Oral Roberts University hosted the Summit League Baseball Championship Tournament last weekend, for the first time since 2019, and the Golden Eagles beat Omaha for the title and the automatic bid to the NCAA Baseball Tournament.
The No. 2-seed Golden Eagles advanced through the double-elimination tournament by defeating No. 3 South Dakota State, 9-4, and then getting past No. 4 Omaha, 12-8, in the semifinal.
The Mavericks upset No. 1-seed North Dakota State in the first game, 10-2. The Bison bounced back to defeat SDSU, 7-4, to eliminate the Jackrabbits. Then Omaha and NDSU faced each other in the losers’ bracket semifinal, and the Mavericks beat the Bison again, 5-3, to advance to the title game against ORU.
Omaha didn’t have any starting pitchers available for the championship game, so they used relief pitchers by committee and the Golden Eagles took advantage of the lack of pitching power. ORU rocked Omaha with a title-game record score, 21-2.
Connor Beichler led a 21-hit attack with a season-best four base hits. Championship MVP Holden Breeze added three more hits and scored three runs to finish each game of the event with multiple-hits.
Oral Roberts jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning, and cruised from there.
Golden Eagle second baseman Mac McCroskey hit two home runs in the game, including a grand slam in the five-run fifth inning.
McCroskey’s second homer came in the seventh inning, when the Golden Eagles sent 13 batters to the plate, scoring nine runs on seven hits.
The win gives the Golden Eagles their 20th Summit League Tournament title and first since 2018.
This was a rematch of the 2019 title game played at J.L. Johnson Stadium where the third-seeded Golden Eagles forced an “if necessary” game, which was eventually won by top-seeded Omaha.
ORU will play Texas A&M Friday in College Station, Texas.
All-Tournament Team
- Connor Beichler, Oral Roberts
- Holden Breeze, Oral Roberts (MVP)
- Jackson Loftin, Oral Roberts
- Mac McCroskey, Oral Roberts
- Kaleb McCullough, Oral Roberts
- Jake McMurray, Oral Roberts
The NCAA Tournament selections were announced Monday morning.