SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Oral Roberts used seven pitchers to stymie Missouri State's offense in a two-hit, 2-0 blanking of the Bears Tuesday afternoon at Hammons Field.
The Golden Eagles (6-10) issued nine walks, but worked their way out of trouble to strand 10 Bears baserunners in earning a season split with MSU. ORU starter Isaac Coffey retired the first six batters of the game and completed 3.0 innings with three strikeouts in his first mound action of the season, before Sam Rainwater (1-1) logged 2.0 strong innings and Kaleb McCullough locked up his fourth save of the year with 1 1/3 hitless innings to end the game.
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MSU's mound duo of Matt Russell (1-1) and Trey Ziegenbein combined on a shutdown performance of their own, holding ORU to just one earned run. Ziegenbein was particularly dominant, dispatching seven Golden Eagle hitters in a row to start his afternoon and allowing just one baserunner via an eighth-inning walk in his 4.0 frames. The sophomore right-hander struck out six batters—all of which came on called third strikes.
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Adam Oviedo led the ORU offense with a 3-for-3 day at the plate, including a critical leadoff single in the second that sparked the Golden Eagles' go-ahead rally. After Oviedo singled down the third-base line to open the rally, Blake Hall bounced what appeared to be a potential double-play grounder to shortstop, but the ball eluded MSU's Grant Wood for a two-base error. Two batters later, Caleb Denney put ORU on top with a chopper through the right side to bring in Oviedo with the game's first tally.
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ORU added to its advantage in the fifth, this time using back-to-back singles by Anthony Martinez and Ryan Cash—plus a Russell wild pitch—to set up Jake McMurray's double-play ground ball to second that made it a 2-0 game.
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The Bears (8-8) generated several scoring opportunities, including bases-loaded threats in both the fourth and eighth innings. Rainwater escaped the first jam by inducing pop-ups off the bats of Logan Geha and Greg Ziegler on successive pitches, and McCullough slammed the door shut in the second by getting Geha on an inning-ending fly ball—one of 14 fly ball outs by the Bears.
In addition to Oviedo's three hits, Denny contributed a 2-for-4 day with an RBI to pace the Golden Eagles.
The Bears conclude their five-game homestand with a Wednesday (March 11) afternoon tilt against SIU Edwardsville. First pitch from Hammons Field is scheduled for 3 p.m.
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