Creighton University
Nebraska
Baseball Shuts Down Huskers, 2-1, In Pitcher's Duel
4/17/2007 3:00:00 AM | Baseball
LINCOLN, Neb. - Four Creighton pitchers combined to hold a potent Nebraska team to six hits, lifting the visiting Bluejays to a 2-1 win before 6,841 fans at Haymarket Park on Tuesday. Creighton's fifth-straight win improved it to 24-11 on the year and snapped a six-game skid to NU, while the Huskers dropped to 22-15.
The game was the first contest against Nebraska since April 9, 2002, that Creighton never trailed.
The Bluejays struck with a run in the top of the first against NU starter Matt Foust. Ross Sinclair singled to center with one out, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Darin Ruf's seeing-eye single through the left side to make it 1-0. The lead marked CU's first over the Cornhuskers at
Casey Schmidt, in his first appearance since five scoreless innings last Wednesday at
More wackiness ensued in the top of the eighth when Creighton went ahead. Chad Ogden singled to start the frame, then wheeled all the way around to third on a sacrifice bunt by Michael Lam. Ogden then scored on a squeeze bunt by leadoff hitter Robbie Knight in another close play at the plate.
Venditte threw a scoreless eighth before giving way to senior closer Andy Masten. With the win, Venditte improved to 4-2. Masten picked up his 10th save, allowing just a two-out single to Nimmo, and lowered his ERA to 0.84. The game ended on a spectacular defensive stab from Lam, who earned the start due in part to an injury to Ryan Urzendowski.
Sinclair was the lone Bluejay with multiple hits, finishing with two base knocks. NU's offense was led by two hits each from Gerch and Corriston. NU's Foust was the hard-luck loser, throwing eight innings of two-run ball, before falling to 1-1.
Creighton returns to action this weekend with a series at
NOTES: Gametime temperature was 72 degrees, exactly twice as much as the 36 degree temperature at first pitch when the team's last met two weeks ago... Casey Schmidt's outing was the longest by a Creighton mid-week starter since Adam Schaecher went 5.2 innings at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on March 7, 2005... Scott Reese's appearance was the 113th of his career, one shy of the all-time MVC record. Reese has pitched in 11 of Creighton's 13 games against NU in the past four years... Creighton turned two double plays, giving them 46 on the season... Creighton has won 28 straight games when leading after six innings, including a 19-0 mark this year... Nebraska's Andrew Brown and Jeff Tezak both had their 15-game hitting streaks snapped... Creighton improved to 100-3 under Ed Servais when taking a lead into the ninth inning... Andy Masten's 10th save ranks sixth in single-season history, two behind the CU record... Creighton has allowed two runs or less in five straight games, and just 18 runs in the past eight games... More than 8,000 tickets have already been sold for the May 15 rubber match between the school's at Rosenblatt Stadium. Those can be purchased at any Ticketmaster outlet or Ticketmaster.com before gameday.
