Jackrabbits blasted by ORU, face Oakland again

Friday, May 28

Tulsa, Okla.

3 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Oral Roberts (Okla.)

5/28/2010 7:30:00 PM | Baseball

By: SDSU Sports Info

TULSA, Okla. - South Dakota State's quest to unseat Oral Roberts as Summit League baseball champion was derailed in a 21-6 loss Friday afternoon at J.L. Johnson Stadium.

SDSU fell to 38-20 overall and dropped into the loser's bracket, where it will face Oakland (Mich.) in an elimination game at 7 tonight. Oakland stayed alive with a 7-2 victory over Centenary (La.) in Friday's first game.

ORU, which improved to 34-25 overall, advances to Saturday's championship, where it will meet either SDSU or Oakland at 1 p.m.

The Jackrabbits scored in the top of the first on consecutive singles by Beau Hanowski, Joel Blake and Jesse Sawyer, with Sawyer collecting his 70^th run batted in of the season.

Oral Roberts countered with a six-run home half of the first inning. Summit League Player of the Year Tyler Saladino plated the first run with a base hit and Chris Elder followed with a grand slam to right field against SDSU starter Blake Treinen. Brett Sowers capped the scoring with a line shot into the bullpen beyond the right-fence for back-to-back homers.

Zach Rhodes continued his hot hitting in the tournament for the Jackrabbits with a solo home run in the second inning and a run-scoring double in the fourth.

ORU continued its offensive onslaught, scoring in seven of the eight innings it batted. Golden Eagle starting pitcher Seth Furmanek helped his cause in the fourth with a two-run double and Elder slugged his second homer of the game and drove in his sixth run of the game with a two-run shot, as ORU built an 11-4 advantage.

Eric Cain cut the deficit to 14-6 with a two-run home run, his 16^th of the season, in the sixth.

Furmanek capped the scoring with a towering three-run homer to center for his fifth RBI of the game.

Treinen suffered his first loss, falling to 7-1 in his shortest start of the season. Treinen was battered for 14 runs and 14 hits in four-plus innings. The right-hander struck out five and walked three.

Rhodes and Hanowski each posted three hits to lead the Jackrabbits' 15-hit effort. Blake, John Le and Cain tallied two hits apiece.

Joey Winiecki, Saladino and Colby Price each notched three of ORU's 19 hits.

Mark Guest was credited with the victory in relief after working the fifth and sixth innings. Sean Johnson struck out three in picking up his fourth save of the season after pitching the final three innings.

NOTES: Oral Roberts leads the all-time series, 19-6 ... the Jackrabbits fell to 3-3 in Summit League postseason tournament games ... SDSU head coach Ritchie Price was ejected in the bottom of the fifth inning for arguing balls and strikes ... Rhodes is hitting .700 (7-for-10) in the tournament ... the Jackrabbits tied a season high with four errors

ORAL ROBERTS 21, SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 6
SDSU 110 202 00 - 6 15 4
ORU 610 432 23X - 21 19 0
SDSU: Blake Treinen, Shane Kraemer (5), Mike Robinson (6), Blaine Alberta (7), Austin Busse (8) and Zach Briggs. ORU: Seth Furmanek, Mark Guest (5), Sean Johnson (7) and Bennett Pickar, Brett Burch.
W-Guest (3-4). L-Treinen (7-1). SV-Johnson (4).
HR: SDSU-Zach Rhodes (7), Eric Cain (16); ORU-Chris Elder 2 (8), Brett Sowers (8), Seth Furmanek (22).