SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Zak Moore tied a career-high with eight scoreless innings and Andy Masten notched his national-best 16th save as 25th-ranked Creighton blanked Bradley, 2-0, at the 2007 Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Tournament. The win was Creighton's 23rd in the last 25 games, and fourth over Bradley by two runs or less this season.
With the win, Creighton (42-13) is now in the driver's seat as the only undefeated team left in the double-elimination tournament. The Bluejays will play tomorrow night at 7 pm against the winner of tomorrow's noon game between Missouri State and Bradley (31-20).
Moore faced just one batter over the minimum in eight innings, giving up two hits, one walk and whiffing eight. His eight innings tied a career-long performance as the sophomore from Elkhorn improved to 5-1 and lowered his ERA to 3.61. Moore threw first-pitch strikes to 19 of the 25 batters he faced while throwing 119 pitches. The Braves did not have a runner advance past second base during the game. Just as importantly, he saved CU's bullpen one day after it threw 7.1 scoreless innings in a tournament-opening win over Southern Illinois.
Masten, who has yet to yield a ninth-inning run this season in 25.2 innings of work, lowered his ERA to a scant 0.98 with a perfect ninth. The Valley Newcomer of the Year's 16 saves tied him with Southern Cal's Paul Koss for the national lead.
Creighton scored an unearned run in the fifth. With one out and Chad Ogden on first, TJ Roemmich singled through the right side. Michael Lam's slow roller to third was gloved by Paul Rice, but the throw was wide and first baseman Mike McMillan could not hang on as Ogden raced home. A chance for a bigger inning was thwarted when Roemmich was picked off third and Robbie Knight grounded out to end the inning.
In the seventh, Steve Winkelmann coaxed a two-strike walk and was bunted over to second by Ogden. After a Roemmich strikeout, Lam singled up the middle to plate Winkelmann and give the Jays a 2-0 cushion. As it turned out, that's all CU would need on this late night. The game scheduled for a 7 pm first pitch did not start until 9:10 pm after a three-hour rain delay in the first game, and an offensive-minded second game that featured 10 runs scored in the ninth inning alone.
Creighton had just five hits on the day. Two came from Lam, who also reached in the fifth on the play that scored Ogden and made a pair of spectacular defensive gems. Chris Gradoville, Darin Ruf and Roemmich also had one hit each.
Bradley's only hits came on a single to right by Jason Acevedo in the third and a single to center by Paul Rice to open the fourth frame. One night after Wichita State tied a MVC Tournament mark with 17 left on base, Bradley had an almost as improbable one left on base.
The schedule for Friday's games has changed slightly. The first game between (Bradley and Missouri State has been moved to 12 noon, the second game between Wichita State and Evansville will start at 3:30 pm. The final game will feature Creighton against the winner of the noon game between Missouri State and Bradley.
NOTES: Wichita State eliminated Southern Illinois, 4-2, in the first game of the day, while Evansville defeated Missouri State, 11-7, in the second game ...Robbie Knight's walk in the third inning was his first since (14 games, 68 plate appearances) April 28 against Northern Colorado. He had been hit seven times since then ...Chad Ogden had Creighton's 87th sacrifice bunt of the year in the seventh, extending CU's school and Valley record ...Steve Winkelmann has now reached 16 of the last 21 times he's led off an inning in CU's last 25 games ...CU improved to 15-0 this year when scoring in the fifth inning ...Bradley's Ryan Curry had his 21-game hitting streak snapped, which had matched The Valley's longest streak this season. Curry's last previous hitless game was also against Creighton ...Creighton's bullpen owns a 26-inning scoreless streak ...Creighton improved to 7-3 all-time against Bradley in Valley Tournament play while avenging a 1-0 loss that ended CU's 2006 season at the league tourney ...The two hits allowed by Creighton pitching was the fewest since Chris Appuhn threw a complete-game one-hitter at Wichita State on April 27, 2003 in a 16-0 seven-inning win ...The game took just 1:55 to complete.
