TULSA, Okla. – The Oral Roberts baseball team will play 21 of its first 28 games at home as it finalized its schedule for the 2019 season, one of its most difficult to date. The 56-game slate features five teams from Power Five conferences, totaling 10 contests, along with 30 games of Summit League action as it goes for its 19th-consecutive regular season conference title.
Nearly 30 percent of the Golden Eagles’ schedule is made up of teams that made a NCAA regional a year ago as they take on seven opponents that reached the postseason in 2018, headlined by a road trip to NCAA runner-up Arkansas in early April.
The Golden Eagles get the campaign underway with four-straight games at J.L. Johnson Stadium against Murray State (Feb. 15-17) and perennial power Missouri State (Feb. 19).
An early season tournament in Corpus Christi, Texas (Feb. 22-24), provides ORU a challenge against three non-conference opponents; Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, BYU and Ohio State. The Golden Eagles added a road test at in-state rival Oklahoma State (Feb. 26) squaring off in the first of three meetings during the year.
ORU plays host to Big 10 runner-up Purdue for a rare, four-game weekend series (Mar. 1-3) featuring a Saturday doubleheader before a return trip to Springfield, Missouri, for a battle with the Bears (Mar. 5). A home series against Dallas Baptist (Mar. 8-10) is followed by a visit to Wichita State (Mar. 12) in the final tune-up heading into conference play.
The Golden Eagles begin their title defense in The Summit League facing the Mastodons of Purdue Fort Wayne (Mar. 15-17) at J.L. Johnson Stadium as they play their first three conference series at home.
Mid-week matchups with Central Arkansas (Mar. 19) and Little Rock (Mar. 26 & May 7) loom for ORU, while home-and-home series with Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are on the schedule again in 2019. The Golden Eagles visit the Sooners on the road Apr. 2 and return home two weeks later completing the season series Apr. 16. The next week, ORU heads to Stillwater, Oklahoma, facing the Cowboys (Apr. 23) and go toe-to-toe again the following Tuesday (Apr. 30) in Tulsa.
For the third-straight year, the Golden Eagles head to Fayetteville, Arkansas, for a contest against the Razorbacks. This time, it’s a single, mid-week tilt at Baum Stadium slated for Apr. 9 after meeting in each of the last two national tournaments.
With seven of its final eight games on the road, ORU welcomes Wichita State for its final home game of the regular season (May 14) before hosting the 2019 Summit League Championship at J.L. Johnson Stadium for the fourth-consecutive year (May 16-18).
