The Golden Eagles baseball team opened its first ever Southland Conference schedule with success. The first Southland series was a three-game sweep of Central Arkansas, the 23rd ranked team in the nation at the time of the game.

Game one was an 8-1 victory for the Golden Eagles. ORU’s Alex Gonzalez started at pitcher, played eight full innings and struck out eight.

ORU scored eight runs for the third straight game. Austen Colt led the way with two doubles and three RBIs. After missing four consecutive games due to injury, Jose Trevino returned strong with two hits and two scores.

Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early spring when he didn’t see his shadow on Groundhog Day; excellent news for ORU baseball fans.

With an early spring comes great weather for the 2013 ORU baseball season, which starts Feb. 15. Baseball season is back, and the weather isn’t the only thing to be excited about.

Although baseball season started about two weeks ago, many Tulsa residents were not able to experience the thrill of going to an opening day game.

However, on April 12, T-Town residents flocked to the ONEOK field to see the Tulsa Drillers take on the San Antonio Missions.

Despite losing the game 2-1, the Drillers gave the Tulsa community a baseball presence.

Although the Drillers are not MLB status, they’re still a blast to watch.

It’s the bottom of the fifth, bases loaded, ORU is down by two. Cam Schiller steps up to bat and a few pitches later hits into a double play.

Although ORU would score a run in the inning, it would be held to three and give up six, losing April 17 to the University of Oklahoma and falling to 17-18 on the season. This year, ORU has underperformed as a whole, while at times flashing moments of brilliance that fans are accustomed to seeing.

Outside the conference, ORU is 13-15 while within the Summit League the squad is 4-3. Although neither record is horrible, some feel that ORU has underperformed this season. The main example is the team’s offense, which is hot and cold from one game to the next.

The Golden Eagles have 14 games where they scored 2 or less runs (1-13); but have 13 games where they scored more than 6 (13-0). ORU is swinging for the fences, which can reap benefits or dig a grave.