Feb. 18, 2005

Box Score

WACO, Texas - Kevin Lamb's pinch-hit grand slam capped a six-run eighth inning as No. 24 Oral Roberts made use of 10 walks by Baylor pitchers for a 9-3 victory over the Bears in Friday night's series opener at Baylor Ballpark.

Oral Roberts (4-0) led 3-2 entering the eighth, but the Golden Eagles made use of four walks and an error to pull away from Baylor (3-2). Lamb's grand slam was the only hit in the inning.

Meanwhile, ORU starter Dennis Bigley  was touched for two unearned runs in the second and then settled down to stymie the Baylor bats over the next five frames. Bigley (2-0) allowed just five hits on the night, three of which came in the second inning, with two walks, both coming in the first inning, and two strikeouts. Bigley retired 12 consecutive batters between a Zach Dillon leadoff single in the fourth and an eighth-inning leadoff single by Paul Witt, the final batter he faced.

Baylor plated two runs in the second inning to take an early lead. Mike Pankratz reached on an error to lead off the inning and then scored on a Dillon RBI single. After singles by Kevin Russo and Seth Fortenberry, Witt scored Dillon with a sacrifice fly.

Oral Roberts answered with three runs on two hits and two walks in the top of the third. Brian Hanson plated the first run with an RBI single; two batters later, Jon Tackett provided a two-out, two-run single to put the Golden Eagles ahead for good.

The Bears managed a run in the bottom of the ninth; Michael Griffin led off with a double and later scored when Lamb misplayed a Dillon single in right field.

Baylor starter Mark McCormick (0-1) was saddled with the loss. He was touched for three runs on four hits and four walks with four strikeouts in 4.0 innings.

Dillon led the Bears at the plate, going 3-for-4 with an RBI.

Baylor and Oral Roberts meet again Saturday at 5:30 p.m. CST. It will be dueling Southpaw Taylors as the Bears send Trey Taylor (1-0) to the mound opposite Taylor McIntyre (1-0).