Jackrabbits edged in pitchers' duel

Friday, March 22

Tulsa, Okla.

6 p.m.

South Dakota State University

9-10, 2-2

Oral Roberts

10-9, 4-0

South Dakota State

Oral Roberts

Photo by: Mike Janes/Four Seam Images

3/22/2019 9:23:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

TULSA, Okla. – Oral Roberts' Josh McMinn and Trey Wolf combined on a six-hit shutout, leading the Golden Eagles to a 1-0 victory over South Dakota State in the opening game of a three-game Summit League baseball series Friday night at J.L. Johnson Stadium.

League-leading ORU improved to 10-9 overall and 4-0 in league play. SDSU dropped to 9-10 overall and 2-2 in The Summit League.

The Golden Eagles scored the lone run of the game in the bottom of the second inning as Trevor McCutchin drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single to right-center field by Hunter Swift.

SDSU had potential rallies in the first and sixth innings snuffed out by double plays and missed on a golden opportunity in the top of the eighth. Drew Beazley was hit by a pitch to lead off the eighth and advanced to third on Luke Ira's one-out double to right field. However, McMinn worked out the jam with a strikeout and infield popout against the next two Jackrabbit hitters.

Braeden Brown singled to lead off the ninth inning, chasing McMinn from the game. Wolf came on to strike out the first two SDSU batters he faced, then ended the game on a lineout to right field.

McMinn ended the night with six strikeouts in eight-plus innings. The right-hander walked two and hit a batter en route to his fourth win of the season.

Jackrabbit starter Tyler Olmstead nearly equaled McMinn's performance as he pitched into the seventh inning, allowing the one run on five hits. He struck out four and walked four.

Brown and Ira each tallied two of the Jackrabbits' six hits.

Drew Lowe was the lone ORU player with more than one hit, going 2-for-4.

UP NEXT
The middle game of the three-game series is set for a 2 p.m. first pitch Saturday.

NOTES

Oral Roberts has won the last five meetings and leads the all-time series, 52-14
Gus Steiger extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a first-inning single
Nick Smith had his hitting streak end at nine games, but drew a walk for the 10^th consecutive game
Ira recorded his team-leading 10^th multi-hit game of the season
Logan Holtz singled in the fourth inning and has now reached base safely in 17 of the 18 games he has played in 2019
Of the 20 outs Olmstead recorded, 15 were groundouts
SDSU was shut out for the first time since being blanked 10-0 at Wichita State on May 9, 2018 (29 games)
Jackrabbit starting pitchers have now thrown five or more innings in 13 of 19 games this season
Time of the game was 2 hours, 13 minutes
Ryan Froom (2-1, 4.15 ERA) is the scheduled starter for SDSU on Saturday