ORU Continues Strong Run Through Conference Play

Alex Gonzalez earned his third win of the season as the Oral Roberts baseball team rolled to its fourth conference victory of the season, topping Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 8-2.

Gonzalez struck out eight batters in the nine full innings, allowing two runs, one of which were earned. He improved his record to 3-4 on the season, as the Golden Eagles move to 9-16 (4-0 Southland).

Game two of the series will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday.

The Golden Eagles began scoring in the top of the fourth, pushing across four runs on four hits. Graham McIntyre singled back up the middle to start the inning, advancing to second as Logan Domenico took four straight pitches to take first.

With one out, Tyler Boss ripped a single back up the middle to score McIntyre, and Domenico scored as Matt Brandy had almost the exact same hit up the middle.

The third run of the inning came when Chris Williams hit a hot shot down the left field line for a double, plating Boss, and Kevin Cho laid down a bunt to score Brandy, giving the Golden Eagles a 4-0 lead.

In the fifth inning, McIntyre added his second hit of the ball game with a double down the line on the left side, moving to third on a Domenico single and eventually scoring on a wild pitch for the fifth run of the evening.

After a quick bottom of the fifth, the Golden Eagles continued to add to the run total in the top of the sixth. Brandy and Williams kick-started the inning with back-to-back singles and Cho drew a walk to load the bases with no outs.

What was nearly a big inning, Austen Colt just barely missed an extra base hit, flying out to the deepest part of the ball park, allowing Brandy to cross the plate.

Gonzalez was rolling through the first two-thirds of the contest before the Islander offense really got going. With one-out in top bottom of the sixth, the junior hurler made Zach Taylor chase a pitch away. However, the pitch got away from the other half of the ORU battery, allowing Taylor to reach.

Taylor was sent back to the bench as the next batter, Eric Weiss, beat out a double play for a fielder's choice. Weiss wouldn't stand on first long, though, scoring from the base as Jonathan Gonzales doubled to right-center.

In the top of the ninth, the Golden Eagles tacked on another run. Nate Goro was plunked by a pitch get the inning going, swiping second, and advancing to third on an infield single off the bat of McIntyre.

Domenico then plated Goro with a single to right to expand the lead to 7-1. Brandy added his second RBI of the evening as he flew out to left, deep enough to score Domenico with the bases loaded.

The Islanders added a final run in the bottom of the ninth with a leadoff solo homerun from Weiss, his third of the season.