Saturday, April 7
Wichita, Kan.
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Creighton University
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Wichita State
Baseball Comes Up One Strike Short Against #8 Wichita State
4/7/2007 3:00:00 AM | Baseball
Wichita, Kan. - Like Friday night, Saturday afternoon's contest between the Creighton baseball team and Wichita State at Eck Stadium was another pitcher's dual, but unfortunately for the Bluejays when they needed just one more strike after throwing 89 total on the day, they couldn't find one last one, as a full-count bases loaded walk in the ninth inning brought home the winning run for the #8 Shockers, as the Jays fell 2-1. WSU third baseman Matt Brown drew the game-winning walk with two outs, as he worked CU reliever Andy Masten into a full-count after Masten got ahead early. Masten's final pitch fell just a little outside to bring home pinch-runner Cody Lassley from third, as the Bluejays dropped their first Missouri Valley Conference match in seven games and once again fell into a first place tie with the Shockers at 6-2 in MVC play.
Junior ambidextrous pitcher, Pat Venditte (3-2), took the loss for the Jays as he pitched four innings in relief, giving up just two runs on two hits and striking out five. Unfortunately though for Venditte, a lead-off single and hit by a pitch, proved costly, as Lassley scored for Tyler Weber's single to center field that started the ninth inning, before Aaron Dirks got hit by the first pitch in his at bat following a pop up bunt to first by Trevor Coleman.
That would chase Venditte from the game for Masten, who was playing in left field all game as first baseman Derek Schermerhorn came to the plate. Schermerhorn then pounded the first pitch from Masten into center field to load the bases with just one out. Masten would follow by inducing a pop up to second by Damon Sublett, which setup the final at bat with Brown. Masten got ahead twice in the at bat, but couldn't get strikes when it mattered most, as three-straight balls brought home the winning-run.
WSU reliever Noah Booth (3-1) earned the win, pitching the final inning giving up one hit and recording a single strikeout. Booth replaced Shockers' starter Aaron Shafer who went eight innings allowing one run on two hits and striking out nine, as he and Jays starter Zak Moore had a good dual going into the fifth inning.
Moore who got his ninth start of the season, finished going 4.1 innings allowing just five hits and one walk, while striking out three. He allowed just four WSU runners on base in the first four innings, as three of those came with one out in the second inning. However, with the bags loaded full of Shockers, Moore got Coleman strike out swinging for out two before getting Dirks to ground into a fielder's choice to get himself out of the jam.
That would the closest either team would get to getting runs on the board till the sixth inning, as once again WSU was able to load the bases against Venditte. After Venditte got Sublett and Brown strike out to start the inning, two hit by pitches and a walk loaded the bases for Weber. Weber followed by flying out to second, as the Jays held the Shockers to just five hits through six innings.
Both teams would then strike in the seventh, as CU finally got to Shafer in the top half of the inning. Andrew Small reached base on a fielder's choice after Darin Ruf was hit by a pitch to lead-off. Small then advanced to second on a groundout by Steve Winkelmann before Masten brought him home with an RBI single through the left side to make 1-0 Bluejays.
The Shockers would respond though in the bottom half of the inning, as Schermerhorn recorded an RBI groundout to second with runners on second and third that scored Coleman to tie the game at 1-1.
CU was only able to muster a single hit then in each of the final two innings, as they fell to 19-10 on the season, while WSU improved to 25-8.
Sunday's rubber match between the two first place MVC teams with take place at 1 p.m. Junior left-hander Ben Mancuso (4-0) will be getting the start for the Bluejays against Shockers' left-hander Rob Musgrave (5-0).
Notes: Creighton's three hits were the fewest in a game this season ... CU is now 5-3 on the season in one-run games and 2-2 against ranked opponents ... Pat Venditte recorded all five of his strikeouts with his left arm ... Robbie Knight was hit by his 17th pitch of the season, placing him now alone in second place on the all-time CU single-season list behind Chad McConnell who had 21 in 1992 ... CU as a team was hit four times in the game giving them 56 HBPs for the season.
Players Mentioned
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