ORU homers past Jackrabbits in series opener
· Yahoo Sports
BROOKINGS, S.D. (SDSU) — Cooper Kelly hit a three-run home run in the top of the first inning and Makani Tanaka added a pair of solo shots later in the game to lead Oral Roberts to an 8-4 victory over South Dakota State to open a three-game Summit League baseball series Friday afternoon at Erv Huether Field.
The league-leading Golden Eagles improved to 21-14 overall and 12-1 in The Summit League. SDSU dropped to 12-22 overall and 6-7 in league play.
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Kelly’s first homer of the season came on the heels of the inning being extended due to a Jackrabbit error. Wailele Kane-Yates reached on the two-out miscue and Martell Davis followed with a single to set the table for Kelly, who sent a Sam Schlecht pitch over the fence in right field.
ORU pushed its lead to 6-0 with a two-run double by Will Edmunson in the second inning and a sacrifice fly by Owen Coil in the third.
The Jackrabbits took advantage of some rare wildness by ORU ace Easton Teel to get on the board with a pair of runs in the home half of the third. Luke Wroblewski and Owen Grawe started the inning by drawing consecutive walks and the bases became loaded when Luke Luskey was hit by a pitch. Redshirt freshman Nate Wachter then stepped to the plate and bounced a single through the left side to drive in both Wroblewski and Grawe.
After Tanaka hit the first of his home runs in the top of the fourth, Grawe cut the deficit to 7-4 with a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth. Grawe’s third round-tripper of the season was his second in as many games and also extended his hitting streak to 15 games.
Both teams’ relievers were effective, with the only blemish out of either bullpen being Tanaka’s second solo home run off Jackrabbit reliever Dylan Richardson in the top of the seventh. Ty Madison notched two more scoreless innings for SDSU while ORU’s Maddox Thornton allowed only a pair of infield singles to Keagen Jirschele in four shutout frames to pick up the save.
Teel earned his fourth win of the season despite walking four and hitting a batter. The right-hander scattered seven hits and struck out two. Thornton fanned three batters.
For SDSU, Schlecht was tagged with the loss after giving up seven runs – four earned – on nine hits with three strikeouts. Richardson and Madison each tallied two K’s in their two innings of work.
Five different players collected two hits for ORU, which held a 12-9 advantage in the hits category. Wachter and Luskey joined Jirschele in the two-hit column for SDSU.
ON DECK
Game 2 of the series has been pushed back an hour and is now slated for a 3 p.m. first pitch on Saturday.
NOTES
- ORU leads the all-time series, 87-23, and has won the last 13 games dating back to 2024
- Grawe is batting .371 (26-for-70) with 22 RBIs and 12 extra-base hits (six doubles, four triples and two home runs) during his current hitting streak
- Grawe has reached base safely in the last 17 games and Nic Werk reached base for the 16th consecutive game with a third-inning single
- Luskey extended his career-best hitting streak to nine games and is now batting a team-best .367 (18-for-49) in league games
- Jackrabbit pitchers did not issue a walk for the second time this season
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