
ORU Clips Baseball Bears in Ninth Inning
April 12, 2022 | Baseball
SPRINGFIELD – Visiting Oral Roberts scored four runs in the top of the ninth inning Tuesday evening to steal a 9-8 victory from Missouri State at Hammons Field.
The Bears (14-14) led throughout and entered the ninth with an 8-5 advantage only to let the first four ORU (18-12) batters on base with two hits and two errors, resulting in an 8-7 score with runners on second and third and nobody out.
Trey Ziegenbein (4-4) struck out the next two hitters and had Jake McMurray down 1-2 in the count before the ORU first basemen pulled a two-run single into left field for the go-ahead runs. Cade Denton (2-0) then pitched around Grant Wood's two-out single in the bottom of the ninth to close out the win.
MSU starter Reece Lang posted career highs of six strikeouts and five innings and left with a 4-1 lead thanks to Drake Baldwin's RBI single and a Jaden Rolffs two-run homer in the third, and an RBI fielder's choice from Baldwin in the fifth.
ORU closed to 4-3 in the sixth and the Bears answered with four runs in the bottom half coming on a wild pitch, two-run single from Spencer Nivens and Baldwin sac fly for his third RBI of the game and an 8-3 lead.
The Golden Eagles silenced the MSU bats after that, plating two runs in the seventh before the ninth-inning rally.
Mason Greer, Nivens and Wood each had three hits, while Nivens scored three times and extended his hitting streak to 12 games.
Missouri State pitching struck out a season-high 15 batters.
The Bears resume Missouri Valley Conference play with a home series against Evansville April 15-17. First pitch Friday is 6:30 p.m.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Cade Denton (2-0)
L: Ziegenbein, Trey (4-4)
Batting:
2B: Jake McMurray 1 ; Holden Breeze 1 ; Isaac Coffey 1 ; Dustin Demeter 2
3B: Connor Beichler 1
HR: Jackson Loftin 1
RBI: Jake McMurray 2 ; Mac McCroskey 1 ; Jackson Loftin 1 ; Joshua Cox 2 ; Dustin Demeter 2 ; Connor Beichler 1
SH: Mac McCroskey 1 ; Connor Beichler 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Jake McMurray 1 ; Holden Breeze 2 ; Jackson Loftin 3 ; Joshua Cox 2 ; D. Criquet Danielson 1
SB: Jackson Loftin 1 ; Joshua Cox 1

Batting:
2B: Nivens, Spencer 1 ; Greer, Mason 1 ; Wood, Grant 1 ; Socci, Anthony 1
HR: Rolffs, Jaden 1
RBI: Nivens, Spencer 2 ; Baldwin, Drake 3 ; Rolffs, Jaden 2
SF: Baldwin, Drake 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Nivens, Spencer 3 ; Baldwin, Drake 1 ; Rolffs, Jaden 1 ; Jenkins, Walker 1 ; Socci, Anthony 1 ; Grauberger, Jake 1




















