LITTLE ROCK – Oral Roberts took advantage of big hits and free bases to hand Little Rock an 18-3 loss Wednesday afternoon at Gary Hogan Field. The loss snaps the Trojans' four-game winning streak.
Little Rock managed just five hits on the afternoon, tying its season low, and gave Oral Roberts numerous free passes, giving up 13 walks with an additional four Golden Eagles hit by pitch.
The top of the first set the tone for the afternoon as after recording two quick outs, a throwing error extended the inning for ORU, who would go on to score six unearned runs, including a grand slam to race out to an early 6-0 lead.
Little Rock would start to respond in the home half of the first, beginning with a one out triple from
Tyler Williams, sending a shot to right center. He would come home off a sacrifice fly from
Canyon McWilliams, making it 6-1 Golden Eagles, which was then answered with
Noah Dickerson's sixth home run of the season, sending a shot 400 feet to right center to cut the deficit to 6-2.
ORU added another in the third, loading the bases with no outs and scoring off a wild pitch, extending the lead to 7-2. But a strikeout from
Austin Smith, followed by a 5-3 double play from
Nathan Lyons to McWilliams kept the damage at a minimum.
The Golden Eagles took advantage of more Trojan miscues in the fourth, bringing four runs across the plate, then took control for good with a seven-run sixth, including another grand slam and a two-run homerun to break the game open at 18-2.
Miguel Soto did what he could, sending a solo home run to left center in the bottom of the sixth, but the Trojans couldn't get the offense going in the midweek loss.
Jake Wright was the top hitter of the day for Little Rock, going 2-for-2 including a stand-up double in the second. The triple from Williams and the home runs from Dickerson and Soto were the only other hits for the Trojans as Soto stole his ninth base of the season, remaining perfect on the year.
Little Rock used eight different pitchers on the afternoon with Vaught earning the loss after giving up the six unearned runs in the first.
Preston Davis and
Austin Smith each pitched 1.1 innings, giving up a combined three runs with a strikeout.
Calvin Hunt and
Reese Lansville each pitched an inning with Lansville allowing no runs on one hit with a strikeout in the seventh.
The Trojans now look to regroup and head on the road for its first road series of the season, opening up conference play at Georgia State. The Trojans and Panthers are schedule to play Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Atlanta, beginning with a 5 p.m. CT first pitch Friday with
Hayden Arnold heading to the mound.
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