NCAA Regionals: Arizona ends ORU's 16-game win streak (Tulsa World)

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NCAA Regionals: Arizona ends ORU's 16-game win streak

LARRY W. SMITH / Associated Press

Chance Chapman gave up three runs in six innings in ORU?s 4-3 loss to Arizona.

   

By JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer

6/2/2007

Golden Eagles need a win Saturday to stay alive.

WICHITA -- Oral Roberts uncharacteristically lost a baseball game Friday because the Golden Eagles did some uncharacteristic things.

Arizona came out of a 77-minute rain delay to score a run in the bottom of the seventh and hung on for a 4-3 triumph at the Wichita Regional.

"I just don't think they got our A-game," said ORU coach Rob Walton. "That's for sure."

Three key plays led to the end of the Golden Eagles' 16-game winning streak and knocked ORU into a 1 p.m. losers bracket game Saturday against Wichita State.

Starting pitcher Chance Chapman came in having hit just six batters all season, but he plunked three Wildcats, including one who scored a run in the third inning.

Later in the third, Arizona scored an unearned run when normally reliable right fielder Brendan Duffy charged and whiffed on a single to right field with a runner at first base. The miscue put runners at second and third, and the Wildcats scored both runners on a fly ball and a groundout.

In the seventh, with the score tied at 3-3 after the rain delay, Erik Crichton  replaced Chapman and got two quick outs before starting Colt Sedbrook with an 0-2 count. But Crichton left the throwaway pitch out over the plate and Sedbrook flared a single to right field, starting a run of three straight slap hits -- the last of which brought home Sedbrook from second and put Arizona ahead, 4-3.

The third-seeded Golden Eagles fall to 40-16, while No. 2 seed Arizona -- which plays New Orleans at 7 p.m. Saturday -- improves to 41-15.

An Eck Stadium crowd of 2,507 also saw Golden Eagle hitters strike out 16 times against Wildcat pitching. Starter Preston Guilmet (12-2) struck out 11 in seven innings, and closer Jason Stoffel struck out five of the six batters he faced.

Maybe the most damaging strikeout came in the second inning, when Guilmet gave up two singles and a walk to load the bases with no outs, but then got Brian Van Kirk to chase a full-count slider. Guilmet then ended the threat when he caught Carter McQuigg's hard line drive at the belt and threw to first base for the double play.

"What we did," said ORU's Jake Kahaulelio, "is miss a lot of pitches that we should have hit; not putting the ball in play with two strikes, putting a little pressure on the defense. Especially on turf, anything can happen."

Said Walton, "That's been our Achilles' heel all year offensively. If a guy's got a decent breaking ball and he can bounce it, we're going to swing through it."

Twelve of the 16 strikeouts were swinging.

"We knew they'd bite on (sliders out of the strike zone)," Guilmet said. "As long as I threw it up there and made it appetizing for them, they'd chase it."

ORU also wasted a scoring opportunity in the sixth inning. With runners at first and second and one out, Adam Younger popped out. Duffy then ripped a one-hop shot down the third base line that Brad Glenn dived for, stabbed at and smothered before stepping on third base for the final out.

"That really kind of got us in the right direction," said Arizona coach Andy Lopez.

Chapman -- who threw 93 pitches and could be available for spot duty later in the tournament -- had retired 12-of-14 hitters before lightning forced the teams into the clubhouse and the fans out of the stadium. Crichton (4-5), who had won his previous four decisions, was making his way to the field before the delay.

"I've just never liked rain delays, because you have a chance to come out flat," Walton said. "Guys end up getting too loose and lose focus. I think that's what happened to us a little bit."

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John E. Hoover 581-8384

john.hoover@tulsaworld.com

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Arizona 4, Oral Roberts 3

ORAL ROBERTS  ARIZONA

ab r h bi  ab r h bi 

Duffy,rf  5 1 1 0 Pace, lf  3 0 0 0

Minissale,cf  3 1 1 0 Fon,ph/lf  1 0 0 0

Kahaulelio,2b  4 0 0 1 Sedbrook,2b  2 2 1 0

Rothford,1b  4 1 2 1 Ziegler,1b  3 1 2 0

Pearson,dh  4 0 1 0 Rinehart,rf  3 0 1 2

Warfle,lf  2 0 1 0 Glenn,3b  3 0 0 1

Van Kirk,c  3 0 0 0 Steele,cf  4 1 2 0

Genao,c  1 0 0 0 Gaston,dh  4 0 1 1

McQuigg,3b  3 0 1 1 Childs,c  4 0 0 0

Younger,ss  4 0 0 0 Abel,ss  2 0 0 0

Totals  33 3 7  3 Totals  29 4 7  4

Oral Roberts  000  120  000  --  3 

Arizona  012 000 10x --  4 

E: Duffy (5). LOB: ORU 7; Arizona 7. 2B: Minissale (6), Rothford (16), Gaston (14). SB: Sedbrook (7), Glenn (9), Steele (20).

Oral Roberts  IP  H  R  ER BB  SO

Chapman  6  3 3 2 2 6

Crichton L,4-5  2  4 1 1 0 1

Arizona

Guilemet W,12-1  7  7 3 3 3 11

Stoffel  2  0 0 0 0 5

HBP: by Chapman (Sedbvrook), by Guilmet (Warfle), by Chapman (Sedbrook), by Chapman (Abel). WP: Chapman (2).

T: 2:34. A: 2,507.

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WICHITA REGIONAL

At Eck Stadium

Friday

Game 1: Arizona 4, Oral Roberts 3

Game 2: New Orleans 7, Wichita State 6

Saturday

Game 3: Oral Roberts (40-16) vs. Wichita State (49-20), 1 p.m.

Game 4: Arizona (41-15) vs. New Orleans (38-24), 7 p.m.

Sunday

Game 5: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 loser, 1 p.m.

Game 6: Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 7 p.m.

Monday

Game 7: Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 7 p.m., if necessary

[tmh8286]

That was a really great review of yesterday's game.  It just points out how close we were to coming out on the other end of that game.  It shows that great teams make big plays, and that's what Arizona did.  But it also shows we can compete with any team in the country, and if we played them again the result could very easily be reversed.