ORUTerry Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 ORU Closes in on Mid-Con Championship: Soaring streak by JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer 5/14/2007 Eagles begin quest for 10th league title Maybe the only way Oral Roberts doesn't win its 10th consecutive Mid-Continent Conference championship is if the league changes its name. Which, apparently, will happen on Tuesday, when the Mid-Con holds a press conference to formally announce its name change to the Summit League, effective June 1. On Sunday, the Golden Eagles took one more step toward their 10th straight conference crown, beating Centenary 3-2 in dramatic fashion and sweeping their four-game series with the Gents to improve to 33-15 overall and 15-1 in Mid-Con play. ORU's rein of Mid-Con dominance ranks only behind Oklahoma State's NCAA record of 16 straight Big Eight titles from 1979-95 and Wichita State's 14 consecutive Missouri Valley crowns from 1987-2000. Texas won 10 Southwest Conference championships in a row twice. ORU's magic number to clinch the regular-season title is one. They finish the schedule next weekend with a four-game series at second-place Western Illinois (30-20 overall, 11-5 Mid-Con). The following weekend, the Leathernecks host the Mid-Con Tournament. "It's going to be a very intense atmosphere," said ORU pitcher Chance Chapman. Chapman, who struck out an ORU and league-record 19 batters against Centenary on Friday and ranks among the nation's leaders in strikeouts and earned run average, recalled a newspaper article written during the preseason suggesting this could be the year ORU is knocked off its perch by Western Illinois. "They really think they can do it," Chapman said. "That fired a lot of us up." Consider these numbers: ORU is 192-21 (.901) all-time in Mid-Con play, including a 26-1 mark (.963) in the postseason tournament. ORU has won 21 consecutive Mid-Con Tournament games. Since 2000, ORU is 159-11 against the Mid-Con, a winning percentage of .935. Against current Mid-Con members Centenary (16-1), Oakland (32-2), Southern Utah (36-5), Valparaiso (32-2) and Western Illinois (27-1), the Golden Eagles are 143-11 (.929) since 2000. ORU is now 141-6 (.959) in Mid-Con play at home, 128-3 (.977) since 1999. At times, it seems like the Golden Eagles have to try to lose a Mid-Con game at Johnson Stadium. That almost happened Sunday against Centenary (23-28 6-10). Starting pitcher Chris Ashman gave up a two-run home run to Matt Webb in the fifth inning, and ORU's hitters had scrapped together just enough offense for one run. Then, with one out in the bottom of the eighth, catcher David Genao -- batting in the 8-hole and carrying a .208 batting average, zero home runs and five runs batted in all season -- hit a 1-2 pitch out of the park, a two-run home run that put the Golden Eagles back in front 3-2. "He was due," said second baseman Jake Kahaulelio. "Really, his batting average is not indicative of how many good swings he's taken this year," said ORU coach Rob Walton. "He's lined out many times." The Golden Eagles may or may not be better than they were last year, when they won the Fayetteville Regional and had Clemson on the ropes in a super regional. "Our staff every year is different," Ashman said. "You can't say one year is better than the other." And yet, the goal remains precisely the same: get better each week, win the Mid-Con, own the No. 1 seed in the tournament, win the Mid-Con Tournament and get to a regional. When the series at Western Illinois starts Thursday, the Golden Eagles will have as big a target on them as they ever had in Mid-Con play. Still, the size of the target seems to matter little. Sunday's win was ORU 18th in its last 19 games. "We need to not worry about what anybody else is doing and just continue to play well," Walton said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John E. Hoover 581-8384 john.hoover@tulsaworld.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 I'm not sure if that article stole my thunder or set up my post, but I wanted to look forward a little this AM at who we might play in the Mid-Con Tournament. As the article pointed out, we need one win (we are currently at 15-1, WIU is at 11-5 in conference) at Western Illinois to clinch the regular season championship and number one seed in the tournament. It's obvious at this point that WIU will get at least the number two seed (they'd have to sweep us this weekend to end up with an equal record, and I don't know how the tiebreaker is decided in baseball, but if they do it the same way they do in basketball, comparing head to head competition, they'd get first seed with a 4-0 advantage. But if we win one game, we get the one seed), and right now Valpo and Centenary have identical conference records at 6-10. It appears that in the first round of the tournament we'll be facing one of them. If their records stay equal, and they use head to head competition to determine the tiebreaker, Valpo would get the third seed due to their 3-1 advantage over Centenary when they played. That means that we'd be facing Valpo in the first round of the tournament two weeks from now. Then again, I'm not sure it matters all that much . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vuperson Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 Valpo beat Centenary 3 out of 4, so Valpo would get the tiebreaker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 Oops! Sorry - I checked the Valpo site, and got them turned around - I thought Valpo lost 3 out of four. My mistake! I'll correct my post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBlue82 Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 Don't count out Southern Utah - they're also 6-10. Whoever wins the SUU/Valpo series is a lock for the tourney, and the other bid is up for grabs. If Oakland wins 3 of 4 from Centenary, they could even slip in the back door! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted May 14, 2007 Share Posted May 14, 2007 Man! You guys are poking all sorts of holes in my "carefully researched" post! I don't know how I missed SUU's 6-10 record this AM. I started checking this out last night, and at that time SUU was a game behind - I guess they hadn't updated the standings yet. Okay, one more correction and I'm locking this thread!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted May 15, 2007 Share Posted May 15, 2007 Okay, one more correction and I'm locking this thread!! And, here it is: in reference to your other post regarding Chance Chapman, and your spelling of the word "pitcher". The way it's spelled sounds like what Daffy Duck "takes" in the men's room! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted May 15, 2007 Share Posted May 15, 2007 HA! You're right! Two problems, though - first, that's in another thread. Second, I wouldn't lock this thread just so I don't give YOU the satisfaction!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 Okay, one more correction and I'm locking this thread!! You know, while reviewing this thread for another topic I realized I didn't have the ability to lock it even if I had wanted to! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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