ORU’s record run in the 2023 season came to a close last week as they went into a win or be eliminated game losing to Texas Christian University 1-6 in the College World Series.  The Golden Eagles closed their season with a 52-14 record, 1-2 in the World Series.  The 52 wins in a season are a program record in their Division 1 play.

The Golden Eagle only win in the College World Series came in their first game played in the Series against TCU 6-5. ORU then lost against Florida 4-5 and in the rematch against TCU they were eliminated 1-6.

In their final game TCU scored first on a walk in the second inning and again in the fourth inning off of a balk.  Then in the fifth inning the Horned Frogs added four more runs, leading 6-0.  ORU’s lone run of the day was added in the fifth inning by Jacob Goodman with Jonah Cox earning the RBI.

In the final inning, the Golden Eagles loaded up the bases, but no runs were scored as the final inning went scoreless. for both teams with TCU winning 6-1.

ORU’s Brooks Fowler was the losing pitcher with only one run in his three innings of pitching.  Cade Denton earned 6 strikouts over his four  scoreless innings.

In other highlights Cox hit 3 out of 5 in his final game making this his 33rd multi-hit game in 2023.  Jake Mc Murray was walked 3 times, while Holden Breeze was walked twice.  Mac McCroskey stole his 17th base for the year.  The Golden Eagles only recorded seven hits for the game.

Head coach Folmar described the team, “It’s as close of a group as we’ve ever had. It’s also as selfless of a group as we’ve ever had. There’s a lot of different components to being able to have a team like this. It all happened the right way. But it starts with good players, good leaders, work ethic, character, and integrity. This team epitomizes all of those.”

This was ORU’s second appearance in the College World Series with the first time being in 1978 under Coach Larry Cochell, that team went 45-12, winning one game in the World Series and then losing two.