Creighton University
North Dakota State
Baseball Completes Sweep of Bison With 13-5 Win
5/9/2007 3:00:00 AM | Baseball
Fargo, N.D. -- Ambidextrous reliever Pat Venditte threw 2.2 innings of scoreless relief to put the brakes on a furious North Dakota State comeback as Creighton downed the Bison, 13-5, in the second game of a Wednesday doubleheader. CU, which won the first game 12-2, improved to 34-12 with the wins while NDSU dropped to 12-27.
After Creighton went ahead 7-0 in the first three innings, the visitng Bluejays had to hold on against the feisty Bison. Venditte gave up just three hits in relief with CU clinging to a 7-5 lead, which later became 11-5 after a grand slam by Chris Gradoville in the top of the seventh.
Creighton batted around in the first inning and scored four times, all with two outs. Robbie Knight singled and would score on a single up the middle by Darin Ruf. Ruf would score on a base hit by Steve Winkelmann, Winkelmann would score on a hit by Brandon Knox, and Brett Mieras came plateward on an infield single by Michael Lam.
CU went ahead 7-0 in the top of the third inning, once again batting around. With one out,
After a one-out triple by Luke Otto, Venditte came on with a 2-0 count to Greg Plecki to replace Reese. Otto later scored when Plecki singled up the middle. Venditte would escape the jam with two fly balls to right.
Creighton tacked on some insurance runs in the top of the 7th. After a dropped foul ball, Lam coaxed a walk. After a single by Knight and walk to Sinclair, Gradoville's grand slam against Ryan Langlais gave CU an 11-5 cushion. Gradoville' s grand slam was CU's fourth bases-clearing dinger of the season. Andrew Small later made it 13-5 with a bases-loaded single to center that scored a pair.
Andy Masten would pitch a scoreless seventh to end the game. Venditte was credited with the win, lifting him to 7-2 on the season.
Creighton returns to action on Friday when it opens a three-game series at
NOTES: Creighton has outscored foes 35-4 in the past 16 games in the first inning, including 12 games with first-inning runs... Michael Lam extended his career-long hitting streak to 10 with a single in the first inning...The appearance by Scott Reese was the 117th of his career, an MVC record and tied for 21st in NCAA history... Scott Reese has made 116 career relief appearances, 16th in NCAA history... Creighton is 10-0 in games it has hit a grand slam in since 2002... Pat Venditte has now thrown 23 scoreless innings of work... Creighton has now won 23 straight doubleheader games, including an 8-0 mark this year (four sweeps).
