Kansas State Powers Past Baseball, 11-1

MANHATTAN, Kan. ? Kansas State scored five runs in the bottom of the first and cruised to an 11-1 victory over the Creighton baseball team Wednesday night at Tointon Stadium. The Bluejays drop to 15-7 with the loss, while the Wildcats even their record at 11-11.

Kansas State's Justin Bloxom and Jason King combined to go 7-for-10 with eight RBIs to lead the Wildcats. King slugged the game's biggest hit with a grand slam in the first inning, while Bloxom added a homer in the third inning and three RBIs for the game.

The Wildcats jumped on Creighton starter Joe Bonfe (1-2) for five first-inning runs. After an RBI single by Bloxom to give KSU a 1-0 lead, King launched a grand slam over the right field wall. The big inning was aided by three walks, all of whom came around to score against Bonfe.

The teams exchanged runs in the second inning. After a hit batsman, a Vicente Cafaro single and a walk loaded the bases with two outs, designated hitter Ian Dike ripped an RBI single to right field to score Steve Winkelmann. However, Cafaro was thrown out at home while trying to score on the play to end the inning.

Kansas State increased its lead back to five with a Bloxom solo homer in the bottom of the second. The Wildcats added another run in the fourth, as Brett Scott led off with a single and later scored on a bloop single by Drew Biery to make it 7-1.

A two-run homer to left field by Carter Jurica in the bottom of the sixth gave KSU a 9-1 lead. Bloxom added an RBI single and King an RBI double in the eighth to give the Wildcats their final margin of victory.

Starter A.J. Morris (2-1) picked up the victory for the Wildcats, allowing one run on seven hits in five innings. KSU's bullpen allowed no runs and only two hits over the final four innings.

Bonfe allowed six runs on five hits in his two innings of work. Jack VanLeur, Ty Johnston, Matt Patterson and David Merchant finished the contest out of the bullpen. Patterson turned in the only scoreless outing with 1.2 innings of one-hit ball.

Creighton will return home for its first conference series of the season this weekend, as the Jays will host Illinois State at the CU Sports Complex. Friday's first pitch will be at 4 p.m.

GAME NOTES: The game was televised in Kansas and Nebraska on FSN Midwest ... Jason King's first inning grand slam was the first allowed by CU pitching since Wichita State's Brian Spear hit a grand slam on May 24, 2006 ... The 10-run margin of defeat was Creighton's largest this season.

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Players Mentioned

Joe Bonfe

Vicente Cafaro

Ian Dike

Ty Johnston

David Merchant

Matt Patterson

Jack VanLeur

Steve Winkelmann