of the afternoon in the top of the third with a single through the right side to score Brandon Healy from third. Boss then stepped in with the Golden Eagles' first extra-base hit of the day off the base of the wall in right for an RBI double that scored Brandy from first and extended the lead to 3-0.

The Colonels began to chip into the ORU lead in the bottom of the fourth on a two out single to left by Charles Morton to drive in Keith Cormier, cutting into the Golden Eagle lead, 3-1. In the bottom of the sixth, Nicholls added another run to bring the game to 3-2 as Phillip Lyons scored on an RBI single to right by Marc Frazier.

Romano entered the game in the bottom of the eighth and struck out two in each of the final two innings close the game.

Game 2

Much like the first contest, the Golden Eagles jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on a sacrifice fly as Trevino flew out to center field, deep enough to plate Domenico.

However, the Colonels answered with eight unanswered runs in the bottom of the first and second innings.

With one out in the home half of the first, Frazier earned his second RBI of the afternoon with a single to right to tie the game at one run a piece. Two batters later, Tyler Duplantis singled in Cormier, and David Zorn followed with a two-run triple to right to make the score 4-1 Nicholls after one.

The Colonels plated three runs in their half of the second inning before the Golden Eagles recorded the first out. With a pair of runners on base, Vargas doubled into the left field corner to drive in both runners. The following batter, Cormier, drove in Vargas with a RBI double to extend the Nicholls lead to 7-1. Two batters later, on a ground ball to second by Charles Morton, Cormier slid under a tag at home to make it an 8-1 game.

The Colonels tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the fifth as Vargas drove in Zorn on a bases loaded infield single, and following a pitching change by the Golden Eagles, Cormier drew a walk to push across Christian Correa, extending Nicholls lead to 10-1.

In the top of the sixth, the Golden Eagle offense woke up as Tyler Boss tripled into the right center field gap to score Healy and Trevino. Afenir following with a single to center to drive in Boss to cut the Colonel lead to 10-4.

With the bases loaded in the eighth inning, Emmanuel Forcier came to the plate and delivered a two-out pinch hit single to center to score Brandy and Boss to make it a 10-6 game.

The series rubber match is set for 1 p.m. on Sunday.