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Western Illinois University Athletics

Baseball
Sarah Twidwell
6
Winner Oral Roberts ORU 19-12
4
Western Illinois WIU 4-26
Winner
Oral Roberts ORU
19-12
6
Final
4
Western Illinois WIU
4-26
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Oral Roberts ORU 0 0 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 6 9 2
Western Illinois WIU 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 4 6 4

W: Evan Kowalski (3-1) L: Warkentien, Jace (1-5) S: Kaleb McCullough (3)

Game Recap: Baseball | | WIU Athletic Communications

Jack Bell Has Career Day In Series Opening Loss

Jack Bell pitched a career-high four shutout innings, but Western Illinois couldn’t find a late rally.

MACOMB, ILL.- Western Illinois baseball (2-8, 4-26) dropped its series opener to the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (5-2, 19-12) by a final score of 6-4. The Leathernecks held an early lead, but a five-run third inning by Oral Roberts gave them the run support they needed. Western Illinois battled down to the last pitch but couldn't produce enough late runs to mount a comeback.
 
Kory Olsen gave WIU its first baserunner of the game with a single to lead off the bottom of the second. Olsen later advanced to third on a wild pitch and fielder's choice groundout. Adam Juran drove in Olsen by reaching on a fielder's choice to give Western a 1-0 lead.
 
Oral Roberts answered immediately in the third, leading off the inning with a double and a pair of singles to tie the game at 1-1. The Leathernecks hurt themselves with a dropped fly ball two batters later, allowing Oral Roberts to take the lead. The Golden Eagles kept their foot on the gas and used back-to-back singles to drive in two more runs to go up 4-1. Another error by WIU later in the inning brought in ORU's fifth run of the inning.
 
Oral Roberts sent down the first two hitters in Western Illinois' half of the third, but a two-out double from Diego Munoz kept the inning alive. Dillon Sears took advantage of the runner in scoring position, lining a single to center to score Munoz and make it a 5-2 ball game.
 
An error and single gave Oral Roberts a pair of baserunners to begin the fifth, and a wild pitch put both runners in scoring position. A fly ball to left field was deep enough to set up a sacrifice fly for ORU, giving them a 6-2 lead. Jace Warkentien managed to escape with just the one run surrendered, using a strikeout and ground out to get out of the jam.
 
Derek Botaletto got a one-out single in the bottom of the fifth and advanced to second on a fielder error by Oral Roberts. Oral Roberts threw a wild pitch on a 3-2 count to walk Nick Mitchell and allow Botaletto to advance to third. Mitchell then stole second base, which allowed Botaletto to score and cut the Golden Eagles down to three.
 
Juran started a rally in the eighth with a one-out double and later scored on an error by Oral Roberts to get Western Illinois back within two. However, Oral Roberts put WIU's top of the order down 1-2-3 in the ninth to take game one 6-4.
 
Jack Bell was spectacular out of the bullpen for the Leathernecks, pitching a career-high four innings, allowing no runs, just one hit, and struck out a career-high four batters.
 
Diego Munoz led the offense, going 2-5 with a double and a run scored. Adam Juran also hit a double in Friday's matchup and drove in his 12th RBI of the season.
 
The series versus the Golden Eagles concludes tomorrow (April 16) with a doubleheader beginning at noon.
 
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