Saturday, April 26
CU Sports Complex
1:00 PM
Creighton University
7
vs
1
Evansville
Mieras' Grand Slam Lifts Baseball Past Evansville
4/26/2008 4:30:00 PM | Baseball
OMAHA, Neb. -- Brett Mieras hit a fourth-inning grand slam and the Creighton pitching staff allowed only four hits as the Bluejays defeated Evansville, 7-1, Saturday afternoon at the CU Sports Complex.
Creighton improves to 27-15 overall and 10-7 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Evansville drops to 9-33 and 3-14.
Mike Nihsen (3-1) continued his strong pitching of late, as he allowed just three hits in six-plus innings of work. Nihsen carried a perfect game into the fifth inning, and struck out five in his 76-pitch outing. Pat Venditte recorded four strikeouts in his two scoreless innings of work and T.J. Roemmich worked the final inning for Creighton.
Vicente Cafaro went 4-for-4 in the contest, his third four-hit game of the season, and finished a triple shy of the cycle. Elliot Soto picked up two hits in the game and Darin Ruf extended his hitting streak to a career-best 12 games with a single in his final at bat.
The Jays took a 1-0 lead in the second inning, as Nick Nordgren continued his hot streak at the plate with a one-out double. Nordgren then came around to score on Cafaro's first hit of the day, an RBI double to left field.
Creighton's big fourth inning all started with two outs after Ruf and Steve Winkelmann each flied out to start the frame. Nordgren worked a walk and advanced to second on a single by Cafaro. Joe Servais was then hit on a 2-2 pitch, loading the bases for Mieras.
After a visit to the mound by UE head coach David Seifert, Mieras took the first pitch he saw from John Foley and blasted it into the netting over the left field wall. The homer was the third of the season for Mieras, as he matched his career-high with four RBIs.
The Jays added single tallies in the sixth and seventh innings. Cafaro sent a deep shot to straight-away center field for his fourth home run of the season, a solo shot with two outs in the sixth. CU again scored with two outs in the seventh, as Robbie Knight tripled and came around to score on an infield single by Soto.
On the hill, Nihsen was in control from the beginning. Just as Jeremy Hauer entered the fifth inning with a perfect game on Friday, Nihsen retired the first 12 batters he faced in the game. Derek Melton broke up the no-hit bid with a leadoff single to center in the fifth.
In the seventh, Nihsen allowed a leadoff single and saw an error by Ruf leave runners on the corners. Venditte came in and struck out the first two batters he faced, then got an inning-ending line out.
The Purple Aces tallied their lone run on a Tom Freeman sacrifice fly in the ninth off Roemmich.
The teams will conclude their three-game set with a 1 PM contest at the CU Sports Complex on Sunday.
GAME NOTES: The grand slam by Brett Mieras broke the team's 0-for-9 streak with the bases loaded, as CU's last hit with the bags juiced was a grand slam by Joe Servais at Bradley on April 5 ... Cafaro is the only player on the squad with a four-hit game this season, accomplishing the feat three times ... CU is now 15-0 when Cafaro has an RBI ... The error by Ruf was the first at the CU Sports Complex in his career ... The pitching appearance by Venditte was the 100th of his career ... Venditte struck out batters using both arms for the 14th time in his 27 outings this season and the 36th time in his career.
Creighton improves to 27-15 overall and 10-7 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Evansville drops to 9-33 and 3-14.
Mike Nihsen (3-1) continued his strong pitching of late, as he allowed just three hits in six-plus innings of work. Nihsen carried a perfect game into the fifth inning, and struck out five in his 76-pitch outing. Pat Venditte recorded four strikeouts in his two scoreless innings of work and T.J. Roemmich worked the final inning for Creighton.
Vicente Cafaro went 4-for-4 in the contest, his third four-hit game of the season, and finished a triple shy of the cycle. Elliot Soto picked up two hits in the game and Darin Ruf extended his hitting streak to a career-best 12 games with a single in his final at bat.
The Jays took a 1-0 lead in the second inning, as Nick Nordgren continued his hot streak at the plate with a one-out double. Nordgren then came around to score on Cafaro's first hit of the day, an RBI double to left field.
Creighton's big fourth inning all started with two outs after Ruf and Steve Winkelmann each flied out to start the frame. Nordgren worked a walk and advanced to second on a single by Cafaro. Joe Servais was then hit on a 2-2 pitch, loading the bases for Mieras.
After a visit to the mound by UE head coach David Seifert, Mieras took the first pitch he saw from John Foley and blasted it into the netting over the left field wall. The homer was the third of the season for Mieras, as he matched his career-high with four RBIs.
The Jays added single tallies in the sixth and seventh innings. Cafaro sent a deep shot to straight-away center field for his fourth home run of the season, a solo shot with two outs in the sixth. CU again scored with two outs in the seventh, as Robbie Knight tripled and came around to score on an infield single by Soto.
On the hill, Nihsen was in control from the beginning. Just as Jeremy Hauer entered the fifth inning with a perfect game on Friday, Nihsen retired the first 12 batters he faced in the game. Derek Melton broke up the no-hit bid with a leadoff single to center in the fifth.
In the seventh, Nihsen allowed a leadoff single and saw an error by Ruf leave runners on the corners. Venditte came in and struck out the first two batters he faced, then got an inning-ending line out.
The Purple Aces tallied their lone run on a Tom Freeman sacrifice fly in the ninth off Roemmich.
The teams will conclude their three-game set with a 1 PM contest at the CU Sports Complex on Sunday.
GAME NOTES: The grand slam by Brett Mieras broke the team's 0-for-9 streak with the bases loaded, as CU's last hit with the bags juiced was a grand slam by Joe Servais at Bradley on April 5 ... Cafaro is the only player on the squad with a four-hit game this season, accomplishing the feat three times ... CU is now 15-0 when Cafaro has an RBI ... The error by Ruf was the first at the CU Sports Complex in his career ... The pitching appearance by Venditte was the 100th of his career ... Venditte struck out batters using both arms for the 14th time in his 27 outings this season and the 36th time in his career.
Players Mentioned
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INF
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