RECAP COURTESY OF MIKE LOPRESTI, NCCA.COM
Another defiant day, and Oral Roberts had ignored adversity and confounded logic yet again, this time on the big stage of the Men’s College World Series. The players were piling back into the winning locker room when first baseman Jake McMurray shouted out a timely question.
“How ‘bout those Eagles?”
You mean the team that is now 52-12 and in the winner’s bracket in Omaha after rallying past TCU 6-5 Friday? The plucky #No.4 regional seed that has lost one game since April? The collection of baseball travelers who have 5 ex-junior college players and 2 other transfers in the lineup? The charming bunch who are handed gummy candy by the base coach every time they reach first safely? Those Eagles?
“We’re just a bunch of old guys out there grinding,” Blaze Brothers said. He’s the guy who hit a three-run 9th inning home run Friday to swing the game — from the #9 spot in the batting order.
“Hopefully we can show (the nation) who Oral Roberts is,” Justin Quinn said. He’s the one who had four hits, the first player to do that in a CWS Game 1 in 10 years.
“I think people just look at we’re not from a Power 5 conference . . . (so) we’re painted as that Cinderella. But if you look at this team up and down, everybody can play at every one of these schools,” said Jonah Cox. He’s the Eagle who came to the ballpark Friday with a 47-game hitting streak, tied for third longest in the history of Division I baseball.
He hit into a double play, struck out twice and went 0-for-5. Just like bullpen ace Cade Denton, freshly named the nation’s stopper of the year with his most efficient 78-11 strikeout-walk ratio, walked three and threw a wild pitch and hit a batter to give TCU a 5-2 lead going into the ninth inning.
Two stars, two unusual struggles. Oral Roberts won anyway.
Resilience has made the Golden Eagles noticeably hard to evict from this tournament. This is the team that fell behind Washington 8-0 in a regional game . . .and won. That blew an eight-run lead and suffered a stunning loss to Oregon in the super regional . . . then regrouped and took two games, surviving directly in the fire of the Ducks crowd. “It felt like we were at a football game,” Brothers said of the experience. “And it was third down every pitch.”
And now this is the team that stormed past TCU with four runs in the 9th inning Friday, on the day so many viewers from the outside world were looking to see what the Oral Roberts fuss has been about. The Golden Eagles were once 0-10 this season when trailing after eight innings, but they rallied in the 9th at Oregon, and again Friday. They are the only team in the nation to not have a losing record when tied or behind through six innings, now 10-9.
“It’s not the first time we’ve had to overcome some adversity,” Folmar said about Friday. “So been there, done that. “They’re going to keep fighting, they’re going to find a way.”
Then there was Brothers, the hero of the day, who sent the decisive shot over the left field wall in the 9th inning. “It was like slow motion,” he said later. “I just wanted to get around the bases to celebrate with the boys.”
About his first name. He said his mother was playing softball when she suddenly felt something strange and was taken to a hospital. Wouldn’t you know, she was pregnant with a future Oral Roberts second baseman? Life had changed fast. “Everything happened so quickly she was like, `I need to name him something fast, like Blaze,’” he said. He’s been asked a lot about that growing up. “Everyone’s like, good thing you’re kind of fast at least. It’d be kind of weird if you were slow.”
About his journey. Two years at junior college, two more in Division II, and then the chance he had waited for at Oral Roberts. “I’ve been in the game a long time and now that I’ve made it to this stage, it’s been a long journey to get here,” he said. The same goes for most of his teammates, which he said makes them appreciate this moment, and eager to take advantage. Such as homer to win the game from the bottom of the lineup. “That’s not a typical nine-hole thing to do,” Cox said. “It shows we have nine guys fighting tooth and nail to the last out.”
And now the old grinders are one step closer to the championship finals. Never mind no one else could have imagined it three weeks ago. How ‘bout them?
Oral Roberts head coach Ryan Folmar, the 9th inning hero Blaze Brothers, Justin Quinn, and pitcher Cade Denton all met with the media following the big win. Video is courtesy of the NCAA.