Creighton University
Missouri
Knight's Big Day Not Enough as Mizzou Walk-Off Homer Drops Baseball
5/6/2008 7:15:00 PM | Baseball
The Tigers, who trailed 4-1 heading to the bottom of the eighth, used a two-run homer by Trevor Coleman in the eighth inning, then got a walk-off two-run homer from pinch-hitter Steve Gray in the ninth for the win.
Creighton drops to 30-17 with the setback, while the Tigers are now 32-16.
Creighton had
Knight went yard again in the second inning, clearing the 370' sign in left-center and plating Brett Mieras, who had reached on a single. It was Knight's second homer in as many innings, and third of his two-year career.
Knight scored his third run of the game in the top of the seventh inning as CU stretched its lead to 4-1. Knight singled up the middle and moved to second on a groundout by Soto. After Darin Ruf and Winkelmann were hit by pitches to load the bases, Knight came home on a sacrifice fly by Nordgren.
Mizzou made it interesting in the bottom of the eighth inning thanks to a two-run homer by Trevor Coleman. The homer, which also scored Senne, was the first-allowed as a left-hander this season by ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte.
In the ninth inning, Dan Pietroburgo reached on a leadoff error when third baseman Winkelmann's throw was in the dirt. After a sacrifice bunt, Gray would pinch-hit and hit a 3-1 offering over the wall in left-center for the go-ahead runs.
Despite not factoring into the decision, Greg Hellhake continued his midweek domination on the mound for the Jays. He tossed five innings of one-run ball, surrendering four hits and two walks while striking out four in a career-high 82 pitches.
Freshman Jack VanLeur also threw excellent in relief for CU. He threw two innings and used a pair of double-play balls to escape trouble, as the lefty allowed three hits. VanLeur lowered his ERA to 0.82 on the season.
Venditte, who gave up four runs (three earned) in 1.1 innings of work, suffered the loss to fall to 6-3. He struck out three men but allowed three hits, including a pair of homers.
Creighton returns to action this weekend when it hosts
NOTES: Robbie Knight's homer to lead off the game was the first by a Bluejay since Chase Odenreider's leadoff homer against Missouri State on May 6, 2006 ...Creighton has scored first in 23 of its last 25 games ...Creighton, which managed just one hit in Sunday's 5-4 loss at Southern Illinois, had three hits in the first inning on Tuesday ...Robbie Knight is the third Bluejay with a two-homer game this season. Darin Ruf did it on March 25 against South Dakota State and Steve Winkelmann did it on April 20 at Northern Iowa ...Robbie Knight's five hits were a career-high. Vicente Cafaro, who owns three games with four hits this season, is the only other Bluejay with a four-hit game ...Pat Venditte moved into fourth in MVC history with his 104th career appearance ...Pat Venditte struck out batters with both arms for the 38th time in his career ...Robbie Knight became the first Bluejay with five hits in a game since Chris Gradoville was 5-for-5 at Tennessee Tech on March 12, 2006 ...Creighton beat Missouri 4-3 last year on a walk-off double by Chad Ogden in the bottom of the ninth to score Robbie Knight ...Robbie Knight now has hits in his last six at-bats and has reached base safely in seven straight plate appearances ...Creighton had won 65 straight games when taking a lead into the ninth inning, dating to a 5-4 loss to Kansas State on April 11, 2006.
