Kyle Zaleski struck out a career-high 12 batters and Jeremy Pickrel hit a grand slam, however Illinois State fell to Creighton 9-7 in 14 innings Sunday afternoon in Omaha, Neb., at the CU Sports Complex.
Zaleski lasted eight innings for ISU (11-20, 5-11) in a no decision. He allowed 11 hits and five earned runs in the game, while only walking one batter. Zaleskis 12 strikeouts not only set a career high, but match a season high total by an Illinois State pitcher. Todd Stein struck out 12 against Northern Iowa on April 2. Ned Schauff (1-4) took the loss for the Redbirds.
Creighton starter Marc Lewis lasted 4.1 innings, allowing six hits and four earned runs in a no decision. Picking up the win for the Bluejays was Adrian Rider (1-0).
Much like it had all weekend, Creighton (19-14, 9-2) got on the board first, as it put five runs up in the bottom of the first. The Bluejays got five singles and one double off Zaleski, along with an error by Illinois State second baseman Chris Shepherd, to help them put the runs up early.
With one swing off the bat in the top of the third, Jeremy Pickrel single-handedly brought Illinois State back in the game. With the bases loaded and one out, Pickrel put a 2-2 pitch up in the hard blowing wind to left-center and got his tenth home run of the season (second grand slam of career and season) to make it a 5-4 deficit.
CU would get one in the bottom of the third to make it 6-4 after three. That would be the score until the top of the sixth, when Nate Whitney would knock in Kyle OBrien on a fielders choice to make it 6-5.
With two outs in the top of the ninth, Luke Baughman hit a fly ball down the leftfield line to score Matt Bolt and tie the game at 6-6. Leftfielder Dan Norquist made an outstanding play on the ball, however the umpires ruled he trapped it allowing Baughman to be safe. CU head coach Ed Servias was ejected after arguing the play.
Illinois State brought in freshman Eric Theisen to pitch in the bottom of the ninth. After striking out Gabe Lapito to end the inning, Creightons Steve Grasley, Chris Appuhn and Lapito were all ejected as well.
In the top of the 11th inning, two CU errors allowed ISU to score the go ahead run when Matt Bolt scored on a ball hit by Joe Burke, making the score 7-6 in favor of ISU. At the end of the inning, Zaleski was ejected from the Illinois State dugout.
Tony Daniel hit a home run to lead off the bottom of the 11th and tied the game at 7-7 and move it to the 12th.
Daniel would lead off the bottom of the 13th with a double to left and after getting an out, Illinois State would then intentionally walk the next two batters to load the bases with one out. CUs Chase Odenreider then hit a one-hopper to pitcher Dan Frega, who came home for the first out and then threw to first in an attempt to get the second. The ball hit Odenreider on the throw from catcher Greg Blaesing and Odenreider was called out for running inside the baseline.
With one out in the bottom of the 14th, pinch hitter Jeff Daneff hit a two-run home run to win the game for CU, 9-7. It was Daneffs first career collegiate at bat.
Illinois State will now play two games this week before stepping out of conference and heading to Chicago next weekend to take on UIC. On Tuesday, ISU will host in-state rival Illinois at 6:00 p.m. at Redbird Field. On Wednesday, Illinois State and cross-town rival Illinois Wesleyan will play for the first time in 11 years, when the two teams hook up at Horenberger Field in the first ever Horenberger-Bass Bash, at 6:00 p.m. at Horenberger Field in Bloomington. The game is named in honor of former Illinois Wesleyan coach Jack Horenberger and former Illinois State coach Duffy Bass.
