Little Rock Falls to Oral Roberts in Season Opener

TULSA, Okla. – Little Rock baseball began the 2017 season with a 10-4 loss in the series opener to Oral Roberts (1-0) on Friday afternoon at J.L. Johnson Stadium.
 
Cameron Knight was a perfect 3 for 3 at the plate for Little Rock (0-1) as he picked up an RBI and a walk. Both Bryce Dimitroff and Ty Gunter went 2 for 5 while Gunter scored a run. Although he only picked up one hit, Nik Gifford had the biggest at-bat of the game for Little Rock with a three-run homer.
 
Little Rock outhit Oral Roberts 12-11, but the Trojans left 13 men on base compared to the Golden Eagles' six.
 
Little Rock got its wheels turning in the top of the second inning. After a Riley Pittman double to right, Knight gave the Trojans a 1-0 lead as he brought Pittman around with an RBI single to right.
 
The first home run of the season came off the bat of Gifford as he sent a three-run bomb over the right field wall to give Little Rock a 4-0 lead in the top of the third.
 
Oral Roberts struck back in the bottom of the inning with their first run of the year. Nick Rotola hit an RBI ground out to short, but it allowed Cal Hernandez to score from third and cut the Trojans' lead to 4-1.
 
The Golden Eagles cut the lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the fourth inning with another run. With one out, Brent Williams hit a deep sacrifice fly to right center to score Matt Whatley from third.
 
After giving up the third run of the game in the bottom of the fifth, Trojan starter Matt McDowell gave way to reliever Ryan LeMoine. McDowell went 4.2 innings with four strikeouts while giving up five runs on five hits and a walk. With runners in scoring position, LeMoine intentionally walked the first batter he faced to set up a force out. Noah Cummings earned two RBIs on a single through the left side to give Oral Roberts its first lead of the day. Williams then hit a three-run homer to left to give the Golden Eagles an 8-4 lead.
 
Carter Brown came on for the Trojans to begin the bottom of the sixth inning. Brown gave up a walk and a single before Corbin Osburn made his Trojan debut out of the bullpen. A two-run double by Dylan Snypes upped Oral Roberts' lead to 10-4.
 
Little Rock went to right-hander Justin Garcia to begin the bottom of the eighth inning. Garcia got out of the inning safely as he left two runners on to end the inning.
 
Still trailing by six in the bottom of the ninth, Little Rock got on base with a single by Zach Baker, but that's all the Trojans could muster as a strikeout ended the game.
 
"I thought we were locked in for the whole game," head coach Chris Curry said. "The effort was there, and the guys played hard. Baseball comes down to a couple of pitches, and we just didn't execute. We left 13 guys on base, and with a team like Oral Roberts, you have to cash in and keep pushing the score further and further away from them. They have a lot of firepower in the middle of the order, and the two relievers they put in did an outstanding job of shoving it in the zone after we got in their bullpen. We're not happy at all with the result, but as we build this team and learn who we are, every little mistake at this level is going to cost you."
 
Little Rock will look to even the series against Oral Roberts tomorrow at 2 p.m.