Defense and Pitching Falters in ORU Loss to Missouri State

The Golden Eagles gave up a three-run lead in the series-opening loss to the Bears Friday.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:17 pm

By: News On 6

Defense and Pitching Falters in ORU Loss to Missouri State

Originally Published: Mar 25, 2011 8:10 PM CDT

Oklahoma Sports Staff

TULSA, Oklahoma -- The Oral Roberts Golden Eagles fall to .500 on the season Friday with a 10-5 loss to the Missouri State Bears, the first of a three-game series.

ORU (8-8) struck early, taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, when Cam Schiller was hit by a pitch to bring Joey Winiecki home. The Golden Eagles added two more in the bottom of the third, with Nick Baligod and Spencer Barnett scoring on an error at first base.

But then the Bears (12-9) answered in the fourth and fifth innings in a big way.

In the second at-bat of the fourth, Bren Seifert swung on the second pitch he saw and sent it over the center field wall to slash the deficit to two runs. In the top of the fifth, an error advanced Travis McCormack to third and scored on a Keene Maddox fielder’s choice in the next at bat.

Three batters later, Kevin Madrano singled through the right side to score Maddox and Aaron Conway to take a 4-3 lead. Seifert hit his second home run in the next at-bat to give MSU a 6-3 advantage.

Chris Elder knocked an RBI double in the bottom of the fifth to bring the deficit back to two runs, but the Bears added two each in the sixth and seventh to put the game out of reach.

Nick Petree (2-0) was credited with a win for Missouri State after allowing six hits, four earned runs and striking out six in his seven innings pitched. Alex Gonzalez (2-3) receives the loss for the outing, giving up eight runs on nine hits in six innings of service for the Golden Eagles.

The series now moves to Springfield, Missouri for the final two games of the series, beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday.