Creighton University
Illinois State
Baseball Wins Season-Best Sixth Straight, 12-2 over Illinois State
5/2/2009 5:45:00 PM | Baseball
For the first time in the team's last four games, Creighton got on the board first, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Robbie Knight led off the game with a single before advancing to second on Elliot Soto's sacrifice. After going to third on Darin Ruf's fly out to right, Knight scored on a passed ball.
The Bluejays extended its lead in the third inning with two outs as Soto drew a two-out walk. He then stole second and scored on Ruf's double to center. Ruf then made it 3-0 when Cafaro hit a ball down the third base line that went under the glove of third baseman
The Redbirds cut it to 4-1 in the third when Gabe Demarco doubled to right-center, plating Matt Mirabal from first.
In the fourth, Nick Becker doubled to right-center to put runners at second and third with one out. Knight then singled to left, bringing in Scott Thornburg from third, making it 5-1.
In the bottom of the fifth ISU got a couple breaks to lead off the inning as Cole Marty reached first base on a strikeout-wild pitch. Collin Salzenstein then hit what should have been a double play but instead the ball hit off the umpire, David Riley, allowing everyone to reach safely. After a sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third with one out, Jonas Dufek got Mike Stalowy to pop up to second before inducing a come back ground ball to the mound by Anthony Ruffolo, to get out of the inning unscathed.
CU loaded the bases with just one out in the top of the sixth. Soto then doubled to left-center bringing in Thornburg and Becker. Ruf then hit his career-Bluejay record 22nd sacrifice fly, bringing in Knight. Cafaro then hit a groundball to short that Salzenstein threw away allowing Cafaro to go to second and Soto to score for the fourth run of the inning. Roemmich then singled to right bringing in Cafaro for the fifth run of the inning, and made it a 10-2 game.
Creighton added two more runs in the ninth off a Soto single, making the final count 12-2.
Jonas Dufek (4-5), got the win going 6.0 innings. He allowed two runs on seven hits. He struck out three and walked one.
The Bluejays and Redbirds will wrap up their series on Sunday at 1:00 p.m., at Duffy Bass Field.
NOTES: Soto's sacrifice in the first was his first since March 25 against North Dakota...He leads the team with eight sacrifices on the year, and is tied for second in the Missouri Valley Conference...It was the first time Creighton has scored eight or more runs in three straight games since doing it in seven straight contests from March 1-8, 2008...With their four hit-by-pitches in the game, CU now has 10 in the last two games...Robbie Knight extended his hit streak to 11 games...During the streak he is 18-49 (.367), with five doubles, a triple, a home run and 14 RBI...The Jays have allowed three runs or fewer in six straight games. That is the longest such streak since May 11-18, 2007, when they did it in six straight. During the streak the team's ERA has dropped from 3.97 to 3.65.
