Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (11-6, 2-1 Summit) got off to a solid start in conference play, as the Mastodons took two of three from Western Illinois in Macomb, Ill. IPFW mustered just five hits in the opener, a 4-2 Leathernecks victory, but the Mastodons bounced back to take the next two games despite hitting a .204 for the weekend.
And while IPFW was stifled on offense, the pitching staff showed marked improvement as they shaved their staff ERA from 5.58 to 4.48. Western Illinois hit just .257 against an IPFW that entered the weekend ranked second-to-last nationally in walks per nine innings (7.58) and gave up more than nine hits per game.
IPFW senior Ryan Wells (2-2) got things rolling on Saturday with his best outing of the season. The right-hander limited WIU to one earned run on six hits and fanned six to lower his season ERA from 8.4 to 6.43.
WIU led 2-0 early in the rubber game before IPFW short stop Greg Kaiser halved the deficit with a solo shot in the second inning. Summit RBI leader Brandon Soat belted a pair of two-run hits to up his RBI season total to 24—one more than teammate Shane Trevino. The run support was more than enough for
freshman Evan Miller, who has been the steadiest rotation performer for IPFW this year. Miller tossed a six-hitter with one earned run and racked up eight strikeouts with no walks to move to 2-0 on the year.
Miller has a team-best 31 strikeouts in 23.1 innings while Wells has posted 24 strikeouts in 21 innings of work. Of the three pitchers with more than 12 innings on the mound, Trevor Storie (2-2) has a staff-best 4.62 ERA.
Closer Jake Weber (2.45 ERA) leads the Summit with four saves and 13 strikeouts in 11 innings.
The Mastodons started the season red-hot at the plate and as of last week were ranked eighth in the nation with a .323/.415/.505 team slash. Those numbers have dipped to .300/.392/.459 which is still tops in the Summit League and the team has six players in the lineup batting above .290 for the season. Soat leads the league in average (.397), RBI (24) and stands second with 18 runs scored. Evan VanSumeren has scored a league-best 19 runs. Jackson Boyce is batting .389/.489/.444 for IPFW, while Shane Trevino hits .333 with 17 runs scored and a Summit-high four home runs.
IPFW faces its toughest test of the season this weekend, when they travel to Tulsa for a weekend series against an Oral Roberts squad that returned to the Summit League this season after a two-year stint in the Southland Conference. The Golden Eagles are just 10-9 (2-1, Summit), but the 15-time Summit League champions easily have the toughest schedule in the league. Oral Roberts is ranked 62nd in the Warren Nolan Rating Percentage Index (RPI) and have played six games against nationally-ranked opponents in addition to teams like Louisiana Tech and Oklahoma.
In case you were wondering how the other Summit League teams stack up in terms of RPI:
IPFW (194)
Nebraska-Omaha (198)
Western Illinois (242)
North Dakota State (256)
South Dakota State (270)
ORU kicked off conference play last weekend with a 2-1 home series victory against North Dakota State. The Golden Eagles shut-out the Bison 6-0 on Friday and held a 3-0 advantage in game two before being tagged for a four-run fifth inning that stood up as the margin of victory. ORU took the rubber match Sunday with a 4-3 win behind a dominating performance on the mound by Xavier Altamirano.
The junior right-hander recorded a career-high 14 strikeouts and allowed just one hit in seven innings of work with no walks and two runs, both unearned. Altamirano earned both Summit League Pitcher of the Week and Collegiate Baseball Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week honors and his 14 strikeouts were the most by an Oral Roberts pitcher since former San Diego Padres third round draft pick Jerry Sullivan fanned 11 SDSU Jackrabbits in 2009.
ORU spent St. Patrick’s Day in Lubbock, Texas where they split a midweek-series against No. 12 Texas Tech. ORU won the first game 9-7 in 11 innings, while the Red Raiders were on the winning end of a 7-4 decision Wednesday.
It’s pretty safe to say that ORU has picked up right where they left off when they left the Summit League after the 2011-12 campaign. Through nineteen games the Golden Eagles lead the league in hits (184) doubles (40) and are second only to IPFW in slugging percentage (.375).
There are three Golden Eagles in the Summit League Top-10 in average and four in the top 15. Rolando Martinez (.365) is fourth, Audie Afenir (.333) and Anthony Sequeira (.333) are tied for eighth eighth and Matt Whatley (.321) is 15th. Afenir and Sequeia are both third in the league with six doubles, while Martinez is seventh with five and Derrian James is 10th with four.
Second baseman Matt Brandy is the only Golden Eagle to start all nineteen games at the same position. The senior bats in the lead-off position and owns a .270/.372/.351 average.
The ORU pitching staff leads the Summit League in ERA (3.71), strikeouts (153), hits allowed per nine innings (8.84) and WHIP (1.32). They’ve also given up just one more earned run (70) than conference leader Nebraska-Omaha despite having played one more game and a much tougher schedule.
One thing’s for sure: the Golden Eagles will cash in on any mistakes made by the IPFW pitching staff. ORU has scored 59 runs through its first nine games of 2015, just nine fewer than the last two seasons combined through the same period.
To stay that IPFW faces a tall talk this weekend in Tulsa is no exaggeration. Oral Roberts has never dropped a series to the Mastodons and own a 17-3 all-time record in the series. The Mastodons are 37-70 on the road since the start of the 2012 season but they have won a game in each of the last three series against the Golden Eagles.
IPFW squares off against ORU at J.L. Johnson Stadium today at 6:30 p.m. First pitch on Saturday is slated for 2 p.m. and the series finale is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Probable Starters
ORU
FRIDAY
Guillermo Trujillo 2-2, 4.03 ERA
Junior RHP
SATURDAY
Xavier Altamirano 2-1, 2.15 ERA
Junior RHP
SUNDAY
TBA
IPFW
FRIDAY
Trevor Storie 2-2, 4.62 ERA
Junior RHP
SATURDAY
Ryan Wells 2-2, 6.43
ERA Senior RHP
SUNDAY
Evan Miller 2-0, 5.40 ERA
Freshman RHP
