March 6, 2003
San Diego - Oral Roberts used an 18-hit attack en route to an 11-7 win over San Diego State Thursday night at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The Golden Eagles opened the contest with five runs in the top of the first and never looked back as the Aztecs could not recover despite coming back to within two runs late in the game. With the win, ORU improved to 3-5 on the season while SDSU fell to 6-12.
After the Golden Eagles scored their fives runs on five hits, two hit batters and a walk in the first off starter Eric Human (0-1), SDSU responded with two in their half of the opening frame. A bases-loaded walk to James Guerrero and an error by ORU first baseman Andy Hargrove gave the Aztecs a pair of runs.
However, Oral Roberts got two more in the third before SDSU countered with two in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Rielly Embrey and a bases-loaded fielder's choice by Ryan Wilson to make the score 7-4.
The Golden Eagles responded with run in the next inning to extend their lead to four, only to see the Aztecs narrow the margin to 8-6 with two in the bottom of the seventh on a Curt Mendoza sac fly and an RBI single by Anthony Gwynn.
ORU effectively put the game on ice with three runs in its half of the eighth, the big blow a two-run homer off the bat of right fielder Josh Lex to make it 11-6.
San Diego State rallied for a run in the ninth and had the bases-loaded with two outs, but Golden Eagle reliever Sean Sorrow induced SDSU's Jordan Swaydan to ground back the mound to end the game. It was the first save of the year for Sorrow and allowed ORU reliever Justin Ramsey (1-0) to record his first victory of the season.
Anthony Gwynn led the Aztec offense with three hits on the night including a double and an RBI. Peter Stonard, Landon Burt and Jake McLintock also had a pair of hits apiece for SDSU.
Up next for San Diego State is a three-game series with UC Irvine that begins Friday night (March 7) at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The teams will play in Irvine at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday before returning to San Diego for the series finales on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
Oral Roberts 11, San Diego State 7ORU 502 001 030 - 11 18 1SDS 200 020 201 - 7 10 3Recio, Ramsey (5), Collup (7), Gor (9), Sorrow (9) and CastilloHuman (Pace (2), Heil (7) and SwaydanW - Ramsey (1-0)L - Human (0-1)Sv - Sorrow (1)HR - ORE: Lex (8th-one on)Att. - 5-7Time - 4:00