Creighton University
Wichita State
Ninth Inning Dooms Baseball In 8-7 Loss To Wichita State
5/9/2010 4:58:00 PM | Baseball
OMAHA, Neb. - Creighton couldn't hold a ninth-inning lead as Wichita State scored the winning run on a wild pitch to take an 8-7 win, and series sweep from Creighton, Sunday afternoon at the CU Sports Complex.
The Shockers (32-17, 13-5 MVC) rallied for three runs in the ninth to overcome a 7-5 deficit. Tyler Grimes and Chris O'Brien singled to start the rally off Creighton (22-20, 9-12 MVC) reliever Mark Winkelman. Preston Springer and Johnny Coy had RBI-singles with out to tie the game at seven.
After Bobby Lackovic was summoned from the bullpen, he got the second out on a Kevin Hall fielder's choice. With Ryan Jones at the plate with two outs, disaster struck as Lackovic uncorked a wild pitch to score Springer from third for the winning run.
Carson Vitale led the Creighton bats, as his 2-for-3, two RBI afternoon was highlighted by his sixth home run on the season. Scott Thornburg and Clay Cuno also had two hits for the Jays.
Logan Hoch (2-1) posted the win, going 2.2 scoreless innings to finish the game. Winkelman suffered the loss, falling to 2-1 after allowing the three, ninth-inning runs on five total hits in 1.1 innings.
Creighton was poised to snatch the game from the Shockers as they rallied for a five-run seventh inning to take a 7-5 lead. The Jays sent 10 men to the plate, as two bases loaded walks by Cobey Guy made it a one-run game.
Hoch came on for Guy, and got an out on a Jimmy Swift RBI fielder's choice. Vitale followed with another clutch hit, singling home the go-ahead run with a single to left-center. Hoch was then let down by his defense as a potential inning-ending fielder's choice was dropped by second baseman Walker Davidson, allowing the seventh Creighton run to score.
Wichita looked set to cruise to a victory as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second.
After a Coy single started the frame a Bennett bloop double scored the first run. Bascue followed with a scorching triple off the wall in center, followed by another bloop double by Erik Harbutz. Will Baez plated Harbutz for the fourth run with a two-out single.
Creighton came back for a pair in the bottom half, as Vitale led off the frame with a monster blast to left field. Elliot Soto came through with the second RBI, plating T.J. Roemmich from third with a two-out flare to center to cut the lead to two.
Both pitchers settled down from there, as Wichita starter Josh Smith retired 14 of the next 16 batters, and Koenigstein allowed just two hits in his next four innings before the Creighton rally in the seventh and the Wichita ninth.
Springer led the Shockers with a 3-for-5 day. Coy, Bennett and Bascue all had two hits with Bennett being the only Shocker with multiple RBI.
The Jays will be back in action on Wednesday with a doubleheader at North Dakota State. The two, seven inning games will start at 5 p.m. in Fargo, N.D.
NOTES: Cuno's single broke an 0-for-17 stretch and was his first hit since April 9 ... Koenigstein's back-to-back walks in the fourth inning marked just the second time in his career he had walked two consecutive hitters. The first set was against Minnesota this season, with the first walk being intentional ... Thornburg finished the series 5-for-11, good for a team-best .455 average.
