Sunday, May 02, 2004

Valparaiso, Ind. - On Sunday, Valpo and Oral Roberts played two full games and finished a suspended game as 19th-ranked ORU won all three by scores of 5-3, 2-1 (11 innings) and 5-2.

Freshman Brian Rzepka had four hits and freshman Colin Reynolds added three on the day for Valpo. Another freshman, Ryan Manthei drove in two runs, both in the suspended game.

Valpo's Harvey Yergin pitched a near masterpiece in the 2-1 loss. The freshman hurled 9 innings, allowing one run and five hits, while striking out five and walking two.

The Crusaders (13-26, 6-6 Mid-Con) gave up the winning run in the 11th on a wild pitch.

ORU (37-8, 14-0) scored a run in the third before Valpo tied the game in the sixth on Kevin Perri's sacrifice fly.

In the third game of the day, the Golden Eagles broke a 1-1 tie with two runs in the fifth and extended a 3-2 advantage with two more in the sixth. Kyle Obenauf (3-5) allowed four earned runs in 5 1/3 innings, while fanning three and walking one.

In the completion of Saturday's suspended contest, ORU broke a 2-2 tie with three runs in the fifth. The Crusaders used four relievers for the entire game.

Matt VanderBosch was the offensive sparkplug for the Golden Eagles all day, producing four hits and two RBIs, while stealing five bases. Ryan Welborn, Josh Lex, Jon Tackett and Dennis Bigley each had three hits for ORU.

Justin Ramsey earned his Mid-Con leading ninth and 10th saves of the season.

Valpo travels to play at Western Michigan on Wednesday at 2 p.m. CST before journeying to Southern Utah for a four-game Mid-Con series Thursday through Saturday.