WICHITA, Kan. – Oral Roberts
University's baseball team saw their season come to an end on
Saturday afternoon, losing 11-3 to Wichita State in the loser's
bracket elimination game of the NCAA Wichita Regional in front of
4,236 people at Eck Stadium.
Oral Roberts finished the 2007
season with a 40-17 overall record, their 10th straight year with
at least 40 wins, while Wichita State improved to 50-20.
The Shockers jumped on the Golden
Eagles early, claiming a 2-0 lead after their first at-bat. Wichita
State led off the inning with three straight singles off starter
Jerry Sullivan (Budd Lake, N.J.). With runners on second and third
after a balk by Sullivan, Damon Sublett knocked in both runners
with a single to right field.
Sullivan lasted just 1.2 innings,
allowing four hits and two runs while throwing 45 pitches.
Jeremy Hefner (Perkins, Okla.) came
in on relief for Sullivan and forced WSU's Matt Brown to ground out
with the bases loaded to second baseman Jake Kahaulelio (Windsor,
Calif.) to end the inning.
The Golden Eagles fought back by
pushing two runs across in the second to even the score at 2-2.
David Genao (Newark, N.J.) plated Brian Van Kirk (Southwest
Ranches, Fla.) on an RBI single to left field and then Adam Younger
(Cape Coral, Fla.) hit his 11th double of the year down the left
field line to score Pat Warfle (Melbourne, Fla.).
Wichita State reclaimed the lead in
the sixth by manufacturing a run for a 3-2 lead. Josh Workman led
off with a walk, stole second, and then reached third after a fly
out by Tyler Hill. Tyler Weber hit a hard shot down the left field
line, just past the diving attempt of Carter McQuigg (Miami,
Okla.), to score Workman all the way from second.
Wichita State broke the game open
in the top of the seventh with a six-run six-hit inning to take a
commanding 9-2 lead. Conor Gillaspie had a bases loaded two-run
single through the right side of the infield.
Erik Crichton (Seal Beach, Calif.)
made his second appearance in as many days out of the bullpen,
relieving Hefner in the seventh.
WSU's starter Rob Musgrave (10-2)
scattered nine hits while allowing three runs in 7.2 innings of
work.
Hefner (9-2) was credited with the
loss, giving up six runs on seven hits in 4.1 innings of relief. It
was the right-hander's first appearance out of the bullpen since
March 9 against Central Arkansas.
Warfle hit an opposite field shot
over the right field fence for his fourth home run of the year in
the eighth making it an 11-3 game.
ORU tried to mount a comeback in
the bottom of the ninth when Duffy and Kelly Minissale (Murphy,
Texas) led off the inning with consecutive walks. After a fly out
by Kahaulelio, Rothford plated Duffy with a single down the left
field line. But the game ended when WSU's reliever Kyle Touchatt
struck out Van Kirk and Warfle.
Rothford, Warfle, and Genao each
recorded two hits as the Golden Eagles pounded out 10 hits.
Wichita State's 1-3 hitters
finished the day 10-for-13 as the Shockers finished with 16 hits.
Four WSU players knocked in two runs.
Wichita Regional Notebook
ORU is now 25-38 in NCAA Postseason games ... this is ORU's first
0-2 effort in Regionals since 2003 ... Pat Warfle's solo homer in
the eighth gave him four on the season. It was his second homer at
Eck Stadium this season ... the Golden Eagles struck out 28 times
in two Regional games ... Chance Chapman (127) and Jeremy Hefner
(107) are the first pair of ORU pitchers to each strike out 100 or
more batters in the same season since Rene Recio and Michael Rogers
in 2002 ... Chad Rothford enjoyed another productive post-season
game, going 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI. In seven career NCAA
post-season games Rothford batted .419 (13-31) with three home runs
and 13 RBI.
