Southern Utah and Oral Roberts have met in the Mid-Continent Conference baseball tournament championship game the last four years, and for the fourth-straight time the Golden Eagles came away with the title, defeating the Thunderbirds, 8-2, Saturday in Tulsa, Okla.
With the loss, Southern Utah closed its season at 21-29, while Oral Roberts improved to 41-18 to claim its sixth-straight conference championship overall and the Mid-Con's automatic berth to the NCAA Regionals.
ORU jumped out to a 2-0 lead off SUU starter Chris Mower in the second on a lead-off solo home run by Andy Hargrove and an RBI double from Josh Lex. The Golden Eagles used the long ball to double the lead to 4-0 in the third when tourney-MVP Dennis Bigley belted his third homer of the tournament, a two-run shot which scored David Castillo, who reached on a one-out error.
Southern Utah trailed 5-0 before breaking through in the run column in the sixth with a two-run rally, started with back-to-back singles by seniors Jake Reynolds and Tom Ford. Mower was then issued a walk to load the bases by ORU starter Taylor McIntyre, who then balked in Reynolds with SUU's first run. Junior Jona Droubay followed with an RBI-single off reliever Sean Sorrow to bring the Thunderbirds to within 5-2. However, that was as close as SUU would get as ORU plated single runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth frames to put the game away.
McIntyre held SUU to the two runs on five hits in 5.1 innings to pick up the win, while Sorrow pitched 3.2 innings of two-hit relief with four strikeouts to save it. Mower lasted three innings for SUU in his first career start, allowing four runs — three earned — on five hits.
ORU outhit Southern Utah 13-7, including three hits for Hargrove, while Bigley finished with three RBIs. Ford finished with two hits to lead SUU, senior outfielder Ryan Duvall saw his 12-game hitting streak stopped with an 0-for-2 day with two walks.
Southern Utah placed four players on the all-tournament team, including Reynolds, Ford, senior outfielder Ryan Duvall and freshman pitcher Jason Gillins. Reynolds, who hit safely in 13 of his final 14 games, hit .357 (5-for-14) in the tourney with a triple, four RBIs, six runs scored and seven stolen bases, while Ford batted .412 (7-for-17) with a double, home run, four RBI and four runs scored. Duvall also hit .357 with a double, two RBIs and five runs scored. Gillins had a solid outing in Fridays game with ORU, holding the Eagles to four runs on nine hits with three strikeouts in 7.2 innings in a 6-2 defeat.