TULSA, Okla. — Oral Roberts starting pitchers Easton Teel and Nathan Love each turned in solid starts and Will Edmunson provided the offense in leading the Golden Eagles to a doubleheader sweep of South Dakota State in Summit League baseball action Sunday afternoon at Chapman Park. ORU claimed the opener, 4-2, before cruising to a 9-1 victory in Game 2.
With the two wins, ORU improved to 17-12 overall and 6-4 in The Summit League. SDSU dropped to 4-21 overall and 2-8 in Summit League play.
Game 1: Oral Roberts 4, South Dakota State 2
ORU scored the final four runs of the game to earn the victory as Teel settled in after a bit of a shaky start.
The Jackrabbits struck quickly as Owen Siegert led off the game with a base hit and Luke Luksey followed three batters later with his team-leading eighth home run of the season.
Owen Coil led off the home half of the third inning with a solo home run off SDSU starter Owen Bishop and the Golden Eagles tied the game later in the frame on an RBI single by Wailele Kane-Yate.
Edmunson started what would be the game-winning rally with a one-out double in the fifth and scored when the next hitter, Cooper Combs, also doubled. Combs later scored on a single by Makani Tanaka.
Teel, meanwhile, kept SDSU off the board for the remainder of his seven-inning outing. The right-hander struck out four, walked one and allowed only five hits. Dalton Patten followed with two shutout innings with a pair of strikeouts to earn the save.
Edmunson was a perfect 4-for-4 as he picked up half of ORU’s eight hits. Keagen Jirschele collected two of the Jackrabbits’ eight hits.
SDSU starter Owen Bishop worked the first 2 1/3 innings for the Jackrabbits and allowed two runs while walking two. Jake Goble logged the final 5 2/3 innings, recording three strikeouts in a losing effort.
Game 2: Oral Roberts 9, South Dakota State 1
Golden Eagle starter Nathan Love struck out nine over six innings and ORU found its offensive stride in the middle innings.
Tanaka doubled to lead off the second inning and scored on an RBI single by Martell Davis in the bottom of the second to give ORU the early lead, but the Jackrabbits tied the game a half-inning later on Jirschele’s first collegiate home run.
From there, it was all Oral Roberts, starting with a four-run fourth. The Golden Eagles plated the first run of the inning on a sacrifice fly before Edmunson followed with a run-scoring double. Combs added a run-scoring single, with the final run of the inning scoring on the lone Jackrabbit error of the day.
ORU squeezed in a run in the fifth and tacked on another run in the sixth for a 7-1 lead on a solo home run by Keaton Campbell, who later capped the scoring with a two-run double in the seventh.
Love struck out two batters in each of the second through fifth innings and did not issue a walk while surrendering only two hits. Brenden Asher followed with three scoreless innings of one-hit relief, striking out two.
Edmunson was 2-for-5 to finish the doubleheader 6-for-9 at the plate. Kane-Yates and Campbell also posted two hits each.
NOTES
- Oral Roberts leads the all-time series, 78-23
- All four of the Jackrabbits’ Summit League series this season have had the schedule altered because of weather/field conditions, requiring a doubleheader to be played in each series Nolan Grawe had his program freshman-record 19-game hitting streak end in the opener
- Carter Sintek extended his hitting streak to eight games with a single in Game 1, then had his streak come to a close in the nightcap
- Siegert has reached base safely in 12 consecutive games
- Brady Hawkins pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to close out Game 2 to extend his streak of scoreless relief appearances to five, covering 5 2/3 innings