Courtesy of Wichita State Athletics
WICHITA, Kan. -- Wichita State was held to three hits by a combination of four Oral Roberts pitchers, as the #16-ranked Golden Eagles defeated the Shockers 4-1 on Tuesday night at Eck Stadium.
All three hits from the Shockers (27-20) came courtesy of Chuck Ingram, who got the scoring started in the first when he singled, stole second, moved to third on an error, and scored on a Garrett Pennington sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead. The Wichita State offense was held in check the rest of the way by ORU starter Joshua Caravalho and relievers Dalton Patten (2-1), Jacob Widener and Cade Denton, who combined to strike out 10.
The Golden Eagles (37-11) won their ninth straight game, tying the contest at 1-1 in the fourth then grabbing the lead for good with a pair of runs in the sixth. Mac McCroskey got Oral Roberts on the board with an RBI single against starter Grant Adler, who pitched well in a no-decision. Adler allowed three hits and one run over 4.0 innings, striking out three and walking two.
ORU took the lead in the sixth when Matt Hogan roped an RBI triple to deep right-center, followed by a McCrosky sacrifice fly for a 3-1 advantage. Both runs were charged to Shocker reliever Robert Cranz (1-2), who struck out three over 2.0 innings out of the WSU bullpen.
Scoreless innings from Matt Wilkinson and Jace Miner kept the Shockers within striking distance, but the Golden Eagles struck for an insurance run in the ninth via a two-out RBI double from Blaze Brothers for the game's final margin.
Wichita State managed two legitimate scoring threats in the middle innings, but came up empty both times. A walk to David Herring and a Kyte McDonald hit by pitch opened the fifth, but Patten escaped the jam with a strikeout, a pop up and a fielder's choice grounder. The following inning, Brock Rodden walked and moved to second on an errant pickoff with nobody out, but Widener squelched the threat with a strikeout and a pop out.
Denton nailed down his 11th save with a 1-2-3 ninth.
The Shockers are back in action with their final home series of the season this weekend against South Florida. First pitch of Friday's series opener is scheduled for 6:00 pm.