Creighton University
Wichita State
Baseball Shocks The #8 Shockers With Ninth-Inning Win In Wichita
4/6/2007 3:00:00 AM | Baseball
Wichita, Kan. - Creighton junior third baseman Steve Winkelmann hit a two RBI single to left field in the top of the ninth inning Friday night as the Bluejay baseball team earned a 3-2 victory over the #8 Wichita State Shockers at Eck Stadium that moved them into sole possession of first place in the Missouri Valley Conference at 6-1. With one out and CU trailing 2-1 in the top of the ninth, Winkelmann, the national JUCO Player of the Year from last season, took a 1-1 pitch and hit it into a hole in left field just big enough to score Chris Gradoville from third and Darin Ruf from second, as CU held the Shockers hitless in the bottom of the ninth to earn its sixth-straight MVC win.
Winkelmann finished his night leading the Jays at the plate, as he went 2-for-4 with two RBI's. Senior Scott Reese (1-0) got his first win of the season, pitching a scoreless 1.1 innings of relief, as senior Andy Masten picked up his sixth-save of the season in recording the final two outs of the game.
CU trailed WSU 2-0 going into the top of the ninth as Shockers' starter Travis Banwart held the Jays scoreless through the first eight innings giving up just five hits on the night and striking out seven. Banwart, who had thrown 110 pitches going to the ninth, then walked CU lead-off man, Robbie Knight, to start the CU ninth. Banwart was then replaced by reliever Noah Krol who started off his outing with a wild pitch that advanced Knight to second, before getting Chad Ogden go down swinging.
With one out, Gradoville was able to reach on a fielding error by the second baseman, as Knight advanced to third. Ruf then platted Knight with a single up the middle to make it 2-1, which would be followed by an infield single to the shortstop by Andrew Small to set the stage for Winkelmann's game-winning hit with the bases loaded.
Krol (0-1) would get saddled with the loss pitching one inning allowing three hits and one earned run, recording a single strikeout.
Reese and Masten then induced two Shocker groundouts and a pop up to Ryan Urzendowski at short to end the game, as Reese earned the 15th win of his career. Senior left-hander Marc Lewis (4-1) got the start for the Bluejays giving up just two runs on the night as he tied a season-high in innings pitched (7.0) and strikeouts with six, as he gave up just seven hits on the evening.
The Shockers got the scoring started in the bottom of the fourth as right fielder Andy Dirks picked up the first of his two RBI's on the night. After a single to short, a fly out to left and a groundout to short, Dirks singled to first as he beat-out a throw from Ruf to Lewis at the bag that scored Matt Brown from second to give WSU the early 1-0 lead.
WSU added another single run in the bottom half of the sixth, as Dirks once again picked up an RBI as he reached on a fielder's choice that scored Danny Jackson from third to make it 2-0.
That would be all the Shockers would get though, as Lewis stood tall and kept the Shockers from putting together any big innings. WSU would strand six runners on the night, as the Jays turned two double plays to keep the Shockers' bats at bay.
With the win, the Jays are now 19-9 overall and 6-1 in the MVC. The loss dropped the Shockers to 24-8 overall and 5-2 MVC play.
Game two of this three-game series will take place Saturday with a first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m. The game can once again be heard on KOZN 1620 AM, which can be accessed at www.1620thezone.com or at www.gocreighton.com.
Notes: Steve Winkelmann's game-winning hit was the first for him this season and was the third game-winning run scored by Darin Ruf ... Winkelmann's two hits also tied a season-high that he has set on now six different occasions... With his win, Scott Reese moved up his career-winning percentage to .681, which is still seventh on the all-time CU career list, but now just .011 away from tying Brian O'Brien (1991-93) for sixth... Andy Masten's sixth-save puts him now just one behind a 10th place tie on the all-time CU single-season list... CU is now 2-1 on the season against ranked opponents and 9-6 against Wichita State under head coach Ed Servais.
