Golden Eagles Stumble Defensively, Fall to SDSU

Originally Published: May 15, 2011 5:31 PM CDT

Oklahoma Sports Staff

TULSA, Okla.—South Dakota State capitalized on two Oral Roberts errors to score seven runs in the third inning an propel the Jackrabbits to an 8-2 victory Sunday afternoon.
The game was scoreless until the third when the ORU defense began to struggle and SDSU decided to take advantage.

Mike Torrence made his first start of the season for the Golden Eagles and struck out the first batter in the third frame, but from there Golden Eagle defense struggled.

SDSU catcher Zach Briggs started the scoring spree when second baseman T.J. Bennett was unable to field a slow roller to his left. The next two batter got free rides from left handed pitcher Mike Torrence to load the bases with one out.

Joel Blake took the plate for the Jackrabbits and hit what should have been an RBI groundout to Bennett at second, but Bennett bobbled the ball, allowing Blake to reach first on the error. Briggs scored from third and gave SDSU a 1-0 lead.

Nick Phelan followed with a two-run double to put South Dakota State up 3-0, then Jesse Sawyer added another run with a sacrifice fly for a 4-0 lead. Aaron Machbitz extended the lead when he connected for a three-run home run to put the Jackrabbits on top 7-0.

South Dakota State added another run in the fifth on a solo home run by Sawyer off relief pitcher Joe Spring.

Oral Roberts tried to get a comeback going in the seventh when Brett Sowers smashed a solo homer to put the Golden Eagles on the board. Chris Elder also hit a home run in the inning to make it 8-2, but that would be it for ORU in the scoring department.

ORU collected nine hits in the game but left 10 runners stranded and went 0-for-nine with runners in scoring position while also committing three errors.

ORU is now tied with SDSU for first place in the conference and sits at 29-19 on the season and 17-7 in conference play.

SDSU starter Kolton Emery (6-1) went 7.2 innings to get the win while Torrence took the loss for ORU after allowing seven unearned runs on three hits. He struck out one and hit four batters with pitches.

ORU relievers Spring, Drew Bowen, Lars Liguori and Dan Martony combing to allow one run on four hits over 6.1 innings.

The Golden Eagles next face TCU Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in Ft. Worth, Texas.

Score by Innings1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
South Dakota State 0 0 7 0 1 0 0 0 0 8 7 0
Oral Roberts 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 9 3