ORU Hosts League Tournament This Weekend

Originally Published: May 26, 2010 4:35 PM CDT

Bobby Lewis
Oklahoma Sports Mobile Journalist

TULSA, Oklahoma – Oral Roberts is just a handful of wins away from winning its 13th consecutive Summit League baseball championship. The Golden Eagles will host the league tournament this weekend, beginning with a 3 p.m. first pitch between No. 1 South Dakota State and No. 4 Oakland on Thursday.

“Anybody can get hot at any particular time,” said ORU head coach Rob Walton. “This weekend, the best four teams are in the tournament. Nothing’s ever easy, and we’ll have to play extremely well to get out of the tournament.”

The Golden Eagles have had one of the more dominant athletic programs in the country over the past two decades, but this season marks the first time since joining the league in 1998 that ORU won’t be the top overall seed at the league tournament.

Oral Roberts won 3-of-4 games in the final weekend to close the gap in the Summit League standings, finishing 19-9 in the league. That was good enough to earn regular season co-championship honors and the No. 2 seed this weekend.

To the players, that wasn’t good enough.

“It was a step to get to the conference tournament, but co-champions is not what you want,” said infielder Tyler Saladino. “It’s not the same if you don’t win the conference solo. It’s a little bit unfortunate.”

Saladino, a junior, hasn’t played in the Summit League tournament before. His teammate P.J. Sequeira helped the Golden Eagles win the regular season title last year. The second seed this year doesn’t sit well with him either.

“Honestly, it’s kind of bittersweet because our goal every year is to win the championship,” he said. “We’ve got to look past it and move on.”

The tournament is a double-elimination format. ORU will face Centenary in its first game Thursday night at 7. The winner of that game will face the South Dakota State-Oakland winner Friday at 7.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE/INFO

Thursday, May 27
3 p.m. - Game One: (1) South Dakota State vs. (4) Oakland
7 p.m. - Game Two: (2) Oral Roberts vs. (3) Centenary

Friday, May 28
11 a.m. - Game Three: Loser Game One vs. Loser Game Two
3 p.m. - Game Four: Winner Game One vs. Winner Game Two
7 p.m. - Game Five: Winner Game Three vs. Loser Game Four

Saturday, May 29
1 p.m. - Game Six (Championship): Winner Game Four vs. Winner Game Five
* 4:30 p.m. - Game Seven (Championship): Winner Game Six vs. Loser Game Six
* If necessary