ORU Baseball: Golden Eagles cope with rust

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ORU Baseball: Golden Eagles cope with rust

By JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer

2/23/2007

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Old Man Winter has finally loosened his grip on the region, but his fingerprints remain on college baseball. Teams stricken with ice and snow now are getting their outdoor practice time during games.

"You can simulate all you want in a (batting) cage," said Oral Roberts coach Rob Walton, "but it's not going to happen."

The 2007 season is but five games old, and ORU faces a critical juncture this weekend when the Golden Eagles travel to Baylor. ORU, swept last week in three games at No. 22 Texas Christian, travels to No. 13 Texas next weekend.

"We're going to take some lumps," Walton said. "No question, we're going to take some lumps. But if we see those guys in the end, we're going to be able to respond a little differently."

Oklahoma (2-4), thick with transfers, opens its home schedule this weekend with three games against Western Illinois. No. 17 Oklahoma State (5-1), which had its entire home series against Hofstra cancelled by weather, visits Cal State-Northridge for three games this weekend. The Cowboys play their first home game Feb. 27 against Dallas Baptist.

After opening the season at home with a pair of wins over Missouri Southern, ORU is now 2-3. Weather, Walton said, is the culprit for ORU's slow start, and

although the climate has improved, the schedule is more unforgiving than ever.

"I expected to stumble early because we haven't been on the field, one, and then we're so inexperienced on the mound," Walton said.

Walton said the winter blast kept his team off the field for most of January, which means, "the first live pitching they see is in a game. Just imagine a basketball player, you're shooting the ball all the time but nobody's guarding you; the first time somebody guards you is in a game. That'd be tough to do. It's not like just shooting around. You need game speed, you need somebody guarding you.

"It's going to take us time. To be honest, it might take us a month. I don't think it's going to take a weekend or two weekends to get locked in. I think it's going to take us a month before we see any results when we're that young and inexperienced on the mound."

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