Creighton University
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Kansas
Baseball Falls at Kansas in Ninth, 5-4
3/23/2010 7:00:00 PM | Baseball
LAWRENCE, Kan. - After Creighton let a bases loaded opportunity slip away in the top of the ninth, Kansas made sure not to let its chance go to waste.
Brandon Macias laced a two-out, walk-off single to left, scoring Jason Stanfield for a 5-4 Kansas victory over Creighton, Tuesday evening at Hoglund Ballpark.
The KU (12-8) win came despite Creighton (10-5) out-hitting the Jayhawks, 12-9. The Jays could not turn those hits into runs, as they left 10 men on base, five of which came in the eighth and ninth innings.
T.J. Roemmich led the Creighton offense with an RBI double and a home run, his fourth of the season. Trever Adams posted a 3-for-5 evening and Robbie Knight also added a pair of hits.
Creighton had a chance to take the lead in the top of the ninth, but KU closer Brett Bochy got Carson Vitale to strike out with the bases packed and two outs to end the threat.
Bochy (1-0) picked up the win for Kansas, who ended a four-game skid. Jack VanLeur suffered the loss, falling to 0-1 on the season.
Creighton jumped out to a lead in the second, as Ed Servais' wall-bangers carried their bashing ways over from Friday. Roemmich started the frame with his third home run in the last two games, lacing the first pitch over the right field fence for a 1-0 lead.
After a Vitale single, his catching complement in Scott Thornburg lined a double off the base of the left field wall for the second Bluejay run.
Casey Lytle led off the Jayhawk fourth with a double to right-center that just eluded a diving Knight on the warning track. Another Robbie, in KU's Price, cut the Jay lead to one with a sac fly to center.
A pair of two-out knocks got the run back for Creighton in the fifth. Knight returned the favor by sneaking a live drive past a diving Jimmy Waters in left for a double. Elliot Soto's groundball made its way past a diving Macias at short to score Knight for a 3-1 CU lead.
The Jayhawks answered Creighton's retort with three runs in the fifth. Waters started the rally after scoring on a Brett Lisher double to right-center. Stanfield greeted reliever Mark Winkelman with a first-pitch, RBI-single to tie the game at three, and with two down, Lytle's sharp single avoided the backhand stab of Soto, for the 4-3 KU advantage.
Creighton came storming back in the eighth, as Adams led-off with a single through the left side. After a failed bunt attempt, Roemmich lined a 0-2 breaking ball to right-center for a double, tying the game at four, setting up the furious finish.
Creighton will open MVC play this weekend at Southern Illinois. The three-game set with the Salukis is slated to start on Friday with a 3:00 p.m. first pitch.
NOTES: Creighton fell to 17-9 against Kansas; keeping the Jayhawks as the only team in the Big 12 they have a winning record against ... The win was the fourth straight for the Jayhawks over the Jays. Before that Creighton had won the previous six ... Despite the loss, Creighton's league-best, road win total stayed at eight ... Knight's on-base streak reached 23 games, including 56 of his last 57, with his first inning single ... Five of Roemmich's last six hits have been for extra bases (three home runs, two doubles).
