Creighton University
Illinois State
Baseball Swept By Illinois State With 6-2 Loss On Sunday
4/11/2010 3:00:00 PM | Baseball
OMAHA, Neb. - Ty Blach set down the first 17 batters of the game, and Creighton held a 2-0 lead heading into the sixth inning.
That's when everything fell apart.
Illinois State scored all of its runs, posted all of its hits and had all its baserunners with two outs, as the Redbirds swept Creighton for the first time in Omaha, with a 6-2 victory Sunday at the CU Sports Complex.
The Illinois State (15-14, 5-1 MVC) pitching duo of Ryan Camp and Ryan Copeland held Creighton (14-12, 3-6) to a season-low three hits, and retiring the last 13 batters of the game in order. Camp moved to 4-3 on the season and Copeland picked up his first save.
The Jays finished the weekend with a paltry .152 batting average in the three games, scoring a total of 10 runs over three games. Illinois State, on the other hand, hit .349 with two outs and .341 with runners on over the three games.
The three-run sixth was all the Redbirds would need, as they started the rally with two outs. Brett Kay started it with a two-out single and stole second. Kevin Tokarski was walked, and Chad Hinshaw brought home the first run with a single. A double steal set up a Matt Mirabal two-run single to give the Redbirds the 3-2 lead.
The Redbirds tacked on two more in the seventh, as Blach was lifted after he retired the first two men. Three bloops, the first two from Zach Amrein and Ryan Court, set up Kay jam-shot single down the right field line to make it 5-2.
The Redbirds would tack on another run in the ninth on an Amrein home run to right field to provide the final margin.
Creighton did jump out to a 2-0 lead on the strength of Ian Dike's fourth home run in the third and a Camp wild pitch in the fifth. It was just the third time in nine Valley games Creighton has taken the first lead.
Blach suffered the loss for Creighton, falling to 0-1 on the season. The freshman went 6.2 innings, allowing the three earned runs while striking out three.
Kay led the way for Illinois State on Sunday. Hitting in the nine-hole, Kay went 3-for-4 with a run and two of the Redbird RBI. All but one ILS player reached bases, as Mirabal had two RBI and Amrein had two hits.
Along with Dike, Vitale and Jimmy Swift had the other CU hits. The first through sixth hitters in the CU lineup went a combined 1-for-20.
The Jays will not play a weekday, as they will resume play at Bradley on Friday. First pitch in Peoria, Ill. will be at 6 p.m.
NOTES: Joey Bowens start in center was his first career start in 24 career appearances ... The season low in hits came one day after the Jays tied their previous season-low ... The two straight MVC series losses at home marks the first time that has happened since 1987 ... Creighton fell below .500 on Sundays as they now have a 2-3 mark ... Dike's home run was the fourth of the season.
