Rader’s hit gives Wichita State a win over Oral Roberts

Wichita State’s Chase Rader smashed a groundball past the shortstop and into left field. He ran through first base and slammed his helmet off the turf in celebration as his teammates poured out of the dugout. Sam Hilliard scored the winning run and joined the festivities.

They celebrated WSU’s second win in its final at-bat in the past four games. The Shockers slipped past Oral Roberts 7-6 on Tuesday at Eck Stadium to win their ninth straight game at home.

“It’s really nice to see our team put together some wins in a row at home, like you’re supposed to play in this stadium,” WSU coach Todd Butler said.

WSU (23-29) finishes the regular season with a series at No. 11 Dallas Baptist, starting Thursday. Next week, it plays the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at Eck Stadium, where the Shockers are counting on home-field advantage.

“We’re looking toward the tournament,” center fielder Michael Burns said. “We’re getting excited for it and I think we’re starting to play more excited. This is us writing our final chapter.”

Tuesday’s plot included a 4-0 lead for the Shockers, an ORU rally built on two-out runs, Burns baiting a wild pick-off throw and Rader’s heroics. Oral Roberts (35-14) used eight pitchers and committed four errors to help the Shockers score five unearned runs.

ORU second baseman Matt Brandy committed two of them. In the first inning, his dropped pop-up helped the Shockers scored three runs. In the ninth, he let Bob Arens’ groundball scoot by his glove and into right field, sending Hilliard to third base. That brought up Rader and pulled the ORU infield in to try to make a play at the plate with one out.

“I knew I had to put the ball in play and my goal is just to hit it hard and see what happens,” Rader said. “I got the curveball and saw it up. I got in the right spot where he couldn’t get to it.”

ORU’s defense also gave Burns his time in the spotlight. He pinch-hit in the eighth and singled on the first pitch from Colin Hightower to score Michel Mucha to tie the game at 5-all. Hightower almost picked him off twice and Burns kept extending his lead past what seemed a safe distance. A third throw wasn’t as threatening.

“It’s never close, even when I’m out,” Burns said.

Hightower skipped the fourth past first baseman Audie Afenir.

“I kind of got in a rhythm with him,” Burns said. “He started picking on the same rhythm. He gave me a gift and threw it away.”

Burns went to third and scored for a 6-5 lead on Daniel Kihle’s infield single. Kihle pushed the ball past the diving Afenir and beat Hightower to the base, forcing a wild throw from Brandy.

“I’ve got so much faith in (Kihle),” Burns said. “That’s just a dude you know is going to get the job done. He hit the ball in the hole and he can fly. He put pressure on them to make a quick play and they couldn’t do it.”

ORU rallied again in the bottom of the ninth. Reliever John Hayes walked Martinez and then got two outs. ORU’s Matt Whatley punched a 3-1 pitch to left field to score pinch-runner Emmanuel Forcier from second.

WSU pitching controlled much of the game, before the dueling rallies in the final three innings. Hilliard, helped by two double plays, faced the minimum through four innings. He got two outs in the seventh, one on a sliding catch by Mucha in right, before walking Noah Cummings.

A single by Rolando Martinez started a string of four singles and ended Hilliard’s night. Hayes had no better fortune.

Kihle almost stopped the rally with no damage when he dove for a fly ball by Dean Wilson. He couldn’t keep the ball in his glove and it rolled away, allowing Noah Cummings to score from second. Chase Stafford punched a single to left to drive in another run and Whatley did the same to score Wilson and give ORU a 5-4 lead.

ORU’s sloppy defense gave the Shockers a boost in the first inning.

Brandy dropped a popup in short right-field, one that faded back to him through a part of the field shaded by the stands, to put Kihle on second base. With Kihle on third, Ryan Tinkham lined a ball to left that Martinez dropped and Kihle scored easily. Rader tripled to center — Derrian James turned and ran and got a glove on the ball before it bounced free — to score Tinkham. Rader scored on Mucha’s bunt single for a 3-0 lead.

WSU added another run in the second after it loaded the bases with one out. TInkham droves James to the warning track for a sacrifice fly that drove in Keenan Eaton for a 4-0 lead.

This story was originally published May 12, 2015 at 11:18 PM with the headline "Rader’s hit gives Wichita State a win over Oral Roberts."