Saturday, February 27, 2010

Sooner or later the Dolphin pitching staff will be back to full strength from injuries but a combined effort by three healthy arms allowed everyone to think about something else for a change as the JU baseball team defeated No. 20 Oklahoma, 4-3, Saturday afternoon in the second day of the JU Invitational at John Sessions Stadium.

Junior LHP Matt Tomshaw (1-1) hurled a gem by allowing two runs on six hits with three strikeouts in six innings. Sophomore Clay Kollenbaum allowed only one unearned run and two hits in 1.2 innings. Junior Chris Kaminski took the hill for the second straight day to allow only one hit in 1.1 innings for his first save of the year.

Valparaiso opened the day with a 9-1 win over Richmond.

JU (3-3) overcame another deficit (this time a 2-0 hole in the fourth) but after another Dolphins’ rally they were able to hold the lead for the first time this season.

OU (5-1) dropped its first contest despite tallying a game-high nine hits but left five runners on base and did not draw a walk in the entire game.

“It feels good to not only see us beginning to play well but what we are capable of when we do,” said JU head coach Terry Alexander. “We know that our pitching staff is not completely healthy but our guys did a tremendous job against a very good ball club. Hopefully, this is the game that we can look back and say that it started something for us.”

J.R. Robinson (0-1) was tagged with the loss after allowing four runs on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts in four innings.