Golden Eagles Rout Western Michigan to Sweep Series

TULSA-Oral Roberts pounded out 15 hits, including a pair of home runs by Robert Barbosa, as the Golden Eagles completed a series sweep of Western Michigan with a 15-5 victory on Sunday at J.L. Johnson Stadium.

Starting pitcher Seth Furmanek (1-0), also in the lineup at designated hitter, opened the scoring for ORU (5-6) when he smashed a three-run home run in the bottom of the first to give the Golden Eagles a 3-0 lead.

Furmanek gave back two of those runs in the top of the second when he surrendered a two-run homer to Brad Wehrmeyer as the Broncos (2-10) cut the lead to 3-2.

Barbosa, getting a start at third base in place of Brett Sowers, belted the first of his two home runs in the bottom of the second. The blast was a two-run shot and gave ORU a 5-2 advantage.

Western Michigan cut ORU’s lead to 5-4 when Jimmy Martinez connected for a two-run homer off Furmanek in the top of the fifth, but ORU got the runs back in the bottom half of the inning when a two-run single by Chris Elder gave ORU a 7-4 lead.

Barbosa smashed his second homer of the day in the sixth, a three-run shot, as ORU surged to a 10-4 lead, and Bennett Pickar‘s sacrifice fly in the seventh gave the Golden Eagles an 11-4 advantage.

WMU’s Ryan McMillin homered off reliever R.J. Davis in the top of the eighth to make it 11-5, but the Golden Eagles erupted in the bottom of the inning to put the game out of reach. Furmanek laced an RBI double for a 12-4 lead and P.J. Sequeira followed with a towering three-run homer for the final 15-5 margin.

Furmanek tossed 5.0 solid innings for ORU, allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits, walking one and striking out three to earn his first collegiate victory. He also went 2-for-5 at the plate and knocked in four runs while scoring three times.

Colby Price continued his recent torrid hitting, collecting three hits including a double. Barbosa finished 2-for-3 with five RBI, and Elder and Joey Winiecki each had two hits.

Eric Heckaman (0-2) took the loss for the Broncos, allowing nine runs on 10 hits in five innings.

The Golden Eagles look to extend their winning streak to four games when they host No. 7 TCU, 7 p.m., Tuesday at J.L. Johnson Stadium.