Sunday, March 8
Omaha, Neb. (TD Ameritrade Park Omaha)
1:30 PM
Creighton University
5-5
0
vs
9
Minnesota
5-7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Minnesota
0
0
1
0
1
5
2
0
0
9
12
0
Creighton
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
Baseball No-Hit By Minnesota in 9-0 Loss
3/8/2015 5:42:00 PM | Baseball
OMAHA, Neb. -- Three Minnesota pitchers combined on a no-hitter as the Gophers completed a two-game sweep of Creighton Baseball with a 9-0 victory on Sunday at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha.
Dalton Sawyer started and threw a career-high seven innings before being lifted after 99 pitches. Tyler Hanson threw the eighth inning, while Lance Thonvold closed out the game with a 1-2-3 ninth. It was Minnesota's first no-hitter since Tom Windle threw a nine-inning no-hitter vs. Western Illinois exactly two years earlier.
Minnesota improved to 5-7 with its fifth straight win, while Creighton dropped to 5-5 with its third consecutive loss.
Sawyer pitched around four walks and two hit batsmen, improving to 2-2 on the spring. His 21 outs included five strikeouts, 10 groundouts (including a double-play ball) and five flyouts. Hanson worked around a one-out hit-by-pitch before a sterling defensive play by Michael Handel preserved the "no-no". Handel ranged deep in the hole to spear a sharply hit ball by Creighton's Nicky Lopez, then turned and threw across his body to cut down CU leadoff hitter Daniel Woodrow at second for the fielder's choice.
The ninth inning featured a popout and two ground balls to second baseman Chris Schaaf, who had entered the game prior to the inning as a defensive replacement.
Though the final score was 9-0, the game was closely contested until the Gophers broke things open with a five-run sixth inning that chased CU starter Matt Warren (1-2).
Matt Fiedler doubled to left-center and moved to third on Handel's single to right as Warren gave way to Rollie Lacy with one out. After a stolen base of second, Matt Halloran doubled to left to make it 4-0. He would later score on a throwing error off the bat of Troy Traxler. Traxler scored UM's second unearned run of the inning on Jordan Smith's RBI single.
The Gophers tacked on two insurance runs in the seventh inning as Fiedler singled, stole second and scored on a Handel single. Toby Hanson, who reached via a walk, would score the final run on Halloran's single to right.
The Gophers drew first blood in the top of the third inning. With one out Alex Boxwell singled to right. Smith then pulled a pitch to deep right, but CU's Kevin Connolly made a running grab while crashing to into the four-foot high orange snow fence that kept players from the soggy warning track. Boxwell held at first on that play, but would come around to score one batter later on Connor Schaefbauer's double that eluded the glove of diving leftfielder Brett Murray.
Minnesota doubled its lead to 2-0 in the top of the fifth inning. Tony Skjefte tripled to left-center, then scored on an RBI groundout by Jake Bergren.
Creighton threw seven pitchers on the day, including the first appearances of the season for Sam Norman and Ethan DeCaster.
The Bluejays return to action on Tuesday when it visits Kansas State at 6:30 pm in a game that will be televised in Omaha on Cox Channel 126.
NOTES: Creighton was no-hit for the first time since it was blanked in the hit column during a 2-0, seven-inning, win over North Dakota State on April 9, 2008 ... Creighton became the first team to finish a game at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha without a hit. On April 7, 2012 Creighton's Erik Mattingly threw nine hitless innings before being lifted in a game that went 12 innings and saw Indiana State finish with five hits.
Dalton Sawyer started and threw a career-high seven innings before being lifted after 99 pitches. Tyler Hanson threw the eighth inning, while Lance Thonvold closed out the game with a 1-2-3 ninth. It was Minnesota's first no-hitter since Tom Windle threw a nine-inning no-hitter vs. Western Illinois exactly two years earlier.
Minnesota improved to 5-7 with its fifth straight win, while Creighton dropped to 5-5 with its third consecutive loss.
Sawyer pitched around four walks and two hit batsmen, improving to 2-2 on the spring. His 21 outs included five strikeouts, 10 groundouts (including a double-play ball) and five flyouts. Hanson worked around a one-out hit-by-pitch before a sterling defensive play by Michael Handel preserved the "no-no". Handel ranged deep in the hole to spear a sharply hit ball by Creighton's Nicky Lopez, then turned and threw across his body to cut down CU leadoff hitter Daniel Woodrow at second for the fielder's choice.
The ninth inning featured a popout and two ground balls to second baseman Chris Schaaf, who had entered the game prior to the inning as a defensive replacement.
Though the final score was 9-0, the game was closely contested until the Gophers broke things open with a five-run sixth inning that chased CU starter Matt Warren (1-2).
Matt Fiedler doubled to left-center and moved to third on Handel's single to right as Warren gave way to Rollie Lacy with one out. After a stolen base of second, Matt Halloran doubled to left to make it 4-0. He would later score on a throwing error off the bat of Troy Traxler. Traxler scored UM's second unearned run of the inning on Jordan Smith's RBI single.
The Gophers tacked on two insurance runs in the seventh inning as Fiedler singled, stole second and scored on a Handel single. Toby Hanson, who reached via a walk, would score the final run on Halloran's single to right.
The Gophers drew first blood in the top of the third inning. With one out Alex Boxwell singled to right. Smith then pulled a pitch to deep right, but CU's Kevin Connolly made a running grab while crashing to into the four-foot high orange snow fence that kept players from the soggy warning track. Boxwell held at first on that play, but would come around to score one batter later on Connor Schaefbauer's double that eluded the glove of diving leftfielder Brett Murray.
Minnesota doubled its lead to 2-0 in the top of the fifth inning. Tony Skjefte tripled to left-center, then scored on an RBI groundout by Jake Bergren.
Creighton threw seven pitchers on the day, including the first appearances of the season for Sam Norman and Ethan DeCaster.
The Bluejays return to action on Tuesday when it visits Kansas State at 6:30 pm in a game that will be televised in Omaha on Cox Channel 126.
NOTES: Creighton was no-hit for the first time since it was blanked in the hit column during a 2-0, seven-inning, win over North Dakota State on April 9, 2008 ... Creighton became the first team to finish a game at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha without a hit. On April 7, 2012 Creighton's Erik Mattingly threw nine hitless innings before being lifted in a game that went 12 innings and saw Indiana State finish with five hits.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Dalton Sawyer (2-2)
L: Warren, Matt (1-2)
Batting:
2B: Connor Schaefbauer 1 ; Matt Fiedler 1 ; Matt Halloran 1
3B: Tony Skjefte 1
RBI: Jordan Smith 1 ; Connor Schaefbauer 1 ; Michael Handel 1 ; Matt Halloran 3 ; Jake Bergren 1 ; Troy Traxler 1 ; Alex Boxwell 1
SH: Alex Boxwell 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Matt Fiedler 2 ; Toby Hanson 1 ; Michael Handel 1 ; Matt Halloran 1 ; Tony Skjefte 2 ; Troy Traxler 1 ; Alex Boxwell 1
SB: Jordan Smith 1 ; Matt Fiedler 1 ; Michael Handel 1
HBP: Jordan Smith 1
Base Running:
HBP: Woodrow, Daniel 1 ; Fowler, Reagan 1 ; Fitzgerald, Ryan 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
AB
2
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
AB
2
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
OF
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RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
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/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
RHP
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