Baseball America article

[Irish333]

Baseball America has an article about ORU on their college preview page.  I don't have access, does anyone here have access and can you share the info?

[ORU-sisko]

I really want to read that article....

I have been thinking about getting a subscription...i dont really pay attention to any baseball except ORU baseball.

If anybody has a membership, paste it on here for us sports junkies, yea?

[ReallyBigORUFan]

Here you go!! 

Enjoy!

Oral Roberts Mid-Con Reign Seems Unending

By John Hoover

January 23, 2007

TULSA--Oral Roberts will win its 10th Mid-Continent Conference championship this summer.

Next year, that streak will stretch to 11. Then 12. And 13.

It's a prediction as likely to become fact as anything in college sports.

The current streak of nine ranks as the fourth-longest in Division I history, and Oral Roberts has a chance to break Oklahoma State's record of 16 straight Big Eight titles from 1979-95,

ORU's stay in the Mid-Con penthouse likely will end when the Golden Eagles finally leave the Mid-Con.

Of course, you can't convince ORU coach Rob Walton of that.

"There's so much parity in college athletics now, anything's possible. Anybody's capable of getting upset," said Walton, who led the Golden Eagles to their first super-regional last season. "We are the favorites to win the Mid-Con, but the difference between the top, the middle and the bottom is not as separated as it used to be."

There are at least 11.7 reasons why ORU dominates one of college baseball's otherwise worst leagues, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. The private school in Tulsa, Okla., has been the Mid-Con's only program to consistently fund the NCAA limit of 11.7 scholarships. That factor shows up on the diamond more than any other.

Other reasons for Oral Roberts' Mid-Con dominance:

? ORU is the only league school that pays three full-time assistant coaches.

? The Golden Eagles' facility, J.L. Johnson Stadium--which was state-of-the-art when it was built 30 years ago--recently underwent $1.6 million in renovations and remains a jewel of the Midwest.

? Oral Roberts' recruiting and travel budgets are unrivaled in the Mid-Con.

? ORU has the Mid-Con's most lucrative equipment contract.

? Climate-wise, only Centenary in Shreveport, La., can compare.

? Tradition. Forget nine years of Mid-Con dominance. ORU's baseball program has been good for more than 30 years, going back even further than Larry Cochell's College World Series team in 1978.

During its Mid-Con reign, ORU's smallest margin of victory over the league runner-up was three games. Since 1999, no team has finished within six games of the Golden Eagles. In 2003, Oral Roberts won the Mid-Con by eight games despite playing just 20 league contests.

The Bottom Line

The recent departure of two teams--Chicago State this season and Valparaiso next season--dropped baseball membership to an embarrassingly low five teams and was a black eye for the conference, but it impacts ORU baseball minimally. And it's unlikely that their replacements--Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne, North Dakota State and South Dakota State--will contend any time soon.

Even if other Mid-Con teams did fund 11.7 scholarships, it is doubtful ORU's streak would be in jeopardy. With the Mid-Con's best travel budget, best facilities, best coaching and best equipment, the Golden Eagles can attract annual home-and-home series with Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Wichita State. That increases ticket sales, which improves the bottom line.

"A lot of our schools," said Mid-Con associate commissioner Ed Grom, "don't attract quality non-conference opponents."

As per Walton's standard, ORU visits Baylor, Texas and Long Beach State for three-game sets this year. On the mid-major level, competitive schedules against big-time programs, even on the road, can bring in top high school or junior college talent.

"The ability to go out and recruit in places like California and Texas like Oral Roberts has done has led to getting some quality recruits," Grom said. "None of the other schools have done that because of the recruiting budgets they're getting."

The ultimate answer to ORU's run is superior talent. During the past nine years, every ORU catcher and every ORU shortstop has signed a pro contract. Walton said former All-American Grant Plumley, who drove a 2004 team that went 50-11, was "the best defensive shortstop I've seen in the last 25 years."

It's About Pitching

Various Mid-Con schools have different issues impeding their progress. Valparaiso, Southern Utah and Western Illinois have football, which makes the prospect of adding baseball scholarships noncompliant with Title IX requirements. Other schools don't prioritize baseball in funding or facilities. And some schools simply can't recruit talented baseball players to northern climates or remote towns.

Meanwhile, ORU is stronger than ever. After a school-record seven consecutive losses last season, everybody got healthy and the Golden Eagles won 31 of their last 34 on the way to beating Arkansas and Oklahoma State to win the Fayetteville regional. They then scared the stirrups off national seed Clemson in a super regional.

"That's a testament to the quality of the depth they have," Grom said. "Every school in the league may have one pitcher that can win a game, but they don't have three or four that can win a series against Oral Roberts. It's about pitching."

One thing this season that seems to be in everyone else's favor: thanks to a league rule that prohibits a member institution from hosting a conference championship more than two years in a row, the postseason tournament will be played in Macomb, Ill., home of Western Illinois. Leathernecks coach Stan Hyman, who in his sixth season is the longest-tenured Mid-Con coach, has brought in several junior-college transfers, including pitchers Justin Eissens and Frank Zenisek, that he believes will make Western Illinois competitive.

"This will be our best team ever," he said. "After recording the best season ever in 2006, we return a solid nucleus and added a top recruiting class.

"After losing (the) Mid-Con title game 2-0 to ORU, this team should become first Western squad to reach NCCA tourney."

Walton's club stands in his way. In Mid-Con tournament play, ORU is 30-1 all time and has won 21 in a row, with seven of the previous eight tournaments played in Tulsa. ORU is 183-20 all-time in Mid-Con play (a winning percentage of .901), 151-10 since 2000 (.938).

Sounds daunting, but Walton said it's not impossible.

"For anybody to get better in the conference," Walton said, "you've got to hustle at it and work at it, and hopefully you get lucky here or there and you get a player that can help you turn the corner."