JACKRABBITS FALL TO ORU, 10-3

Saturday, April 29

Tulsa, Okla.

2 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Oral Roberts

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia

4/29/2023 11:15:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

TULSA, Okla. — Oral Roberts scored three runs in each of its final three innings at the plate to pull away from South Dakota State for a series-clinching 10-3 victory in Summit League baseball action Saturday afternoon at J.L. Johnson Stadium.

The league-leading Golden Eagles improved to 31-11 overall and 16-1 in league play. SDSU dropped to 18-19 overall and 10-7 in The Summit League.

Both teams scored in their first trips to the plate with the Jackrabbits drawing first blood as Ryan McDonald singled, moved to third on a double by Luke Ira and scored on a sacrifice fly by Nic Nelson. ORU responded with a run that was plated by a sacrifice fly off the bat of Jonah Cox.

SDSU starter Reece Arbogast didn't make it out of the opening inning as the Jackrabbit left-hander walked three before giving way to Blake Kunz, who worked out a bases-loaded jam to end the first inning and followed with four scoreless frames while striking out four.

The game remained deadlocked at 1-all until the top of the sixth, when the Jackrabbits took a momentary 2-1 lead on a solo home run to left field by Nelson. It was his eighth home run of the season.

Once again, ORU had the answer in the home half of the inning as the Golden Eagles gained a 3-2 lead on a two-run home run by Garrett Casey, who was the final batter Kunz would face. ORU added another run off Jackrabbit closer Ryan Bourassa in the sixth to push the lead to 4-2.

A solo home run by Reece Anderson in the top of the seventh brought SDSU back to within a run at 4-3, but ORU put the game out of reach by adding three more runs in both the seventh and eighth innings. Jacob Godman hit a two-run homer in the seventh, while Holden Breeze and Blaze Brothers tallied run-scoring singles in the eighth.

Brothers was 3-for-4 to lead the Golden Eagles' 13-hit attack. Jess Bellows was 2-for-4 as part of SDSU's eight-hit effort, while Ryan McDonald added a pair of hits for the Jackrabbits before leaving the game due to injury.

ORU starter Harley Gollert struck out seven while allowing two runs over six innings. Jacob Widener added five K's over the final three innings to pick up the save.

UP NEXT
The series finale is set for 1 p.m. Sunday.

NOTES

ORU leads the all-time series, 71-20
Anderson's home run was originally ruled a foul ball, but was overturned after the umpires consulted to give him his fourth round-tripper of the season
McDonald recorded his 17 multi-hit game of the season and raised his batting average to .417
McDonald reached base for the 25^th game in a row, while Anderson extended his on-base streak to 15 games

-GoJacks.com-