Creighton University
Sam Houston State
Baseball Falls In Ninth to Sam Houston State, 11-10
3/7/2010 3:00:00 PM | Baseball
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Sam Houston State scored three runs with two outs in the ninth inning to give the Bearkats a 11-10 victory over Creighton, Sunday afternoon at Don Sanders Stadium.
The win erased career days from Scott Thornburg and Ian Dike. Thornburg finished with a career high three hits, going 3-for-5. Dike posted the go-ahead run with a solo home run in the seventh inning, as he finished 3-for-4 with two doubles, a home run and a career-high three RBI.
The SHSU rally started with one out in the ninth, as an infield single, a double and a hit batsman loaded the bases. After a Lackovic strikeout for the second out, a questionable ball four call on a full count brought the score to 10-9.
Bobby Lackovic (3-1) took the loss by giving up all three runs in the ninth. Matt Shelton (1-2) pitched the last two innings for the win.
The ninth inning rally also nullified an outstanding performance from Jack VanLeur. The junior went 4.2 scoreless innings (a career-long outing), striking out two and walking none.
Greg Olson was next up, and with a full count, he lined a single to center to score the tying and winning runs.
Creighton (5-3) trailed on three different occasions Sunday, but resiliency nearly won out.
VanLeur held Sam Houston State (3-9) at bay after they put up a combined seven runs in the first two innings. After taking a 4-2 lead in the top of the second, the Jays trailed, or were tied until the seventh.
That was when Dike came up big. The senior broke an 8-8 tie with a two-out solo shot over the 375 sign in right field for a 9-8 lead.
The Jays put up an insurance run in the eighth with another key hit. Robbie Knight was hit by a pitch, and stood on second with two out. T.J. Roemmich laced a double to right field, scoring Knight for what appeared to be an insurance run.
With pitching running low after four games in three days, several players dotted the lineup sheet with multiple hits.
Along with Dike and Thornburg, Clay Cuno also posted a two-hit day for Creighton, finishing 2-for-4 with two runs.
Ryan Mooney led all Sam Houston hitters with a 4-for-5 performance adding three runs and two RBI. Braeden Riley, Mark Hudson and Olson all had three hits for the Bearkats.
Sam Houston took a 2-0 lead in the first, as Mooney doubled off the left field wall. A Riley chopper over a drawn-in Dike scored Mooney, and after a Greg Hellhake balk, Hudson doubled off the right field wall to notch the second SHSU run.
The first six Jays reached to start the second, giving them a 4-2 lead. Cuno walked to start the frame and Jimmy Swift followed with a single.
With SHSU playing the bunt, Thornburg hit a ground ball through an open left side for the first Bluejay run. After a wild pitch moved the runners up to scoring position, Dike lined an RBI-double over Jared Wondra in left to give the Jays the 3-2 lead.
Elliot Soto finished the frame with his team-leading, fourth sacrifice fly of the season, scoring Dike from third.
The Bearkats were quick to answer with five runs in the second inning. A walk and a single started the rally, and after a sacrifice bunt, Hellhake was lifted for Nick Musec.
Mooney greeted Musec with his second double, scoring both runners. Riley followed with another Bearkat double to give them a 5-4 lead. After a strikeout for the second out, Taylor Davis blasted a two-run shot off the scoreboard in left for a 7-4 advantage.
The Jays posted the next three runs to tie the game. Thornburg legged out a double in the third for his second RBI to cut the Bearkat lead to two.
Alex Staehely led off the fourth with a single, and moved up two bases on an errant pickoff throw by the pitcher. Knight singled him home with a fister to right, and eventually scored on a Trever Adams sacrifice fly to knot things at seven.
VanLeur came on to face Doug Oney with the bases loaded in the fourth, as the catcher greeted the southpaw with a sac fly to give the Bears their third lead of the day at 8-7.
Another lead fell by the wayside for the Bearkats, as Knight tied the game with a bases loaded sac fly in the fifth. The Jays nearly took the lead two pitches later, but Dike was gunned down at the plate after a Soto single to center.
Creighton will travel to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex to face UT-Arlington in a midweek contest. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.
NOTES: Knight's streaks of consecutive starts and games played continued to grow, as he notched his 103rd and 149th respectively ... Knight extended two other streaks on Sunday, reaching base for the 17th straight game (and 50th in last 51 games) and recording a hit in his 11th straight games ... The Jays moved to 9-16 in games played in Texas under Ed Servais ... Hellhake's start on the mound marked his second straight season opening start against Sam Houston State ... Musec's appearance was the first of his career ... Dike's long ball was the third of his career ... Knight was hit by a pitch in the eighth inning, moving him one HBP away from tying for sixth on the NCAA's all-time list ... The loss snapped a Bluejay streak of 28 straight wins when scoring 9+ runs. The last setback was a 12-10 defeat at the hands of Nebraska on April 3, 2007 ... Dike went for two doubles in a game for the first time in his career.
