Oral Roberts turns back Jackrabbits, 6-5

Wednesday, May 25

Tulsa, Okla.

6:00 PM

South Dakota State University

21-0

Oral Roberts University

35-18

South Dakota State

Oral Roberts

Photo by: Inertia Sports Media/Dave Eggen

5/25/2016 10:31:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

TULSA, Okla. – Top-seeded Oral Roberts scored five times in the bottom of the fifth inning and held off South Dakota State for a 6-5 victory in the opening round of the Summit League Baseball Championship Wednesday night at J.L. Johnson Stadium.

The fourth-seeded Jackrabbits, 21-34 overall, will face second-seeded Omaha in an elimination game at noon Thursday. ORU, 35-18 overall, will meet third-seeded Fort Wayne in a winners' bracket game at 6 p.m. Thursday. Fort Wayne scored six runs in the top of the ninth inning to steal an 8-6 win over Omaha in Wednesday's first game.

Oral Roberts grabbed the lead three pitches into the home half of the first inning as Nick Rotola connected for a home run over the wall in left field. It was Rotola's second homer of the season.

The Jackrabbits, who threatened to score in the first inning, gained the lead with two runs on four hits in the top of the third. Tony Kjolsing, the reigning Summit League Player of the Week, continued his hot hitting with a leadoff double to the right-field corner. Two batters later, Luke Ringhofer singled and Jesse Munsterman followed with a ringing double to left field that scored Kjolsing with the tying run. Phil Velez then came through with a two-out infield single to plate Ringhofer for a 2-1 Jackrabbit lead.

Trevin Sonnier started the Oral Roberts outburst in the fifth innings with a leadoff double to left field and later scored the tying run on a single to center by Nick Roark. The Jackrabbits were on the verge of getting out of the inning without any further damage, but Newt Johnson's throw on a potential double-play grounder sailed into right field, allowing Nick Rotola to score the go-ahead run. Another run came across on a wild pitch and Brent Williams ended Jackrabbit starter's Andrew Clemen's outing with a two-run double to center field, pushing the Golden Eagle lead to 6-2.

SDSU cut the deficit in half, scoring two unearned runs in the top of the seventh. Aided by a two-base outfield error to open the frame, the Jackrabbits loaded the bases with nobody out. ORU reliever Josh McMinn retired the next two SDSU hitters, but couldn't work out of the jam as Newt Johnson delivered a two-run single to right that plated both Kjolsing and Paul Jacobson.

Jackrabbit reliever Austin Kost did his part to keep SDSU in the game, pitching 3 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball. Kost struck out three and allowed only one hit.

The Jackrabbits pulled to within a run in the top of the eighth as Cody Sharrow hit a leadoff single, moved to second on a walk to Kjolsing and scored on Jacobson's bouncing single through the left side.

SDSU put the tying run on base to open the ninth, but the Golden Eagles turned a soft liner into a double play and Sonnier snared a Velez liner for the final out.

The Jackrabbits held a 12-8 advantage in hits as five different players recorded two hits apiece for SDSU, which stranded 11 runners on base.

Rotola was the lone player with more than one hit for Oral Roberts.

ORU starter Bryce Howe picked up the win after striking out five, walking three and allowing two runs on eight hits over 5 1/3 innings.

For SDSU, Clemen took the loss after surrendering six runs – five earned – in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out two and walked two.

NOTES: Oral Roberts leads the all-time series, 38-12, including a 7-0 mark in Summit League postseason games … SDSU fell to 12-12 all-time in Summit League tournament contests … Kjolsing recorded his fourth consecutive multi-hit game and is now hitting .520 (13-for-25) during his seven-game hitting streak … Ringhofer extended his streak of reaching base safely to a Division I-era-best 47 games … Clemen became the fifth Jackrabbit pitcher to start at least 15 games in a season and moved into fifth place on the SDSU single-season charts for innings pitched with 88 2/3 … Clemen also moved into a tie with Shane Kraemer (2010-13) for fifth place in career pitching appearances at SDSU with 66

ORAL ROBERTS 6, SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 5
SDSU 002 000 210 5-12-1
ORU 100 050 00X 6-8-1
SDSU: Andrew Clemen, Austin Kost (5) and Luke Ringhofer. ORU: Bryce Howe, Josh McMinn (6), Holden Cammack (7), Brady Womacks (9) and Matt Whatley.
W-Howe (6-4). L-Clemen (3-10). Save-Womacks (13)
HR: ORU-Rotola (2).