Oral Roberts Interviews (Head Coach Ryan Folmar and pitcher Matt Gaskins)

OMAHA, Neb. – Senior Matt Gaskins picked a good time to toss his first complete game of the season as top-seeded Oral Roberts opened the 2021 #SummitBSB Championship presented by U.S. Air Force Special Warfare with a 7-1 victory over fourth-seeded South Dakota State Thursday at Tal Anderson Field.  
 
Gaskins surrendered just four hits and struck out six while the only run he gave up was an unearned tally in the fourth inning as he improved to 3-2. The ORU offense provided all-league first teamer with early run support and the righthander never let the Jackrabbits get comfortable at the plate.

Blake Hall led a nine-hit attack for the Golden Eagles with his third three-hit game of the season. Hall finished a home run shy of the cycle, while catcher Alec Jones also had two hits and two RBI for the league's top offense.

ORU's first run came after back-to-back doubles off SDSU starter Cody Carlson in the first. After Jake McMurray stroked a one-hopper off the right field wall, Ryan Cash hit the second one to drive him home. Cash then came around to score the second run on a two-out single by Hall.

Nine-hole hitter Anthony Martinez belted a two-out solo home run in the second to make it a 3-0 lead for ORU.
 
SDSU trimmed the deficit to 3-1 on a RBI-groundout from Landon Badger in the fourth. It was the only inning the Jackrabbits put multiple runners on base as they took advantage of a fielding error by the Golden Eagles to scratch across their only run of the game.

The Golden Eagles tacked on two more in the fifth as McMurray drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Cash drove in his second of the game with an RBI-groundout. 

Jones drove in the final two runs of the games for ORU to make it a 7-1 contest. He laced a double off the third base bag in the sixth inning and capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

Pitcher of Record
Win – Matt Gaskins (3-2): 9.0 IP, 4 hits, 1 unearned run, 0 walks, 6 strikeouts
Loss – Cody Carlson (2-5): 5.0 IP, 7 hits, 6 earned runs, 0 walks, 5 strikeouts

Notable Notes
• Oral Roberts improved to 14-0 vs. SDSU all-time in Summit League Tournament play and is now 21-0 in opening round action at the postseason event.
• The complete game for Gaskins was his first of the season and third of his career.
• Alec Jones' multiple-hit game was his fifth in the last seven contests.
  
Up Next
South Dakota State will play in a loser's bracket game at 11 a.m. against the loser of the No. 2 North Dakota State vs. No. 3 Omaha contest, while Oral Roberts will play the winner of that matchup at 3 p.m. CT.

#SummitBSB