Baseball Batters Albany, 21-11 in NCAA Slugfest

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Creighton scored 18 runs in the final four innings to break open a close game and secure a 21-11 win over Albany in an NCAA Tournament elimination game from Fayetteville, Ark. It was the highest run total in 27 all-time postseason games for the Bluejay program as well as the highest run-output of the 2007 NCAA Tournament by any team to date.

No. 20 Creighton improves to 45-15 on the season and will face No. 12 Arkansas in an elimination game tomorrow at 2:30 pm. The winner of that moves on to play No. 22 Oklahoma State at 6:30 pm. Albany ends its first NCAA Tournament appearance with a 29-29 record.

Creighton led just 3-2 before the Albany pitching staff reached its breaking point. The Jays six-run sixth inning saw them record three homers, a triple and a single as the Jays teed off on UAlbany relievers Sean Gregory and Alexander Beaulieu. Chris Gradoville opened the offensive explosion with a one-out triple into the right-field corner. After Darin Ruf was hit by a pitch, Steve Winkelmann hit a three-run homer into the Albany bullpen beyond the left-field wall. One out later, Andrew Small also found the Albany bullpen with his third homer of the season to make it 8-2. Two pitches after Gregory's inside pitch went over Brett Mieras' head, the junior from Omaha hit made his first homer as a Bluejay a memorable one. Mieras hit a deep drive to that took a big bounce off the 375 sign. Third base coach Ed Servais never hesitated in waving Mieras home, where he beat a close relay throw home for CU's first inside-the-park homer since Ryan Fitzgerald on May 3, 2002.

CU also scored three times in the seventh. Gradoville had a leadoff double and scored on an RBI single from Winkelmann. Winkelmann and Chad Ogden would also score in the seventh as the Jays went up 12-3. The race around the bases continued when the Bluejays scored five additional runs in the top of the eighth. The inning featured a bases-loaded walk to Ruf (his fourth of the day), sacrifice flies from Winkelmann and Ogden, and a run-scoring single from Small. CU also batted around in the ninth, scoring four more times.

Albany scored the school's first NCAA Tournament run with a tally in the bottom of the first inning. Al Barbato opened the inning with a four-pitch walk and moved to second on a bunt. Barbato advanced to third on Steve Wyland's infield single up the middle, and later scored on a Tom Hill grounder up the middle that deflected off CU hurler Zak Moore. After a quick look from trainer Matt Wallace, Moore stayed in the game and got Sean Donovan to ground out and end the first.

The Bluejays used a watchful eye and some old-fashioned hustle to manufacture a run in the second and tie the game at 1-1. Mieras had a two-out double. Michael Lam and Robbie Knight followed with walks to load the bases. Mieras scored when Knight beat the throw to second on a Ross Sinclair's high-hopper to short.

The fourth inning saw an NCAA record, as well as another run that saw Creighton push its lead to 3-1. Knight was hit an NCAA-record tying 33^rd time this season to open the frame. With Sinclair up, Albany shortstop Donovan then inexplicably threw to second, where Knight was standing on the bag after taking off on the pitch. Following a bunt by Gradoville and intentional walk to Ruf, Knight scored on a sacrifice fly from Winkelmann.

Albany closed within 3-2 and chased Moore before Scott Reese shut the door on the Great Danes rally in the fifth. Albany had three straight singles with one out, the last by Donovan to score Wyland and make it 3-2. Reese then came on with runners at first and second and one out and needed just one pitch to induce a 6-4-3 double play.

Casey Schmidt, who came on in relief after Reese walked three straight Albany batters in the sixth, earned the win to improve to 6-1 on the year. Schmidt threw 1.2 scoreless innings and allowed just one hit. He was one of six Bluejay pitchers on the afternoon, including the final 1.2 innings of work by Bob Lackovic.

Creighton's offensive leaders included a 4-for-6 day from Mieras which included four RBI and left him a triple shy of the cycle. Small was 4-for-6 while Winkelmann was 3-for-4 with a career-high six RBI. Eight different Bluejays had two hits or more, while seven different players scored at least twice.

Albany starter Cory Warrings struggled with his control and gave up three runs in three innings to fall to 3-5. The America East Tournament MVP walked six batters before giving way to Gregory, who allowed five runs in 2.2 innings. Beaulieu yielded four runs in one inning of work as well.

NOTES: Robbie Knight tied the NCAA single-season record when he was hit by his 33^rd pitch of the season. He matches the mark held by Richmond's Andrew Slater, who was beaned 33 times in 1997 ...Robbie Knight was also hit to lead off the eighth inning but home plate umpire Greg Howard ruled Knight didn't attempt to get out of the way and was forced to return to the plate ...Creighton is now 8-1 in its 60^th game of the season over the past 20 years ...Creighton's 45 wins rank fourth in school history ...Steve Winkelmann's six RBI were a career-high and the most by a Bluejay since Chris Gradoville had six against Tennessee Tech last March 12, 2006 at Tennessee Tech ...Ross Sinclair tied a CU record with seven at-bats in the game ...Darin Ruf reached base five times on four walks and a hit-by-pitch, but had his nine-game hitting streak end in two official at-bats ...The game lasted more than four hours (4:06), CU's longest game in time had been 3:41 for the April 3 game vs. Nebraska ...Creighton's 21 runs were a season-high, while their 21 hits tied a season-best effort ...Darin Ruf's seven putouts give him 576 this season, one more than Scott Stahoviak (1990) for most in Creighton single-season history ...Creighton's 7-8-9 hitters, who were a combined 0-for-12 on Friday, combined for 10 hits in 17 at-bats and scored six runs.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Chris Gradoville

Robbie Knight

Bobby Lackovic

Michael Lam

Brett Mieras

Zak Moore

Chad Ogden

Scott Reese

Darin Ruf

Casey Schmidt

Ross Sinclair

Andrew Small

Steve Winkelmann