May 13, 2007
Box Score
NORMAL, Ill. -
It was Senior Day at Redbird Field on Sunday, as eight Illinois State players were recognized before the game for their accomplishments at ISU. Unfortunately, they did not go out on a happy note as the Creighton Bluejays (37-14, 17-4 MVC) overcame an early three-run deficit to come from behind and defeat the Redbirds (20-28, 8-13 MVC) by a score of 7-3, which secured the series sweep for the Jays.
Senior starter Mike Hlavacek (2-4) suffered the loss for the `Birds, after allowing six earned runs on eight hits in five innings of play. CU starter Ben Mancuso (9-1) struggled early, but battled back and allowed just three earned runs on six hits in seven innings on the hill.
ISU head coach Jim Brownlee liked what he saw early out of his team, but it was not good enough to hold on for the win.
"We got as much out of Hlavacek as we could today and he did a really good job in the early couple of innings," said Brownlee. "For whatever reason, he just hit a wall in the sixth and Creighton scored five quick runs. They did a great job in the batter's box and didn't make a lot of mistakes on the weekend. I thought we played them pretty well in all three games throughout the weekend, but they were playing to get back in the conference title hunt and you just have to tip your hat to how they played."
The Redbirds jumped out to a quick lead on Mancuso, scoring three runs on four hits in the bottom of the second inning to take a 3-0 lead. Kevin Dubler led off the inning with a double into right-centerfield and then scored on a RBI single by Kyle O'Brien to make the score 1-0. Jesse Griswold followed with a single of his own and advanced O'Brien to third base, still with nobody out in the inning. Following a Mike Stalowy ground out, freshman Dan Weston hit the first pitch he saw into centerfield for a RBI single and scored O'Brien for the second run of the inning as Griswold slid into third base. Collin Salzenstein was up next and laid down a perfect safety squeeze bunt to bring in Griswold for the third and final run.
Creighton got one of those runs back in the top of the fourth inning on a Darin Ruf single that scored Ross Sinclair to cut the lead to 3-1. The score would stay there until the top of the fifth inning, when Creighton exploded for five runs on six hits to blow the game open at 6-3. In the inning, the Bluejays scored a run on a RBI double by Ruf and then added another on an Andrew Small RBI single. Steve Winkelmann plated the third run of the inning with a RBI single through the left side of the infield and Robbie Knight closed out the scoring with a two-run single into right field.
The Bluejays added their final run in the top of the ninth inning to bring the score to its final at 7-3. Ruf, Knight and Winkelmann all had two RBI in the win for Creighton, while Small added three hits and a RBI in the victory. ISU received two hits and a RBI from Weston in his first game since April 17.
ISU returns to action on Tuesday, May 15, when it travels to Manhattan, Kan., to take on the Kansas State Wildcats. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Tointon Stadium.
