It was a cold weekend, but the ORU Golden Eagles were able to open the 2019 baseball season with a three-game sweep of Murray State, last week at J.L. Johnson Stadium.
The season opener was scheduled for Friday, however, due to rain and cold temperatures, the game was moved to Saturday – forcing a doubleheader.
Hunter Wilson and Andrew Pace led the Golden Eagles (3-0) to a sweep of the doubleheader. After spotting Murray State a five-run lead, the ORU bats came alive against the Racers relievers. ORU rallied for to 6-5 win in game one before a decisive, 11-3 victory in game two.
Wilson and Pace combined to go 11-for-18 with seven RBI and five runs scored. Pace also contributed defensively making a diving catch in the left-center gap closing the top of the fifth.
ORU scored five runs in the seventh inning of game two to take a commanding 11-2 lead. Murray State scored one more run, and the final was 11-3.
Senior Josh McMinn picked up the win in game one as the starter and freshman Trey Wolf earned the save in his collegiate debut, while Matt Gaskins won his first start at ORU in the finale.
“We got a lot of guys to the mound and that was important as we saw some young guys on the mound in tight situations,” said ORU head coach Ryan Folmar. “I was proud of the way those guys responded, but as much as anything on opening day you just have to get out and play.”
The two teams wrapped up the three-game series on Sunday, as ORU jumped all over the Racers’ starter Shane Burns, and scored five runs in the second inning. The Golden Eagles added another seven runs in the fourth, and had a 15-0 lead before Murray State scored its first run in the sixth inning.
ORU went on to cruise to an 18-3 win.
Trevor McCutchin was the star of Sunday’s game, going 5-for-6 with four singles and a solo home run. Spencer Henson also hit a solo homer, and Blake Hall added a three-run blast.
“It was good to see Trevor get going” Folmar said. “He especially had a couple of good swings in his later at bats.”
The Golden Eagles got a superb pitching performance from freshman Isaac Coffey in his collegiate debut as he shut down the Racers for one hit in five innings, without allowing a run. The bullpen closed the day giving up just two more hits over the last four innings.
“Coffey had command of all three pitches so he was really attacking the strike zone, and it was good to get some young pitchers innings as well,” Folmar said. “Everyone who pitched today had their first D-1 outing, so it was great experience for those guys.”
ORU was scheduled to host Missouri State on Tuesday, weather permitting, before traveling to Corpus Christi this weekend to take part in the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Tournament. ORU will face the host team, BYU and Ohio State.
The next home games for the Golden Eagles will be against Purdue in a four-game series beginning March 1.
TU SPRING FOOTBALL
The Tulsa Golden Hurricane football team will begin spring practices on March 3. It will be the first of 15 scheduled spring practice dates that is slated for two weeks before and two weeks after the school’s Spring Break. Spring Drills will conclude with the Annual Spring Football Game on Saturday, April 6 at 11 a.m. at H.A. Chapman Stadium.
Tulsa enters spring practice 2019 with 48 returning lettermen and a total of 30 players who started at least one game over their career, including 11 on offense, 16 on defense and three specialists.