Thursday, May 26th 2011, 11:41 am
Originally Published: Apr 24, 2010 8:35 PM CDT
Corey DeMoss
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer
TULSA, Oklahoma – The Oral Roberts baseball team demolished Western Illinois in consecutive games and swept a doubleheader Saturday.
The ORU offense could not be stopped in the first game of the day, and the Golden Eagles rolled to a 13-3 win in only seven innings.
ORU failed to score in only one inning, and drove in five in the third inning and four in the sixth. The Golden Eagles started the scoring with one run in the first inning, but Western Illinois quickly responded with two in the second to take a 2-1 lead. It was all ORU from then on.
The Golden Eagles blasted three home runs in the bottom of the third to begin pulling away. Tyler Saladino started things off with a two-run bomb to retake the lead, and Seth Furmanek immediately followed with a home run of his own. Robert Barbosa finished the big inning with another two-run homer to give ORU a 6-2 lead.
ORU extended its lead with one run in the fourth inning and two more in the fifth before another explosion in the sixth. Brett Burch drove two in with a single and later scored on a groundout by Joey Winiecki, and Colby Price scored on a passed ball to stretch the lead to 13-2.
WIU managed one more run in the seventh, but the game was called in the bottom of the inning with the Golden Eagles up by 10.
ORU did not let up in the second game of the day. Bryce Smolen pitched a complete game and led the Golden Eagles to a 9-3 win.
Western Illinois took an early lead with a three-run third inning, thanks in large part to two errors by Smolen. But WIU’s advantage did not last long.
Nick Baligod hit an RBI double to cut the lead to 3-2, then a throwing error on WIU allowed two more ORU runners to come home and retake the lead.
Saladino drove two home with a double in the fourth came across to score on a single by Elder to increase the lead to 7-3. Winiecki added an RBI triple in the fifth and Furmanek drove another home with a single in the sixth to finish the scoring and seal the sweep.
The two teams will finish their series at 1 p.m. Sunday.
May 26th, 2011
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