Creighton University
Illinois State
Redbirds Fly Past Bluejays, 7-6
4/9/2010 8:00:00 PM | Baseball
OMAHA, Neb. - Friday's Creighton baseball game turned into a battle of the bullpens. In the end, however, it was second baseman Kevin Tokarski who made the difference.
Tokarski launched a tie-breaking home run in the sixth inning, as the Illinois State bullpen duo of Ryan Copeland and Kenny Long combined for a scoreless final five innings to give the Redbirds (13-14, 3-1 MVC) a 7-6 victory over Creighton (14-10, 3-4 MVC) at the CU Sports Complex.
Copeland relieved starter Corey Maines in the fifth, throwing four innings of two-hit, shutout ball to pick up his second (2-4) win. Long hurled the ninth for his fourth save of the season.
Creighton's bullpen was also up the task, as four Bluejay relievers allowed just one hit in five innings of work. Unfortunately, the one hit was Tokarski's home run, his fifth of the season.
The home run capped off a sloppy performance by the Bluejays, as three errors led to five unearned runs; all of which came in a game-changing second inning.
Creighton held a 2-0 lead after two runs in the bottom of the first, but the Redbirds loaded the bases with one out. A Kevin Tokarski single plated the first run of the inning, but after CU starter Jonas Dufek struck out Chad Hinshaw, it looked as if the Jays would escape the frame relatively unscathed.
That's when the defensive faltered, as Trever Adams dropped two costly balls in left, the first on a Matt Thornton drive that cleared the bases to put the Redbirds up 4-2. The very next play saw Adams commit another error as a Matt Mirabal liner handcuffed him to score the fifth ILS run. Anthony Ruffolo posted the only Redbird RBI of the inning, bringing in Mirabal with a triple to make it a 6-2 game.
Creighton clawed back as Carson Vitale led off the next inning with a solo shot. After a walk to Ian Dike and a Jimmy Swift single, Maines uncorked a wild pitch to score Dike with the fourth Creighton run.
Creighton tied the game with single runs in the third in fourth off a Vitale single and a Clay Cuno run on an Elliot Soto double play ball, before Tokarski's shot in the sixth inning off Mark Winkelman.
Tokarski and Vitale were the only two players with multiple runs and RBI as they were an identical 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. T.J. Roemmich had Creighton's other RBI on a groundout in the first.
The Jays and Redbirds will be back in action tomorrow at 2 p.m. at the CU Sports Complex. Brandon Koenigstein is scheduled to throw for CU while Brad Sorkin will go for ILS.
NOTES: Staehely extended his hitting streak to 14 games with his first inning single ... Dufek's four walks were a career-high ... The game one victory for Illinois State was the first in the series since 2001. It also snapped a nine-game Creighton win streak ... Jack VanLeur's appearance in the ninth was his 11th in Creighton's last 12 games ... With the 10 men left on base, Illinois State has now left 36 men on in their last three games ... Bobby Lackovic pitched a scoreless 1.2 innings. After a shaky start to the season, he has posted a 1.42 ERA with nine strikeouts in 12.2 innings ... Matt Patterson's three strikeouts matched a season high ... The Jays have dropped three of the last four one-run games they have played, as they sit at 5-6 in that category.
