Creighton University
Nebraska
Baseball Clips Huskers, 9-2, Before 18,316 at Rosenblatt
5/15/2007 3:00:00 AM | Baseball
OMAHA, Neb. -- Chris Gradoville had a two-run single and solo homer to lead Creighton (38-12) to a 9-2 win over Nebraska before 18,316 fans on Tuesday night in Omaha. The game was played at Rosenblatt Stadium exactly one month prior to the opening of the 2007 Men's College World Series.
Creighton, ranked 27th in this week's National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association poll, won its eighth straight game and won for the 19th time in its last 20 games. The strong stretch run includes two wins over its in-state rival from Lincoln. Barring a postseason rematch, Creighton also assured itself of winning the season series with NU for the first time since 1994.
Creighton scored first with an unearned run in the top of the first inning against Husker starter Matt Foust. Robbie Knight reached on a throwing error by NU third baseman Jeff Tezak. He would score when Andrew Small beat out an infield dribbler to third.
Nebraska answered in the bottom of the first inning. DJ Belfonte singled up the middle, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jake Mort. Andrew Brown then ripped a double to right-center that scored Belfonte.
CU put together a three-run flurry in the top of the second inning. Chad Ogden singled to right and raced to third on a hit-and-run single by Michael Lam. Ogden came home on a single by Knight, and both Lam and Knight scored on a two-run single from Gradoville.
Creighton extended its lead to 5-1 in the top of the fourth against Husker reliever Charlie Shirek. Lam doubled down the line with one out and scored on a single by Knight.
NU scored once in the fourth but CU starter Casey Schmidt escaped a major jam. Jeff Tezak and Jake Opitz lined doubles to start the inning and draw the Huskers within 5-2. Andy Gerch then singled, putting runners at the corner with nobody out. Bryce Nimmo then hit a sharp smash to first baseman Darin Ruf. Ruf stepped on first, then threw down to second as Gerch was tagged out. Much to the dismay of NU head coach Mike Anderson, Opitz froze at third base and did not score on the play. He would be stranded one batter later when Nick Sullivan grounded out to Ruf to end the threat.
Gradoville homered with two out in the seventh inning, launching a blast five rows into the bleachers over the 375' sign. That gave CU a 6-2 lead. The Jays added one run in the eighth and two more in the ninth on Small's bases-loaded single.
Creighton, now 38-12, once again got strong bullpen work. Schmidt improved to 4-1, yielding just two runs in five innings of work. Scott Reese threw two scoreless frames, while Pat Venditte and Andy Masten each worked a scoreless inning to finish the game.
Nebraska fell to 27-22 with the loss. Foust dropped to 1-4 after giving up five hits and four runs in three innings.
NOTES: Chris Gradoville extended his career-long hitting streak to 15 with a two-run single in the second Chris Gradoville's homer in the seventh was his third career at Rosenblatt Stadium and second this season... The crowd of 18,316 was the nation's second-largest single-game crowd this season and 17th-most in NCAA regular-season history... CU's seven-run margin of victory was its largest over Nebraska since an 10-2 win over Nebraska on March 27, 1993... Pat Venditte extended his scoreless streak to 27.2 innings with a scoreless eighth Creighton is now 28-1 when scoring five runs or more in a game.
