TULSA -- Four home runs led No. 30 Oral Roberts to victory over BYU, 6-5, Thursday.

BYU, now 3-4-1, was unable to take advantage of runners on first and third situation with one out in the eighth inning. ORU (6-3) hit what proved to be a game-winning home run in its half of the eighth.

The Cougars struck first against All-American Golden Eagles' pitcher Dennis Bigley in the first with an Apana Nakayama RBI single. Oral Roberts didn't waste time to tie the score. Lead-off batter Michael Holliman started the Golden Eagles' first inning with a solo home run. Oral Roberts grabbed the lead in the second inning as Bigley settled in.

In the sixth, Bigley got wild and the Cougars cashed in. He issued walks to Ben Saylor and Ryan Chambers and hit Adrian Molina with a pitch. Catcher Casey Nelson hit a sacrifice fly that advanced all of the runners, scoring Saylor. He was followed by a Sean McNaughton two-run double to tie the game. Marcos Villezcas put the Cougars ahead 5-4 with a RBI single and knocked Bigley out of the game.

BYU held on to the lead until the bottom of the seventh when Oral Roberts' Brian Hanson hit a two out, game-tying solo shot on a 2-0 count.

The Cougars put runners on first and third with only one out in the eighth. Oral Roberts lefty Matt Hancock was able to retire Jeff Hiestand and Nakayama to get out of the inning. The Golden Eagles hit another solo homer to regain the lead in the bottom of the eighth to take the lead.

The series continues tomorrow at 3 p.m. (CST). The Cougars will send lefty Patrick Wells (1-1, 5.23 ERA) to the mound.

BYU at Oral Roberts
Mar 03, 2005 at Tulsa, OK (J.L. Johnson Stadium)
BYU 5 (3-4-1)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
McNAUGHTON, Sean 2b......  4  1  2  2   1  0  1  2   0
VILLEZCAS, Marcos ss.....  5  1  4  1   0  0  0  3   2
HIESTAND, Jeff 1b........  3  0  0  0   2  2  8  1   1
NAKAYAMA, Apana dh.......  5  0  1  1   0  0  0  0   3
TAYLOR, Brandon 3b.......  5  0  0  0   0  2  0  2   0
SAYLOR, Ben rf...........  4  1  1  0   1  1  3  0   3
MOLINA, Adrian lf........  2  1  0  0   1  1  2  0   0
CHAMBERS, Ryan cf........  4  1  0  0   1  1  1  0   3
NELSON, Casey c..........  3  0  1  1   0  1  8  0   0
HORLACHER, Dave p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
Totals................... 35  5  9  5   6  8 24  8  12
Oral Roberts 6 (6-3)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Michael Hollimon ss......  4  1  1  1   0  1  3  2   0
Kelly Minissale dh.......  4  0  1  1   0  1  0  0   0
Brian Hanson 2b..........  4  1  1  1   0  0  0  2   1
Jon Tackett 3b...........  4  0  1  0   0  1  0  1   0
Travis DeBondt rf........  4  0  1  0   0  2  3  0   0
Ricky Rivera lf..........  3  1  1  1   1  1  2  0   2
Brian Aguailar c.........  4  0  1  0   0  1  8  0   1
Tim Torres cf............  4  1  1  0   0  1  4  0   0
Kevin Lamb 1b............  3  2  2  2   0  0  6  0   1
 Rene Recio 1b...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
Dennis Bigley p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Matt Hancock p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Tim Robertson p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 34  6 10  6   1  8 27  5   5
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
BYU................. 100 004 000 -  5  9  0
Oral Roberts........ 120 100 11X -  6 10  0
-------------------------------------------
LOB - BYU 12; ORU 5. 2B - McNAUGHTON; Minissale; Torres. HR - Hollimon(2);
Hanson(2); Rivera(1); K. Lamb(2). HBP - MOLINA 2. SF - NELSON. SB - K.
Lamb(2).
BYU                    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
HORLACHER, Dave.....  8.0 10  6  6  1  8 34 35
Oral Roberts           IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Dennis Bigley.......  5.2  6  5  5  5  5 22 29
Matt Hancock........  2.1  3  0  0  0  3 10 11
Tim Robertson.......  1.0  0  0  0  1  0  3  4
Win - Hancock (1-0).  Loss - HORLACHER (2-1).  Save - Robertson (1).
HBP - by Bigley (MOLINA); by Hancock (MOLINA).
Umpires -
Start: 3:00 pm   Time: 2:30   Attendance: 312
Game: 09BYU
 
Play-by-Play
                               2005 ORU Baseball
                       BYU at Oral Roberts - Play-by-Play
                Mar 03, 2005 at Tulsa, OK (J.L. Johnson Stadium)
Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
BYU................. 100 004 000 -  5  9  0
Oral Roberts........ 120 100 11X -  6 10  0
-------------------------------------------
BYU starters: 15/2b McNAUGHTON; 10/ss VILLEZCAS; 16/1b HIESTAND; 24/dh NAKAYAMA;
3/3b TAYLOR; 25/rf SAYLOR; 1/lf MOLINA; 22/cf CHAMBERS; 8/c NELSON; 11/p HORLACHER;
Oral Roberts starters: 14/ss Hollimon; 2/dh Minissale; 11/2b Hanson; 8/3b Tackett;
24/rf DeBondt; 21/lf Rivera; 5/c Aguailar; 13/cf Torres; 6/1b K. Lamb; 25/p Bigley;
BYU 1st - McNAUGHTON flied out to rf. VILLEZCAS singled to center field.
HIESTAND walked; VILLEZCAS advanced to second. NAKAYAMA singled to left field, RBI;
HIESTAND advanced to second; VILLEZCAS scored. TAYLOR flied out to lf. SAYLOR struck
out looking. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Oral Roberts 1st - Hollimon homered to left field, RBI. Minissale out at
first 1b to p. Hanson flied out to rf. Tackett singled to right field. DeBondt
singled to first base; Tackett advanced to second. Rivera reached on a fielder's
choice; DeBondt out at second ss to 2b; Tackett advanced to third. 1 run, 3 hits,
0 errors, 2 LOB.
BYU 2nd - MOLINA grounded out to 3b. CHAMBERS grounded out to 1b unassisted.
NELSON singled to left field. McNAUGHTON walked; NELSON advanced to second.
VILLEZCAS flied out to cf. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Oral Roberts 2nd - Aguailar struck out swinging. Torres doubled to center
field. K. Lamb singled to left field, RBI; Torres scored. K. Lamb stole second.
Hollimon struck out swinging. Minissale doubled to center field, RBI; K. Lamb
scored. Hanson grounded out to ss. 2 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
BYU 3rd - HIESTAND walked. NAKAYAMA reached on a fielder's choice; HIESTAND
out at second 2b to ss. TAYLOR fouled out to 1b. SAYLOR grounded out to 1b
unassisted. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Oral Roberts 3rd - Tackett flied out to lf. DeBondt struck out swinging.
Rivera walked. Aguailar lined out to rf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
BYU 4th - MOLINA struck out swinging. CHAMBERS struck out swinging. NELSON
struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Oral Roberts 4th - Torres grounded out to 3b. K. Lamb homered to left field,
RBI. Hollimon grounded out to 1b unassisted. Minissale struck out swinging. 1
run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
BYU 5th - McNAUGHTON flied out to rf. VILLEZCAS singled to second base.
HIESTAND flied out to cf. NAKAYAMA lined out to ss. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1
LOB.
Oral Roberts 5th - Hanson grounded out to 3b. Tackett grounded out to ss.
DeBondt struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
BYU 6th - TAYLOR struck out swinging. SAYLOR walked. MOLINA hit by pitch;
SAYLOR advanced to second. CHAMBERS walked; MOLINA advanced to second; SAYLOR
advanced to third. NELSON flied out to cf, SF, RBI; CHAMBERS advanced to second;
MOLINA advanced to third; SAYLOR scored. McNAUGHTON doubled to left field, 2 RBI;
CHAMBERS scored; MOLINA scored. VILLEZCAS singled to right field, advanced to
second, RBI; McNAUGHTON scored. Hancock to p for Bigley. HIESTAND struck out
swinging. 4 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Oral Roberts 6th - Rivera struck out swinging. Aguailar singled. Torres
struck out swinging. K. Lamb grounded out to 1b unassisted. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0
errors, 1 LOB.
BYU 7th - NAKAYAMA grounded out to ss. TAYLOR struck out swinging. SAYLOR
singled up the middle. MOLINA hit by pitch; SAYLOR advanced to second. CHAMBERS
flied out to lf. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Oral Roberts 7th - Hollimon grounded out to 2b. Minissale flied out to rf.
Hanson homered to left field, RBI. Tackett struck out swinging. 1 run, 1 hit, 0
errors, 0 LOB.
BYU 8th - NELSON grounded out to 2b. McNAUGHTON singled. VILLEZCAS singled to
center field; McNAUGHTON advanced to third. HIESTAND struck out swinging. NAKAYAMA
popped up to ss. 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Oral Roberts 8th - DeBondt grounded out to 2b. Rivera homered to left field,
RBI. Aguailar flied out to lf. Torres flied out to cf. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0
LOB.
BYU 9th - Robertson to p for Hancock. Recio to 1b for K. Lamb. TAYLOR
grounded out to ss. SAYLOR flied out to cf. MOLINA walked. CHAMBERS lined out to rf.
0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.

PROVO -- After a 1-1-1 series split against San Jose State, BYU heads to Oklahoma to play five games in as many days.

The Cougars (2-2-1) will first travel to Stillwater, Okla., for a two-game stint with No. 27 Oklahoma State (7-4) Tuesday and Wednesday before moving on to Tulsa for a three-game series against Oral Roberts (5-3). Game time for the Tuesday game will be 7 p.m. (CST). Wednesday will be a 4 p.m. start. Against Oral Roberts, game times for the games Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be 3 p.m., 3 p.m. and 2 p.m. (CST), respectively.

Freshman Blake Torgerson (0-0, 10.80 ERA) and junior college transfer Mitch Woolf (0-0, 0.00) will make their first career division one starts against Oklahoma State. BYU will use the same rotation as it has the past two weekends of Dave Horlacher (1-0, 2.70), Patrick Wells (1-1, 5.23) and Brandon Christiansen (0-0, 2.70) in the respective Oral Roberts' games Thursday through Saturday.

The Cougars are coming off a series in which they won convincingly once, lost on a 10th-inning error and tied so they could catch a plane. BYU head coach Vance Law is pleased with the way his team is playing.

"We had a chance to win all three of those games [against San Jose State]," Law said.

Law believes the Oklahoma trip will be a good early season test for the Cougars' pitching staff.

"It will be a good challenge," Law said about the Oklahoma trip. "I believe that we have more depth in our pitching staff this year than in the past."

Lefty Lance Beus and team co-captain pitcher Michel Bergeron, who are both recovering from injuries, will make the trip with the team to add a few extra arms to the bullpen. Beus, a senior from Meridian, Idaho, played fall baseball for Oklahoma State before transferring to BYU for the winter semester of 2004.

Upon returning from Oklahoma, the Cougars will play host to Utah Valley State College on Tuesday, March 8 at 3 p.m., in their first home game of the season.

The Oklahoma State games and the first two Oral Roberts games will have a live audio feed on the Internet. 

Also, Oklahoma State offers a paid Internet video feed of the games. The cost is $9.95.

A multi-page release can be found by downloading the PDF file at the top of this story, which gives a detailed analysis of the Cougars.