Creighton University
Northwestern State (La.)
Demons Burn Baseball In Ninth; Top Jays 8-7
2/27/2010 4:00:00 PM | Baseball
NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS - Creighton appeared ready for its third straight victory to start the season. Oscar Garcia wasn't about to let that happen.
Garcia's two-run double in the ninth inning broke a 6-6 tie, giving Northwestern State (La.) an 8-7 victory, Saturday afternoon at Jaycees Field.
Garcia had a monster day, going 2-for-4 with a home run, double and four RBI to lead the Demons (3-2). They would need every run as Creighton held a 6-5 leading heading into the ninth inning, courtesy of Clay Cuno.
Cuno stroked two home runs; the second of which came with two outs in the bottom of the eighth to give the Jays a 6-5 lead.
Northwestern nullified Cuno's blast, as they rallied for three runs in the final frame. The inning started with a Tyler Baisley single, chasing Bobby Lackovic from the game.
Matt Patterson came on and got the first Demon batter, but allowed three straight hits. Aaron Munoz singled, moving Baisley to third, and Will Watson followed with a single to left to tie the game at six.
Garcia then blasted the game winner over the head of Robbie Knight in center field.
The Bluejays threatened with two out in the ninth, as Jimmy Swift walked, and T.J. Roemmich blasted a double off the center field fence, bringing the winning run to the plate. Chad Sheppard got the final out, as Adams grounded out to third to preserve the Demon win.
The bottom of the Northwestern State order punished the Jays, as Munoz (hitting eighth) went 3-for-4 with three runs and two RBI, and Watson (ninth) went 2-for-4 with two RBI.
Carson Vitale had four RBI and Cuno finished with two home runs and two RBI to pace the Jays. Knight and Roemmich also added two hits for Creighton (2-1).
Patterson suffered the loss, falling to 0-1. Justin Northcott threw two pitches in the eighth, getting the only batter he faced to earn his first win (1-0) of the season, while Sheppard posted his second save of 2010.
Northwestern State almost wriggled out of the situation unscathed, as the Jays loaded the bases with one out after a Roemmich walk. A Trever Adams strikeout left the Jays with two outs, but Vitale came through, lining a 0-1 breaking ball in the right-center gap to clear the bases.
The Demons answered in the second with four runs to take the lead. A catcher's interference from Vitale, and a Colin Bear bloop single put two on with none out. After a groundout that moved the runners, Munoz brought them home with a double to the left center gap.
Garcia did the rest, as he blasted a two-out, two run bomb to deep-right center to give the Demons a 4-3 lead.
Northwestern State put together a two-out rally in the fourth to post their fifth run. Munoz singled and Watson lined a triple to center to score him for a two-run lead.
The Jays grabbed a little momentum back in the fourth via Cuno's first home run as a Jay. Cuno launched the first pitch he saw well beyond the 20-foot fence in deep left-center to bring Creighton back within one at 5-4.
A pair of one out singles from Roemmich and Adams ignited a one-out rally for Creighton in the sixth. After Roemmich moved to third on Adams' single, Vitale picked up his fourth RBI of the day with a groundout to short to tie the game at five.
That prompted a Northwestern pitching change, as Mathias Simmons got Cuno with the tying run on second to end the threat. The Jays threatened again in the seventh, loading the bases with two-out, but Jacob Williford got Roemmich to pop out to center to end the threat yet again.
Creighton will be back in action tomorrow morning against host school Stephen F. Austin. First pitch is slated for 11:00 a.m.
NOTES: Creighton's 2-0 start was the best since 2000 when they started 3-0 ... Knight extended his games started streak to 98 games and his games played mark to 145 ... With the loss, Creighton moved to 6-14 in games played in Texas under Ed Servais ... Soto and Knight both came away unscathed after a scary collision in the third inning on pop fly to shallow center. Soto made the catch for the first out of the inning ... Vitale's catcher's interference in the second inning was just the second error of his career ... Speaking of Vitale, his four runs batted in matched a career high.
