Oral Roberts Snaps Trojans' Winning Streak

LITTLE ROCK – Entering the evening with a six-game winning streak at home, Little Rock baseball couldn't extend it further as it fell 8-1 to Oral Roberts on Wednesday night at Gary Hogan Field.
 
Danny Mitchell Jr. drove in the only run of the game for the Trojans (6-7) as he went 1 for 3 with an RBI, and Ty Gunter went 1 for 2 and scored a run. Hunter Owens and Dalton Thomas each extended their reached-base streak to 13 games as Owens walked once while Thomas went 1 for 4. The Trojans came up with seven hits for the night, but the Golden Eagles (8-4) had the advantage with 14.
 
Oral Roberts took an early 2-0 lead in the very first inning. Noah Cummings hit an RBI double to right center before Brent Williams hit an RBI single up the middle. The Golden Eagles added another run in the top of the fifth as Matt Whatley hit a sacrifice fly to center.
 
Little Rock answered in the bottom of the fifth with one run to cut the deficit to 3-1. With two outs, the Trojans put together three straight hits off the bats of Gunter, Bryce Dimitroff and Mitchell. With runners on first and second, Mitchell hit an RBI single to right to score Gunter from second.
 
The Golden Eagles then scored two runs in the top of the seventh with a two-RBI single by Cummings. ORU closed out the game with three runs in the ninth inning. Williams hit another RBI single and later scored on a wild pitch. An RBI groundout to second scored the third and final run of inning.
 
The Golden Eagles' Logan Michaels (1-0) took the win on a short night as he went 3.0 innings and struck out six while allowing two hits. Little Rock's Matt McDowell (0-4) took the loss as he pitched 4.0 innings, struck out one and allowed two earned runs on seven hits and a walk.
 
"I thought we were up in the zone very early, and Oral Roberts did a good job of jumping on us," head coach Chris Curry said. "We weren't competitive tonight, especially at the plate, and that's not Little Rock baseball."
 
Little Rock returns to action at Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, Texas, on Friday as part of a three-game series with the Lumberjacks. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., at Jaycees Field.