Oral Roberts' Will Edmunson capped a four-run ninth inning with a three-run, go-ahead home run as the Golden Eagles rallied to defeat South Dakota State in a 13-11 Summit League baseball slugfest Friday afternoon at Erv Huether Field.
ORU improved to 33-20 overall and 20-9 in league play. The Jackrabbits dropped to 16-33 overall and 12-17 in The Summit League.
SDSU led 10-4 through four innings after putting multiple runs on the board in three consecutive frame. Trailing 3-0, Dagen Schramm put the Jackrabbits on the board with a two-run home run in the bottom of the second and SDSU grabbed a 7-4 lead with a five-run third inning that featured a run-scoring single by Bryce Ronken and a grand slam by Adam Benes.
Ronken added another run-scoring single in the fourth inning that was sandwiched around an RBI single by Nolan Grawe and a run-scoring groundout off the bat of Owen Siegert.
The Golden Eagles began their comeback with three runs in the fifth inning, which were aided by three SDSU errors. Owen Coil plated the first run with an infield single and another run scored on the back end of the play on a throwing error. Edmunson followed two batters later with a sacrifice fly.
ORU made it a one-run game in the seventh inning by scoring two times without the benefit of a hit. Back-to-back one-out walks put runners at first and second, with both runners moving up a base on a wild pitch before the fifth Jackrabbit error of the game allowed one run score and move another runner into scoring position.
Ronken momentarily stemmed the tide  with a home run to lead off the bottom of the eighth that made the score 11-9 in favor of the Jackrabbits. Ronken and Carter Sintek combined for nine of SDSU's 15 hits, with Ronken going 4-for-5 and Sintek putting together a 5-for-6 day at the plate.
With Jackrabbit closer Dylan Driessen on the mound for his second full inning of work, Makani Tanaka started the final ORU rally with a single up the middle. Driessen bookended strikeouts around a walk to put the Jackrabbits one out away from victory.
That win proved to be elusive, however, as the two Golden Eagle baserunners advanced on a passed ball and Martell Davis lined a single off Driessen's glove for an infield single to plate one run. Edmunson, who was 3-for-6 in the game, then lined an 0-1 pitch well over the fence in right field for a three-run homer.
Jack Hill pitched a perfect ninth inning to close out the win for the Golden Eagles.
ORU reliever Weston Rouse kept the Jackrabbits at bay by striking out 10 batters over his five innings on the mound as he entered the game after Golden Eagle starter Keaton Ruthardt was roughed up for seven runs on seven hits in two-plus innings.
Caleb Duerr tied a season and career high with seven strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings as the Jackrabbit freshman hurler finished with a no-decision. Driessen fanned five and walked four over his 2 2/3 innings in suffering the loss.
UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits and ORU are scheduled to close out the regular season Saturday with a 1 p.m. matchup at Erv Huether Field.
NOTES
ORU leads the season series, 5-0
The two teams have combined for 17 home runs in the first three games of the series — 10 by the Golden Eagles and seven by SDSU
Sintek posted the first five-hit game by a Jackrabbit since fellow shortstop Luke Ira on April 11, 2023, at Briar Cliff
Sintek has 22 multi-hit games this season and a total of 74 hits
Ronken has homered in back-to-back games and is 8-for-14 (.571 batting average) with eight RBIs in the series
Ronken has reached base safely in 28 consecutive games
Benes' grand slam was the third by an SDSU player this season, joining Luke Luskey and Dayton Franke, who hit theirs in the same game — April 22 versus Northwestern (Iowa)
Schramm's home run was his first of the season
Duerr, who struck out the side in both the third and fourth innings, also fanned seven batters in an April 26 start against North Dakota State