Creighton University
South Dakota State
Baseball Falls 5-2 to South Dakota State
4/13/2012 7:06:00 PM | Baseball
OMAHA, Neb. - Three hits from Mike Gerber wouldn't be enough on Friday night, as Creighton baseball fell 5-2 to South Dakota State. The loss snaps Creighton's five game win streak over the Jackrabbits, dropping the Bluejays to 14-17 on the season, while SDSU improves to 11-17-1.
Gerber picked up three of Creighton's seven hits on the night, with a single to right field, a bunt single and triple on the night. The Bluejays six through nine hitters accounted for five of the seven total hits, with Alex Staehely and Brennan Murphy adding a single hit each.
The Bluejays scored both runs in the eighth inning. Murphy singled up the middle to lead off the frame and advanced to second on a wild pitch before Jordan Makovicka pinch-hit, grounding out to the second baseman but advancing Murphy to third. Chance Ross drove in Murphy with a single on the infield.
Anthony Bemboom then doubled to right center, bouncing the ball off the DJ's Dugout sign on the bend of the wall. Ross scored, giving the Bluejays two runs before an inning ending strikeout.
South Dakota State scored all five runs between the third and seventh inning. The first hit off Bluejay starter Erik Mattingly in 12.0 straight innings came off the bat of SDSU catcher Zach Briggs, who would come around in the third to score the first run of the game. Single runs in the fifth and seventh sandwiched a pair of runs in the sixth by the Jackrabbits.
SDSU finished with the 9-7 edge in hits, with Beau Hanowski, Eric Cain and Phil Paquette picking up a pair of hits each in the win. Gerber was the only Bluejay with multiple hits in the game, the first time this season the starting center fielder has had three hits in a game.
Creighton will play a single game tomorrow against Iowa. Due to the projected inclement weather in the forecast, the game will start 45 minutes following the conclusion of the Iowa vs. South Dakota State game, with that first pitch set for 10:00 am.
NOTES: Creighton now holds a 14-5 record over SDSU ... Even though the states border each other, SDSU starting pitcher Stephen Bougher is the lone Nebraska native on the Jackrabbits roster. Bougher, a junior from Papillion, finished the day with 7.1 innings of work, surrendering five hits and one earned run while striking out six ... Erik Mattingly started the first 2.1 innings of today's game without surrendering a hit, to add to his prior 9.2 hitless innings, going 12.0 complete innings without surrendering a hit ... Creighton's pitching staff surrendered five runs on the night, but just two were earned. A game after committing three errors at Nebraska, the Bluejays bobbled a pair of baseballs in the game Friday night ... The 4,583 fans marked the largest crowd at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha this season.
