SDSU run ends in Summit championship

Saturday, May 23

Tulsa, Okla.

1 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Oral Roberts

5/23/2009 5:15:00 PM | Baseball

By: SDSU Sports Info

TULSA, Okla. ? Tournament most valuable player Johnny Roberts drove in five runs, including a grand slam, and Andre LaMontagne pitched a complete game to lead top-seeded Oral Roberts to a 6-2 victory over South Dakota State in the final game of the Currington Mortgage Summit League Baseball Championship Saturday afternoon at J.L. Johnson Stadium.

ORU, which won its 12th consecutive conference tournament, improved to 31-13 overall. The Golden Eagles will advance to NCAA regional play next week.

The third-seeded Jackrabbits ended their season at 26-30 overall.

Oral Roberts took a 1-0 lead right off the bat, scoring in the top of the first inning. Tyler Garewal was hit by a pitch to lead off the game, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Roberts' base hit up the middle. Garewal also scored the Golden Eagles' second run of the game in the fifth inning. The center-fielder led off the frame with a double and later scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Seth Furmanek.

The Golden Eagles put the game out of reach in the seventh inning. With one out, Garewal walked, Juan Martinez singled and Furmanek was hit by a pitch to set the table for Roberts, who hit a grand slam to left field off SDSU starter Isaac Johnson.

Roberts was 2-for-4 on the day with five runs batted in, while Martinez also had two hits.

Meanwhile, Lamontagne limited SDSU to two hits ? singles by Joel Blake in the third and Tony Martin in the seventh ? through the first seven innings. The Jackrabbits cracked the scoring column in the eighth inning, scoring twice on four hits. Billy Stitz opened the inning with a base hit and moved to third on a double by Jesse Ayala. Stitz scored on a groundout by John Lee and Ayala came in to score on Jesse Sawyer's single to center field.

Martin was 2-for-4 to lead the Jackrabbits' six-hit effort.

Lamontagne struck out nine and walked only one in the complete-game performance. His counterpart, Johnson, worked a season-long 7 1/3 innings, allowing seven hits and four walks to go along with four strikeouts.

Trever Vermeulen pitched the final 1 2/3 innings for SDSU.

NOTES: Oral Roberts swept the season series, 4-0, and leads the series against SDSU by a 7-1 count since the Jackrabbits joined The Summit League in 2008 ... Jackrabbit starting pitchers worked 31 1/3 of the 36 innings pitched by the team in the four games of the tournament ... Blake and Martin finished the season tied for the Jackrabbit single-season record for hits with 80 ... five Jackrabbits were named to the all-tournament team: Blake, Sawyer, Layne Somsen, Stitz and Caleb Thielbar

ORAL ROBERTS 6, SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 2
ORU 100 010 400 6-7-0
SDSU 000 000 020 2-6-0
ORU: Andre Lamontagne and Seth Furmanek. SDSU: Isaac Johnson, Trever Vermeulen (8) and Tony Martin.
W-Lamontagne (5-2). L-Johnson (4-3).
HR: ORU-Johnny Roberts (9).