FAST START IGNITES ORU IN TOURNEY OPENER

Thursday, May 26

Tulsa, Okla.

6 p.m.

South Dakota State University

22-22

Oral Roberts

36-18

South Dakota State

Oral Roberts

Photo by: Bill Powell

5/26/2022 11:47:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

TULSA, Okla. — Oral Roberts struck for three runs in each of the first two innings and went on to defeat South Dakota State, 9-4, in the opening round of the Summit League Baseball Championship Thursday night at J.L. Johnson Stadium.

The second-seeded Golden Eagles improved to 36-18 overall and will take on Omaha in a winners' bracket game at 6 p.m. Friday. Third-seeded SDSU dropped to 22-22 overall and will face top-seeded North Dakota State in an elimination game at noon Friday. NDSU dropped a 10-2 decision to Omaha to open play in the double-elimination tournament Thursday afternoon.

Jake McMurray wasted little time to set the tone for ORU, hitting the fourth pitch of the bottom of the first inning over the wall in left field for a home run. The Golden Eagles would add two more runs on four more hits in the opening frame against Jackrabbit starter Nic McCay as Justin Quinn recorded a run-scoring single and later scored on a wild pitch.

It was more of the same in the second inning as McMurray doubled off the top of the wall in left-center and later scored on a single by Caleb Denny that chased McCay from the game. The Golden Eagles made it 6-0 when Jackson Loftin looped a two-run double down the right-field line that plated both Mac McCroskey and Denny.

The Jackrabbits cut the deficit in half on a three-run home run by Nic Nelson in the top of the fourth inning. Luke Ira led off the inning with a walk and advanced to third on Dawson Parry's single to right before Nelson connected on his fourth round-tripper of the season, a blast to center field.

After ORU scored a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth to build an 8-3 lead, SDSU answered with a run in the sixth when Jordan Sagedahl was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring the tying run to the plate. However, Golden Eagle starter Isaac Coffey notched one of his nine strikeouts in the game, fanning Henry George to end the threat.

The Golden Eagles tacked on another unearned run in the seventh before Coffey gave way to Brooks Fowler, who rang up strikeouts on all six outs he recorded to close out the ORU victory.

Four different players tallied two hits for ORU, which held a 10-5 advantage in hits. Nelson was the lone Jackrabbit with more than one hit, adding a double in the eighth.

Six different Jackrabbits saw action on the mound, with freshmen Alex Clemons and Dane Toman the most effective. Clemons retired all four batters he faced, including one on strikes, while Toman matched a season high with four strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings.

NOTES

Oral Roberts leads the season series against the Jackrabbits, 6-1
SDSU dropped to 18-22 in their 12 appearances in the Summit League Baseball Championship, including an 0-16 mark against ORU
Ryan McDonald laced a first-inning single to extend his streak of reaching base safely to 32 games
The Jackrabbits have homered in 25 of their last 27 games
Nelson's home run was the Jackrabbits' 60^th of the season
Nelson posted his 11^th multi-hit game of the season and has 11 extra-base hits in the last 14 games
SDSU catcher Derek Hackman threw out two ORU runners attempting to steal