Game 1 Box Score Game 2 Box Score Tulsa, Okla. (May 15, 2004) ???C Riding a four-game winning streak coming into this weekend???s series, Oakland had hopes of derailing the Oral Roberts express. That was not the case this afternoon; however, as the Golden Eagles got a pair of complete game performances from their pitching staff as they swept the Golden Grizzlies by scores of 6-1 and 9-3 at J.L. Johnson Stadium.
John Sullivan (Saginaw, Mich.) had three hits for Oakland, but it was not enough as OU fell to 18-30 overall and 9-9 in Mid-Con play. Oral Roberts remained undefeated in the league and clinched the regular season Mid-Con title by improving to 40-8 and 16-0. Oakland scored in their first at bat for the afternoon, to take a quick 1-0 lead in game one.
Ryan Heath (Ostrander, Ohio) led off by drawing a walk off of ORU starter Sean Sorrow. He moved to second on a ground out and then came home on
Ty Herriott???s (Ostrander, Ohio) two-out single to right. Oral Roberts wasted no time in answering, scoring three times in the bottom of the first to claim the lead for itself. Ryan Welborn led off with a single off of
Steve Kniebbe (Bridgeport, Mich.) and then moved to second on a walk to Matt VanDerBorsch. With one out Josh Lex singled in the first run of the inning. A sac fly scored VanDerBorsch with the second run before Dennis Bigley tripled to center to plate Lex with the final run of the frame. That was all that the Golden Eagles would need, as Sorrow (9-1) allowed only three more hits the rest of the way as he went all the way, striking out five and walking four. Kniebbe (2-6) allowed five runs and eight hits in five innings for OU.
Tim Edick (Northville, Mich.) allowed just one run and two hits in three innings of relief work for the Golden Grizzlies. Oral Roberts picked up their other runs on a solo home run off the bat of Brian Hanson in the third and an RBI double by Grant Plumley and a Bigley sac fly in the sixth. Oral Roberts got off to a fast start again in game two, scoring three time in the first off of OU starter
Billy Schmieder (Chillicothe, Ohio). Welborn led off with a single and moved all the way to third on a steal of second and a wild pitch. He was gunned down at home for the first out of the inning by Heath from shortstop on VanDerBorsch???s ground ball. Schmeider got Plumley on strikes, but hit the next two batters to load the bases. Scott Modeste then doubled to right, clearing the bases to put ORU on the board first. Oakland saw its hole get deeper in the second as the Golden Eagles pushed four more runs across, again all scoring after two were out. A single, sacrifice and a walk put two on and after VanDerBorsch looked at strike three for out number two, Plumley singled to bring home the first run. Lex followed with his ninth home run and ORU was up 7-0. Oakland answered with all three of its runs in the third.
Chad Winkler (Port Huron, Mich.),
Kurt Rosenacker (Cincinnati, Ohio) and
Bryan Marulli (Sterling Heights, Mich.) started the inning with consecutive singles to load the bases off of ORU starter Bigley. Heath then singled to short, scoring a pair of runs. After Marulli was thrown out at home on a fielder???s choice,
Tim Doig???s (Farmington, Mich.) grounder to short scored Heath with the final run of the inning. That would be it for the Oakland offense, however, as Bigley (10-1) settled back down and allowed just two hits the rest of the way. He finished his seven innings on the mound allowing six hits and striking out six. Schmieder (3-7) took the loss, allowing eight runs and nine hits in four innings. On the day Sullivan finished with three hits in seven trips to lead Oakland. Lex finished the day by going 3-for-5 for Oral Roberts, driving in five and scoring three times. Hansen went 5-for-7 for the Golden Eagles including a home run, driving in and scoring a pair. The two teams will square off again tomorrow, playing a 9/7 doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern.
