College Baseball 360 » Oral Roberts baseball http://collegebaseball360.com baseball news, college baseball stats, sean stires, pete lafleur, college world series video, college baseball podcast, Fri, 14 Feb 2025 21:33:52 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.38 ORU Picked For Another Summit Baseball Crown http://collegebaseball360.com/oru-picked-for-another-summit-baseball-crown/ http://collegebaseball360.com/oru-picked-for-another-summit-baseball-crown/#comments Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:57:17 +0000 http://collegebaseball360.com/?p=24037

Eagles Have Won 14 Straight…

ELMHURST, Ill. – Oral Roberts is favored to win its 15th-straight Summit League Baseball Tournament title in a vote among the league’s seven head coaches. The Golden Eagles received six first-place votes and 36 points.

Western Illinois placed second in the poll with 27 points followed closely by South Dakota State with 25 points. In fourth was North Dakota State with 21 points, two ahead of Southern Utah with the final first-place vote. Oakland with 11 points and IPFW with eight points rounded out the poll.

The Golden Eagles finished the 2011 season ranked No. 23 nationally by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and return the league’s Pitcher and Newcomer of the Year in sophomore Alex Gonzalez. Gonzalez finished the year with an 8-7 record, 100 strikeouts in 105.2 innings of work and a 3.49 ERA which ranked third in the league. He was tabbed a Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and the NCBWA. Oral Roberts and reigning Coach of the Year Rob Walton also return junior Drew Bowen, who had the league’s lowest ERA at 1.73 and a 6-2 record, and Matt Rush, who had nine saves a year ago. Offensively, ORU welcomes back all-league honorees in senior infielder Cam Schiller and senior outfielder Brandon King. Schiller had a .342 average with 17 doubles and 56 RBI, while King batted .319 with 10 home runs and 56 RBI.

The 2012 season will be ORU’s last in the Summit League. The school is moving to the Southland Conference for the 2012-2013 academic year.

Western Illinois returns a trio of senior starters in infielders Austin Cowen and Tom Lilja and utility player Matt Igara. Lilja, a second team all-league performer, led the team with 11 homers, third in the league, 43 RBI and a .461 slugging percentage last season. Cowen batted .302 on the year with 37 RBI and a .396 on-base percentage, while Igara led the squad with a .317 average and 109 total bases. On the mound, the Leathernecks welcome back Dan Russell, who finished the year 6-7 with a 4.21 ERA in 102.2 innings of work, second-most in the league.

First-year South Dakota State head coach Dave Schrage inherits three of the team’s top four hitters from the 2011 campaign which saw the Jackrabbits finish second in league. First team All-Summit League selection Beau Hanowski, a senior outfielder who batted .349 with a .449 on-base percentage, returns to the lineup for SDSU. Senior outfielder Andrew Phelan batted .333 a year ago for the Jacks with 11 doubles, while senior infielder Eric Cain hit .322 with a team-leading 46 RBI. Junior right-hander Stephen Bougher also returns after collecting a 6-4 record in 13 starts last season.

The Bison finished last season with its first-ever winning record in league play and will look to continue that momentum behind the offensive production of sophomores Tim Colwell and Blake Turbak. Colwell, a utility man, batted .333 last season with 56 hits and 10 stolen bases, while Turbak, an outfielder, had a team-leading .349 batting average. Returning to the mound for North Dakota State is junior southpaw John Straka who compiled a 3-2 record and 3.60 ERA a year ago.

Southern Utah returns senior infielder Bo Cuthbertson, who was named to the Louisville Slugger All-America Third Team last season. Cuthbertson led the league in average (.432), triples (7), on-base percentage (.496) and slugging percentage (.688). Sophomore outfield Tyson Weber returns after being named a Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. Weber batted .333 with 13 doubles last season. The Thunderbirds also return all-league recipients in senior utility player Mitchell Kauweloa and junior catcher Taylor Shaw. Kauweloa hit .370 with 47 RBI, while Shaw batted .338 with a .460 on-base percentage.

The Golden Grizzlies are set to return junior utility player Mike Carson, along with senior outfielder Tim Ryan. Carson hit .329 a year ago with a team-leading .503 slugging percentage and 12 doubles, while Ryan batted .319 with a team-high 16 steals. Junior righthander Russell Luxton returns to the hill after collecting a 4.72 ERA and 4-4 record last season.

IPFW returns sophomore infielder Kristian Gayday and sophomore outfielder Steve Danielak. Gayday batted .258 last season with a .360 on-base percentage, while Danielak hit .350 in 17 games with a .400 slugging percentage.

The top four teams based on the regular season standings will compete for The Summit League Baseball Championship at J.L. Johnson Stadium in Tulsa, Okla., May 24-26. The winner of the double-elimination format will claim the league’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

2012 Baseball Preseason Poll
Place Team Points (1st)
1. Oral Roberts
 36 (6)
2. Western Illinois
 27
3. South Dakota State
 25
4. North Dakota State
 21
5. Southern Utah
 19 (1)
6. Oakland 11
7. IPFW 8

]]> http://collegebaseball360.com/oru-picked-for-another-summit-baseball-crown/feed/ 0 Oral Roberts To Join Southland Conference http://collegebaseball360.com/oral-roberts-to-join-southland-conference/ http://collegebaseball360.com/oral-roberts-to-join-southland-conference/#comments Tue, 25 Oct 2011 23:35:04 +0000 http://collegebaseball360.com/?p=23364

Baseball Has Dominated Summit For More Than A Decade…

Oral Roberts University has announced that it will join the Southland Conference, effective July 1, 2012, with competition to begin in all applicable sports for the 2012-13 academic year.

“Our number one consideration in this and all decisions is the well being of our student-athletes,” said ORU President Dr. Mark Rutland. “We look forward to being a competitive member of such an excellent conference right here in our own neighborhood. This change in geography that the Southland Conference provides us will greatly benefit our athletes.”

ORU will be leaving the Summit League, where the Golden Eagles have competed since the 1997-98 academic year. The Golden Eagle baseball team has won 14 straight Summit League Championships.

The addition of ORU increases the membership in the Southland Conference to 10 teams, including: Central Arkansas, Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston State, Lamar, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Northwestern State (La.), McNeese State, Southeastern Louisiana and Nicholls State.

“The Southland Conference has proven that it is a strong and historic mid-major conference, and we are excited about competing in the league,” said ORU Athletics Director Mike Carter. “The geographical footprint of the Southland will help us in recruiting, both for athletics and for the university.”

Southland Commissioner Tom Burnett had this to say about ORU: “The Southland Conference presidents have studied the possibilities of membership addition in the past few months. From the beginning of the process, the Board has only shown interest in institutions that clearly bring added value to the league. That includes strong academic performance, athletic competitiveness and achievement, excellent playing facilities, geographic fit, media market size and presence in the market, and strong fan support. ORU excels in all of these categories, and this was evident as we began studying potential members.”

(Release & staff Report)

]]> http://collegebaseball360.com/oral-roberts-to-join-southland-conference/feed/ 0 Summit League 2010 Baseball Preview http://collegebaseball360.com/summit-league-2010-baseball-preview/ http://collegebaseball360.com/summit-league-2010-baseball-preview/#comments Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:10:54 +0000 http://collegebaseball360.com/?p=2624

Can Oral Roberts Repeat…AGAIN?

2009 Regular Season Champion: Oral Roberts (33-15, 16-2)

2009 Tournament Champ: Oral Roberts defeated South Dakota State 6-2 to win their 12th straight league title.

Major League Respect: The Summit League saw seven players selected in the 2009 MLB draft led by Oral Roberts’ RHP Jerry Sullivan who was taken in the third round, 83rd overall by the San Diego Padres.

Golden Eagles Soar: Oral Roberts swept the 2009 postseason awards.  RHP Mark Serrano claimed the Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year honors.  C Seth Furmanek was named Newcomer of the Year, while ORU head coach Rob Walton earned Coach of the Year honors.

ORU head coach Rob Walton

The Skinny: To say that Oral Roberts has dominated the Summit League would be an insult to the word understatement.  The Golden Eagles not only run roughshod through the postseason by winning 12 straight Summit (formerly the Mid-Continent) League titles, but they have also gone 246-27 (.901) in Summit League regular-season games since joining the conference in 1998.  ORU is 36-1 in those conference tournament games.  They’ve won 27 straight such games, with the lone loss coming to Southern Utah in 2000.

All that success begs the obvious question:  Can anyone even challenge Oral Roberts in 2010?

Centenary

2009 Season: (33-19, 16-10)

Mascot:  Gents

Head Coach: Ed McCann

Location:  Shreveport, LA

Vitals: .312 BA, 36 HR, .398 OBP, .959 Fld%…4.87 ERA, 10 SVs, 387 K, 167 BB, .296 Opp. BA

Giant Killer: The Gents posted wins over top-ranked Texas A&M and 18th ranked Arkansas in 2009.

No Cupcakes: Centenary opens the 2010 schedule in Baton Rouge against defending national champion LSU.  They also play a two-game set at another ’09 CWS team, Arkansas, in March.

Big Losses: Centenary has to deal with the loss of All-Summit League performers Chris LaLonde (4-0, 6.35 ERA) and Ricky Imperiali (.325, 19 doubles).  Travis Leverson led the team with a .386 BA & led the Summit with 18 stolen bases.

Who’s Back:  Michael Tompkins (.348, 8 HR, 45 RBIs) & Tell Ross (.350, 7 HR, 49 RBIs) will pace the offense.

Ace Rising:  Justin Kraft (6-4, 4.08 ERA, 4 CG, 77 K in 81.2 IP should be one of the top pitchers in the conference.

Northern Exposure:  Reigning America East champion Binghamton leaves New York for a 4-game series in Shreveport March 27-29.

IPFW

2009 Season: (13-38, 6-21)

Mascot:  Mastadons

Head Coach: Bobby Pierce

Location:  Ft. Wayne, IN

Vitals: .261 BA, 28 HR, .360 OBP, .952 Fld%…8.10 ERA, 264 K, 268 BB, .328 opp. BA

Boiler Up: IPFW notched two of their 13 wins on the season against Big 10 foe Purdue, sweeping the season series.

Mr. Everything: The Mastodons must replace INF Chris Gottschall, who led the team in every offensive category, except triples and stolen bases.

North Dakota State

2009 Season: (16-28, 10-14)

Mascot:  Bison

Head Coach: Tod Brown

Location:  Fargo, ND

Vitals:  .296 BA, 16 HR, .373 OBP, .952 Fld%…6.71 ERA, 285 K, 184 BB, .315 opp. BA

Youth Movement: NDSU returns two second team All-Summit League selections in So. P John Straka and So. C Justin Kilne.  Straka led North Dakota State with a 4-3 record with a 3.49 ERA and 54 strikeouts.  Kline set a Bison freshman record and led the Summit League with a team-leading .432 batting average.

Road Warriors: NDSU plays its first 26 games on the road this season before finally opening the home schedule April 13th against Dakota Wesleyan.

Oakland

2009 Season: (22-34, 10-18)

Mascot:  Golden Grizzlies

Head Coach: John Musachio

Location:  Rochester, MI

Vitals:  .299 BA, 49 HR, .380 OBP, .960 Fld%…8.00 ERA, 5 CG, 8 SV, 274 K, 273 BB, .336 opp. BA

Record Setter: The Golden Grizzlies must replace infielder Andrew Stafford who broke single-season school records by smacking 82 hits and posting a .381 batting average.

Strong Arms: Oakland returns all 10 pitchers who earned a win last season.

Tough Test: Oakland opens its season with a three-game series against Mississippi in Oxford.

Oral Roberts

2009 Season: (33-15, 16-2)

Mascot:  Golden Eagles

Head Coach: Rob Walton

Location:  Tulsa, OK

Vitals:  .303 BA, 80 HR, .403 OBP, .962 Fld%…3.76 ERA, 9 CG, 4 SV, 498 K, 193 BB, .242 opp. BA

Seth Furmanek

Key Departures: ORU faces the task of replacing Summit League Player of the Year Mark Serrano (9-1, 2.50 ERA), and San Diego Padres first round draft pick Jerry Sullivan (8-3, 3.12 ERA).

Key Returners: Senior C Seth Furmanek (.333, 17 HR) and senior INF Colby Price (.342, 10 doubles), lead a potent Golden Eagles offense.

Road Tests: Oral Roberts has trips this season to Baylor, UCLA, and Texas.

Home Cookin’: Since 1998 ORU’s J.L. Johnson Stadium has hosted either the Mid-Continent or Summit League postseason tournament 10 of 12 times.

South Dakota State

Jesse Sawyer

2009 Season: (26-30, 17-10)

Mascot:  Jackrabbits

Head Coach: Ritchie Price

Location:  Brookings, SD

Vitals:  .315 BA, 65 HR, .392 OBP, .963 Fld%…6.80 ERA, 4 CG, 6 SV, 322 K, 222 BB, .317 opp. BA

Country’s Best Eh: Junior third baseman Jesse Sawyer was named the top Canadian college baseball player according to CanadianBaseballNetwork.com after setting SDSU single season records for homeruns (19) and total bases (148).  Sawyer also led the team with 61 runs scored and 58 RBI.

Hot Streak: After starting the season 5-22, the Jackrabbits won 19 of their last 25 games while all nine regular starters finished the season hitting above .300

Southern Utah

2009 Season: (27-24, 15-7)

Mascot:  Thunderbirds

Head Coach: David Eldredge

Location:  Cedar City, UT

Vitals:  .318 BA, 52 HR, .396 OBP, .957 Fld%…5.85 ERA, 6 CG, 11 SV, 258 K, 237 BB, .313 opp. BA

Man on a Mission: Southern Utah third baseman Bo Cuthbertson earned Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America honors and was named to the PING!Baseball All-Freshman third-team after leading the team with a .393 average.  Cuthbertson, though, is taking the next two years off while serving on an LDS mission in Uruguay.

Thunderbird Hoosiers: SU returns just 15 players from last year’s roster.

Career Leader: Newly named assistant coach Keli’i Zablan finished his Thunderbird playing days first in career at-bats and total bases.

Western Illinois

2009 Season: (13-33, 8-16)

Mascot:  Leathernecks

Head Coach: Mike Villano

Location:  Macomb, IL

Vitals:  .297 BA, 37 HR, .956 Fld%…10.27 ERA, 235 K, 218 BB

Stan Hyman

Tragic Loss: Mike Villano was named Western Illinois head coach November 23rd after Stan Hyman passed away at age 50 after battling leukemia.

Big Wins: The Leathernecks first victory last year was a 24-0 win over Medaille, with their second coming four days later over 12th ranked Oklahoma State.

Major Opportunities: WIU faces some heavy hitters on this season’s schedule.  Included are trips to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.

Predictions:

2010 Champion: Oral Roberts, while Centenary looks to be the closest challenger

2010 Player of the Year: North Dakota State’s Justin Kline

2010 Pitcher of the Year: North Dakota State’s John Straka



]]> http://collegebaseball360.com/summit-league-2010-baseball-preview/feed/ 0 Oral Roberts 2010 Baseball Schedule http://collegebaseball360.com/oral-roberts-2010-baseball-schedule/ http://collegebaseball360.com/oral-roberts-2010-baseball-schedule/#comments Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:25:40 +0000 http://collegebaseball360.com/?p=1841

Golden Eagles To Play Well Rounded Slate In 2010

Oral Roberts hasn’t issued an official release of its schedule, but Rob Walton’s ORU slate is up on the school’s official web site.  Included on the docket are teams from the Big 12, Missouri Valley, Pac 10, and Mountain West Conferences.

ORU opens its season with a three game series vs. Florida International Feb. 26-28 in Miami, FL.  After the March 2 home opener against Central Arkansas at J.L. Johnson Stadium in Tulsa, OK,  Oral Roberts visits Baylor for a four game

Oral Roberts Head Coach Rob Walton

Oral Roberts Head Coach Rob Walton

set March 5, 6 & 7.

Complete 2010 Oral Roberts Schedule

Other non-conference home opponents include: three games vs. Western Michigan, TCU, Wichita State, Missouri State,  and Arkansas Little Rock.  Road non-conference games:  UCLA (3 games), Texas, Missouri State, UT Arlington, Arkansas, and two trips to Wichita State.

Summit League match-ups include:  North Dakota, Oakland, Southern Utah, Western Illinois, IPFW, South Dakota State, Centenary, and North Dakota State.  The Summit League plays four-game conference series with a doubleheader on the second day.

Oral Roberts will host the 2010 Summit League Tournament May 27-29 in Tulsa, OK.  The Golden Eagles have won 12 straight Summit Championships, giving them 12 straight NCAA Tournament appearances.

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