Trojans Can't Avoid Series Sweep at Oral Roberts

TULSA, Okla. – Looking to avoid the series sweep, Little Rock baseball fell 8-3 to Oral Roberts in the series finale on Sunday.
 
Bryce Dimitroff was 2 for 4 with a home run and a walk. Ty Gunter went 1 for 2 with a couple of walk and an RBI. Dalton Thomas went 1 for 3 with an RBI and a walk.
 
The scoring started right out of the gate as Dimitroff hit a leadoff home run to left on the second pitch of the game.
 
Freshman Chandler Fidel made the start in his collegiate debut for the Trojans. With two outs and a runner on first, Oral Roberts' Noah Cummings blasted a two-run homer to left to give the Golden Eagles a 2-1 lead.
 
After walking home a run in the bottom of the second, Fidel's day came to an end as Ryan LeMoine made his way into the game with bases loaded and one out. LeMoine got the Trojans out of the jam with back-to-back popups by the Golden Eagles.
 
With bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth, Oral Roberts brought home another run as the batter was hit by a pitch. A single by Matt Whatley brought home another run before a sacrifice fly to center by Cummings put the Golden Eagles up 6-1. After loading the bases with a walk, LeMoine exited in favor of Carter Brown. After getting a strikeout right out of the bullpen, Brown walked a runner home. This brought Corbin Osburn on to pitch for the Trojans. Osburn finally got the Trojans out of the inning with a fly out to right.
 
Little Rock loaded the bases in the top of the fifth with a single and two walks. That allowed Thomas to bring a run home on a sacrifice fly to center and cut Oral Roberts' lead to 7-2.
 
After Osburn recorded the strikeout to begin the bottom of the fifth, Little Rock went to the bullpen for right-hander Preston Oberling. After allowing two singles, Oberling got the strikeout to end the inning.
 
Reed Willenborg came on for the Trojans to begin the bottom of the sixth inning. He led a successful inning on the mound as he earned a strikeout and left a runner stranded on first.
 
Zach Ours entered the game in the bottom of the seventh and snagged a comebacker to the mound for the first out. A solo home run by the Golden Eagles' Nick Rotola then upped Oral Roberts' lead to 8-2. McKinley Moore came on with two outs and got the Trojans out of the inning with a fly out to right.
 
Joe Corbett came on for Little Rock in the bottom of the eighth inning and earned two punch-outs for the Trojans before a fly out to left ended the inning.
 
With two outs and bases loaded in the top of the ninth, Gunter walked for the second time and allowed Zach Baker to trot home. With the bases still loaded for the Trojans, a strikeout ended the game.
 
"If you followed our thinking throughout the entire game, we wanted to get all of those arms out there and get their feet wet against a regional-type team," head coach Chris Curry said. "I think we have toughness and character, but that's just the foundation. We have to execute. We're going to play some tougher opponents earlier in the season to get ourselves seasoned and ready, and by the time we get to conference play, we're going to know exactly who we are."
 
Little Rock will now travel to Louisiana Tech for a midweek game on Tuesday at 6 p.m.