TICKET TO REGIONALS: ORU leap frogs Summit baseball competition, headed to next NCAA level
Two Bartlesville High graduates moved closer to playing with Oral Roberts University in the College World Series.
ORU bulldozed into the NCAA Division I regionals by rolling over Summit League opponents South Dakota State, 9-4, Omaha, 12-8, and Omaha, 21-2, to win the league title.
Former Bartlesville Bruins A.J. Archambo and Jakob Hall both had a solid role in the 19-run thumping of Omaha in the final.
Filling a designated hitter’s billet, the senior Archambo lashed a double and a single, drove in three runs and scored a run.
He was second on the team in RBIs to Mat McCroskey, who blasted two homers — including a grand slam — and drove in seven runs.
Connor Beichler finished 4-for-5 at the plate with two RBIs.
Hall — a true freshman — came out of the pen to recorded the final out in the game, on a groundout.
Kaleb McCullough picked up the mound win for the Golden Eagles. McCullough finished 2-0 in the tourney, both wins in relief.
Archambo and Hall didn’t appear in the first two wins, but they’ve been significant contributors this season, Archambo both as a batter and pitcher. He’s appeared in 37 games and made 16 mound appearances.
Hall’s made 15 mound appearances.
ORU (38-18) has advanced for the first time in four years to the NCAA regionals.
The Golden Eagles are set to open the round at 1 p.m. Friday at Texas A&M.
Rounding out the College Station (Texas) Regional are Louisiana and TCU.
Texas A&M (37-18) is the No. 1 seed, TCU (36-20) is No. 2, Louisiana (36-21) is No. 3 and ORU is No. 4.
Louisiana and TCU are set to collide at 7 p.m. Friday.
Play is scheduled to wrap-up Sunday or Monday, depending on whether an ‘if’ game is needed.
Games could be televised on ESPN or ESPN2.
This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Focus on Oral Roberts baseball roll to NCAA regionals
