DALLAS BAPTIST 18, ORAL ROBERTS 9
FAYETTEVILLE -- Dallas Baptist had gone 11 innings of the NCAA Fayetteville Regional without scoring a run.
Then Luke Bandy got DBU's offense going on the way to an 18-9 victory over Oral Roberts on Saturday at Baum Stadium.
All Razorback sports stories
DBU (41-2) ended ORU's season and stayed alive to play at 2 p.m. today against the loser of the Arkansas-Southern Miss game.
After losing to Southern Miss 9-0 Friday night, DBU trailed ORU 4-0 going into the bottom of the third inning.
Bandy, a sophomore from Bentonville who played at Providence Academy, proved to be an offensive catalyst when he hit a leadoff home run off ORU starting pitcher Miguel Ausua.
"Yesterday's game was not a real good one for us, and then the way today's game started, I think the guys were starting to press," DBU Coach Dan Heefner said. "When Luke got that home run, it was a huge relief for our guys.
"They were able to take a breath and kind of relax a little bit -- 'Oh yeah, we can still score.' That for sure was the one that got the monkey off our backs and allowed the guys to be themselves."
DBU hit three more home runs in the third inning to take a 5-4 lead, then scored 10 runs in the fourth to make it 15-4.
Bandy started the fourth-inning rally, too, with a leadoff single. He also walked in the inning and scored two runs.
"I wasn't trying to do too much," Bandy said of hitting his fourth home run of the season. "I was just trying to stay with my approach and get a pitch that I could drive.
"Fortunately, I hit it out, got it to the next guy. We just rolled from there."
Bandy, batting ninth, finished 2 for 4 with 2 runs batted in and 2 runs. He also had a stolen base.
"I thought Bandy was really good," ORU Coach Ryan Folmar said. "The home run he hit was a big momentum swing for them."
Bandy had missed the previous four games after injuring his left hand diving for a ball in the outfield against Bradley in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.
"It was just good to be back," he said. "It's always good to be at home. The support I have here is awesome. I had a lot of family and friends out here I didn't even know were coming. It was huge."
Saturday was Bandy's 41st start of the season, but only his fourth at second base. He looked comfortable at second base with a diving stop to start a double play in the first inning.
Bandy's other starts were in the outfield. He moved from second base to right field in the seventh inning.
"He's an unbelievable athlete," Heefner said. "He can play the infield, and he can really run it down in the outfield as well."
Heefner said he didn't make the decision to start Bandy on Saturday until seeing how he handled batting and infield practice before the game.
"I just felt like we needed his spark," Heefner said. "We needed that bat in the lineup and we felt like our best spot for him was in the infield today."
Heefner said it was especially nice to see Bandy have a big game in his home area.
"You love to see that," Heefner said. "From the moment it was announced where we were going, you saw his eyes light up with that excitement.
"It was a really tough decision not to play him yesterday just because you knew he was excited and ready to play. So I'm really glad we were able to get him in today and he did so well."
Sports on 06/03/2018