Jacks fall in 10 at ORU

Friday, April 10

Tulsa, Okla.

7 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Oral Roberts

4/11/2009 12:30:00 AM | Baseball

By: SDSU Sports Info

TULSA, Okla. ? Oral Roberts overcame a five-run deficit in the late innings to pull out an 8-7, 10-inning victory over South Dakota State in the opening game of a four-game series Friday night at J.L. Johnson Stadium.

The Golden Eagles stayed perfect in league play, improving to 5-0 in The Summit League and 14-9 overall. SDSU dropped to 5-19 overall, 1-4 in The Summit League.

The Jackrabbits held the advantage early, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning on a Tony Martin solo home run. SDSU made the lead 4-0 in the third inning as John Lee scored on an infield single and Martin drove in two more runs with a double.

SDSU extended its lead to 6-1 in the fifth inning thanks to a hit batter with the bases loaded and a run-scoring single by Lee.

Trailing 7-2, the ORU comeback started in the bottom of the eighth, scoring four times to pull to within 7-6. Danny Duffy hit a bases-clearing, three-run double and later scored on a base hit by Tyler Garewal.

Michael Notaro's solo home run to lead off the ninth inning against Jackrabbit closer tied the game at 7-all, and the Golden Eagles scored the winning run with one out in the bottom of the 10^th as Juan Martinez singled in Kyle Price.

SDSU, which held a 14-11 advantage in hits, was led by Lee, who was 4-for-5 at the plate. Martin was 3-for-6 and added four runs batted in, while Joel Blake, Jesse Sawyer and Eric Cain each collected two hits.

The loss overshadowed another solid appearance by Caleb Thielbar, who came on in relief of Sam Pieczynski in the third inning. Thielbar allowed four hits and four runs in 5 1/3 innings, striking out eight and walking four.

Pieczynski, meanwhile, also was effective in his short stint, striking out five and walking only one in hurling a pair of scoreless innings.

Morsching took the loss, falling to 2-3 on the season.

T.J. Kelly earned the victory in relief for ORU, striking out four in two scoreless innings.

The two squads are scheduled to play a doubleheader Saturday, starting at 2 p.m.