Jacks fall to ORU in tourney opener

Wednesday, May 23

Tulsa, Okla.

6 p.m.

South Dakota State University

16-31

Oral Roberts

36-18

South Dakota State

Oral Roberts

Photo by: Inertia Sports Media/Dave Eggen

5/24/2018 1:14:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

TULSA, Okla. – Oral Roberts third baseman Cal Hernandez went 3-for-4 with six runs batted in to lead the top-seeded Golden Eagles to a 13-8 victory over South Dakota State Wednesday night in the opening round of the Summit League Baseball Championship at J.L. Johnson Stadium.

With the win, ORU improved to 36-18 overall. SDSU dropped to 16-31 overall. The start of the game was delayed more than two and a half hours due to a thunderstorm that moved into the area around the scheduled starting time of 6 p.m.

The Jackrabbits opened the contest with a run in the top of the first inning. Tony Kjolsing legged out a triple on a fly ball to center field that was lost in the lights and later scored on a bloop single down the right-field line by Newt Johnson.

ORU tied the game in the home half of the first as Spencer Henson lined a double to the wall in right field that scored Hernandez.

The Golden Eagles again struck with two outs in a five-run outburst in the second inning. ORU loaded the bases without an out on a single by Andrew Pace and back-to-back walks to Riley Keizor and Trevor McCutchin. SDSU starter Brady Stover struck out the next two batters, but couldn't wriggle off the hook as Hernandez lined a bases-clearing double down the third-base line and Summit League Player of the Year Noah Cummings launched the first pitch of his at-bat over the fence in left-center for a two-run home run. It was Cummings' eighth home run of the season.

After SDSU drew to within 6-3 in the top of the third on run-scoring singles by Johnson and Gus Steiger, the Golden Eagles answered with four runs in the home half of the frame against the Jackrabbit bullpen. McCutchin singled in the first two runs, while Hernandez and Cummings added consecutive run-scoring hits later in the frame.

The top of the Jackrabbit order continued its hot hitting in the top of the fourth inning, scoring three times. Kjolsing drove in Skyler Wenninger with a double for the first run, then scored on Nick Smith's single through the left side that knocked Summit League Pitcher of the Year Miguel Ausua out of the game. Smith crossed home on a double to center field by Johnson.

Wenninger, Kjolsing and Johnson each tallied three hits as SDSU out-hit the Golden Eagles, 16-14. Cummings also posted three hits for ORU.

McCutchin tallied his third RBI of the game on a double in the bottom of the fourth that pushed the ORU lead to 11-6. Hernandez capped the Golden Eagles' scoring with a two-run homer to right in the bottom of the seventh.

ORU reliever Colton Larkins quieted the Jackrabbit bats with 3 1/3 scoreless innings until running into trouble in the eighth. Landon Badger led off the frame with a single to right and Wenninger followed with his third hit of the game, a triple to right-center field. Wenninger later scored on an error for what would be the final run of the night for SDSU.

After a pitching change, the Jackrabbits loaded the bases later in the eighth, but a strikeout and the third ground-ball double play of the night ended the SDSU comeback bid.

Brett Mogen held Oral Roberts at bay, allowing only one run over 3 1/3 innings.

Hernandez capped the Golden Eagles' scoring with a two-run homer to right in the bottom of the seventh.

UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits will face second-seeded Western Illinois in an elimination game at noon Thursday. The Leathernecks dropped a 2-0 decision to North Dakota State in the first game of the day on Wednesday.

NOTES

Oral Roberts leads the season series against SDSU, 5-1, and the all-time series, 50-14
ORU improved to 10-0 against the Jackrabbits in Summit League postseason games
SDSU fell to 14-16 in nine Summit League Baseball Championship appearances
The Jackrabbits matched a season high with their 16 hits, notching that total for the third time in 2018
Newt Johnson moved into a tie with Pat Schmidt (1992-95) and Greg Geary (2002-05) for 10^th place in games played at SDSU with 193
Johnson upped his team-leading RBI total to 43 to establish a new career high
Kjolsing finished a home run short of the cycle in recording his 14^th multi-hit game of the season
Steiger recorded his eighth multi-hit performance in the last 12 games and team-best 18^th of the season
Stover upped his season strikeout total to 63 in 43 1/3 innings as he made his first start since April 27
After allowing Hernandez's home run in the seventh, Jackrabbit reliever Quinn Reimers struck out the side
The final outs of the game were recorded on an unassisted double play on a liner to first base – the fourth double play turned by Oral Roberts in the contest
The game ended at 12:07 a.m. and lasted three hours, 34 minutes