Oral Roberts Splits Doubleheader with Southern Utah

Originally Published: Apr 16, 2010 10:26 PM CDT

Andrew Topps
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

CEDAR CITY, Utah -- Oral Roberts split a doubleheader with Southern Utah by winning the opener 16-9 and losing 10-9 in extra innings in the late game.

ORU 16 SUU 9

In the first contest, ORU (18-15 overall, 6-1 Summit) tagged the Thunderbirds for 16 hits. The Golden Eagles never trailed in the game and jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning after Nick Baligod's RBI double and a Chris Elder a three-run homer.

Southern Utah (8-25, 2-5) briefly tied the game in the bottom of the first, but ORU went back on top in the second when Jared Schelhuber's two-run single made it 6-4.

A two-run homer by Tyler Saladino in the fourth made it 8-4, and a five-run sixth inning gave the Golden Eagles a 13-4 advantage.

Southern Utah scored twice in the bottom of the sixth and once in the seventh to make it 13-7, but an RBI double by Brett Sowers in the eighth and two more runs in the ninth gave ORU a 16-7 advantage.

Seth Furmanek (4-1) earned the win for ORU after giving up six runs while striking out four. Kyle Hamman (0-7) suffered the loss for the Thunderbirds.

Saladino led ORU at the plate in game one, going 4-for-5 with a pair of RBI and four runs scored. Schlehuber had three hits and Elder knocked in five runs.

SUU 10 ORU 9

ORU jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a home run by Baligod in the top of the first. Southern Utah scored three runs in the second for a 3-1 lead. The Golden Eagles responded by scoring three in the top of the third, capped by a Schlehuber three-run homer.

Southern Utah answered back, plating two runs in the third and three more in the fourth to take an 8-4 lead. ORU scored an unearned run in the fifth and Saladino had a grand slam to put the Golden Eagles on top 9-8 in the sixth.

Bucky Aona tied the game with a two-out single off reliever Dallas Beeler in the sixth inning.

In the bottom of the eighth, Southern Utah's D.J. Andrade scored on a bases loaded walk for the game-winning run.

Sean Johnson (1-1) suffered the loss for the Golden Eagles, allowing a run in 1.1 innings of work. Kelsey Outram (2-2) threw two shutout innings of relief to get the win for the T-Birds.

ORU and Southern Utah conclude their series at 1 p.m. Saturday.