Creighton University
Wichita State
Koenigstein No-Hits Shockers As Baseball Thumps WSU, 11-0
5/21/2009 8:00:00 PM | Baseball
WICHITA, Kan. -- Creighton freshman Brandon Koenigstein needed just 73 pitches to throw the first complete game no-hitter in school history to lift the Bluejays to an 11-0 victory over host Wichita State at the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. The game was shortened to seven innings due to the league's 10-run rule.
Koenigstein struck out a career-high seven and faced the minimum 21 batters to improve to 5-0 on the season. He allowed just one runner all night, hitting Tyler Grimes on a 2-2 pitch to open the fourth frame, before Grimes was retired when Cody Lassley followed with a 5-4-3 double play. He threw 52 strikes in his 73 pitches, capping off his first complete game and shutout with Nick Becker's catch of a Clinton McKeever fly ball to end it. It was also the first no-hitter in MVC Tournament history.
The win improved Creighton to 30-24 on the year, its sixth straight 30-win season under the direction of Ed Servais. Wichita State dropped to 28-25 with the setback.
The no-hitter was the second in CU history, joining the combined no-no by future Major Leaguer Dennis Rasmussen (5.1 IP) and Joe Franco (3.2 IP) against Kansas State on April 18, 1980. Wichita State had not been no-hit since 1984, when Indiana State's Matt Gardiner turned the trick.
Creighton scored twice in the top of the first inning while knocking Shocker starting pitcher Max Hutson from the game. Robbie Knight doubled to right-center and advanced to third on a sac bunt from Elliot Soto. Darin Ruf singled up the middle to plate Knight, his 200th career RBI. Vicente Cafaro was hit-by-pitch and after a strikeout, Ruf came around to score after walks to Nick Becker and Carson Vitale ended Hutson's evening after just 2/3 of an inning.
Creighton scored three runs in the fourth inning to build a 5-0 lead. With one down, Vitale singled up the middle versus Shocker reliever Clint Maune. He raced to third on a single to center by Jimmy Swift. After a walk to Ian Dike filled the bases with Bluejays, both Vitale and Swift scored when Knight laced a double down the left-field line. Dike who advanced to third on Knight's two-bagger, then scored when reliever Cobey Guy threw a two-out wild pitch.
The Bluejays used a six-run sixth inning to put the Shockers away, sending 11 men to the plate. Swift walked and mvoed to second on a single to right by Dike. Knight singled off the glove of first baseman Clinton McKeever to score Swift. Soto singled down the line to load the bases before Ruf singled through the left side to score Dike. Both Knight and Soto would score on Cafaro's double to left before an RBI groundout from T.J. Roemmich scored Ruf. CU closed the scoring on its big frame with a single by Nick Becker.
Creighton returns to action on Friday with a 3 pm game against regular-season champion Missouri State, a game that can be heard on KOZN (1620 AM). The winner will advance to Saturday's 7 pm championship game, where it will meet the victor of the 7 pm game between Wichita State and Illinois State.
NOTES: Longtime Missouri State athletic director Bill Rowe threw out the first pitch. Rowe is retiring after more than 50 years with the Bears this spring ...Darin Ruf's first-inning RBI was the 200th of his career ...This was Max Hutson's 17th career start, but third against CU in the MVC Tournament. Hutson also started the 2007 and 2005 MVC Tournament championship meetings with CU ...Shocker reliever Justin Kemp began warming up four batters into the game after Hutson yielded a double, single, hit-by-pitch and sac bunt ...Caron Vitale's bases-loaded walk in the first inning was the 13th walk for the Jays this season with the sacks full ...Koenigstein needed just 31 pitches while retiring the first nine batters ...Creighton turned its 69th double play of the season in the fourth inning, its fourth of the tournament so far ...Darin Ruf moved into third in NCAA history with his 2,221 career putout when Bret Bascue bounced to short to end the bottom of the fifth. The NCAA record is 2,289 and held by former Wichita State product Logan Sorenson ...Wichita State has not been no-hit since April 15, 1984 when Mike Gardiner held WSU hitless ...Creighton has outscored opponents 28-1 in the sixth inning of its last four trips to the MVC Tournament, including 10-0 in 2008 and 9-0 this year ...Creighton's six-run sixth inning marked its first inning of exactly six runs since doing it in the sixth inning against UNI on April 12th of this season.
