BROOKINGS Oral Roberts Wailele Kane-Yates homered twice in both ends of a doubleheader, lifting the Golden Eagles to a sweep of South Dakota State in Summit League baseball action at a blustery Erv Huether Field on Thursday afternoon.
With their two wins and a St. Thomas loss at Northern Colorado, the Golden Eagles moved into a tie atop the league standings with a 19-9 record and improved to 32-20 overall. SDSU dropped to 16-32 overall and 12-16 in The Summit League.
Game 1: Oral Roberts 11, South Dakota State 4
ORU hit five home runs and received six solid innings from Easton Teel to win the opener, 11-4.
After the Jackrabbits scored an unearned run in the bottom of the first inning, ORU responded with a four-run top of the second that featured two-run homers by Ethan Fender and Owen Coil.
Kane-Yates pushed the Golden Eagle lead to 5-1 with a solo shot in the third inning and extended the lead again with a two-run homer to center field in the seventh. Fender followed later in the seventh with his second home run of the game as he finished with five RBIs.
SDSU had drawn to within 5-3 in the fifth inning with three consecutive two out hits. Carter Sintek started the rally at the top of the lineup with a single and scored on Nolan Grawes double to the right-center gap. Bryce Ronken followed with his second run-scoring hit of the game.
Oral Roberts tacked on two more runs in the top of the ninth, with the Jackrabbits closing out the scoring on a pinch-hit RBI single by Tyson Kogel.
Teel struck out three and did not walk a batter over six innings. Jared Ure added four Ks in three innings to close out the game.
Jackrabbit starter Arlen Peters took the loss after allowing five runs – four earned – on six hits over six innings. He walked two and struck out four.
ORU finished with an 11-8 advantage in hits, with seven of the hits going for extra bases. Ronken was 3-for-4 to lead SDSU at the plate.
Game 2: Oral Roberts 14, South Dakota State 8
The two squads combined for eight home runs, but four South Dakota State errors opened the door for ORU to score seven unearned runs.
The Oral Roberts victory overshadowed a three-homer performance by SDSU first baseman Dayton Franke. The freshman from Plymouth, Minnesota, extended an early Jackrabbit lead to 4-1 with a solo home run in the top of the third inning, then homered in each of his next two at-bats, connecting on a deep blast over the right-field fence in the fifth and an opposite-field shot to left field in the seventh.
In between, however, ORU capitalized on Jackrabbit mistakes in the field to plate six runs in the fourth inning and five more in the sixth. The six-run fourth began with a leadoff home run by Martell Davis and Kane-Yates added a three-run shot later in the inning.
In the sixth, Will Edmunson hit a three-run home run and Kane-Yates clubbed a two-run shot to center field for his fourth round-tripper of the day and his seventh and eighth RBIs of the twinbill.
The Jackrabbits rallied for four runs in the top of the eighth as Grawe delivered a run-scoring single and Ronken hit a three-run homer to right field.
Dalton Patten closed out the Oral Roberts victory by recording the final four outs. Nathan Love worked the first four innings, followed by 3 2/3 innings from Bryadon Sanford.
Five different pitchers went to the mound for the Jackrabbits in Game 2, with Jake Goble taking the loss after being touched for six runs – three earned – on seven hits in 1 1/3 innings. Tristan Augedahl logged 2 1/3 scoreless innings to finish for SDSU.
SDSU grabbed a 3-0 lead in the second inning when Nicholas Werks fly ball to shallow right center field was misplayed in the wind, resulting in a triple that scored both Dagen Schramm and Tyson Kogel. Werk later scored on a groundout.
Hits were even at 13 in the nightcap. Franke and Dagen Schramm were each 3-for-4 for SDSU while Keaton Campbell notched three hits for the Golden Eagels.
Notes
- Oral Roberts leads the season series, 4-0, and the all-time series, 80-23
- ORU was designated as the home team for Game 2 as that was considered a makeup game from a senes played in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in April.
- Grawes RBI double in Game 1 was his 61st hit of the season, setting a new Jackrabbit freshman record in the Division I era (since 2005).
- Grawe ended the day with 62 hits for the season as he surpassed the previous mark of 60 hits first set by Nick Adams in 2005 and matched by Gus Steiger in 2018.
- Frankes three-home run performance was the fifth by a Jackrabbit in the D-I era.
- Franke now ranks second on the team with eight home runs this season, which have come in only 57 at-bats
- Ronken has reached base safely in 27 consecutive games.
- Ronken homered for the first time since a two-homer performance March 1 at Sacramento State.
- Schramms career-high three hits in Game 2 included a pair of doubles
- Dane Toman pitched two innings to wrap up Game 1 for the Jackrabbits, marking his first appearance since April 2 at Kansas.
Up next
The third game of the series is set for 1 p.m. Friday. Recognition ceremonies for the 12 members of the Jackrabbit senior class will begin at 12:40 p.m. Please note that due to inclement weather in the forecast, the Cubbys Feed the Fans pregame event has been canceled.
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