March 9, 2007

Box Score

OMAHA, Neb. - Creighton jumped out to a five-run lead after three innings and never looked back as it downed Saint Louis 6-1 in its home opener on Friday afternoon at CU Sports Complex in Omaha, Neb.

After retiring the side on strikeouts in the opening inning, SLU's Dave Sever (Burr Ridge, Ill./Benet Academy) ran into trouble in the bottom of the second. He issued a pair of one-out walks and a base hit to load the bases. A third free pass plated Creighton's first run before the Bills recorded their second out on a pop out. Leadoff hitter Robbie Knight then blasted a two-run single to centerfield to give the Jays a three-run lead after two innings.

Creighton (6-6) struck again in the third with Chris Gradoville leading the charge on an infield single. Andy Masten added a one-out ground-rule double down the right field line to put a pair of Jays in scoring position. A pair of Bluejays scored on Steve Winkelmann's fielder's choice as SLU committed a two-base error, which helped CU to a 5-0 lead.

Saint Louis (1-11) didn't get its first hit until the fourth inning when Ryan Crespi (Sparta, N.J./Sussex County CC) hit a one-out double to right center. Yet, the Billikens weren't able to take advantage as Bluejay starter Marc Lewis retired the next two batters to escape the inning. Greg Rodgers (St. Charles, Mo./St. Charles CC) and Bill Musselman (Homer Glen, Ill./Providence Catholic) reached on walks in the second and fifth inning, respectively, but Creighton doubled them off each time to get out of the frame.

Casey Moore (Lake St. Louis, Mo./Wentzville) helped the Bills break up the shutout in the top of the seventh. He reached safely on a leadoff double to right center and came around to score when Rodgers followed with a single to centerfield. The Bills tallied just two more hits in the game as the Bluejays stymied their offense by turning three double plays in the game.

Billiken reliever Chris Paulson (Falcon Heights, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) looked strong in the bottom of the eighth as he retired the first two batters he faced. However, he then gave up a pair of walks and Chad Ogden smacked an RBI single to right field for the final margin.

Grandoville led all players with three hits while Masten scored two runs. Rodgers and Crespi each had two hits for the Billikens, while each of SLU's six hits came from the top four batters in the order.

Sever (0-2) recorded the loss in seven innings. He struck out six while surrendering six hits, four earned runs and three walks. Lewis (3-0) worked 6-2/3 innings, allowing four hits while fanning four and walking three.

The two teams will play again tomorrow at 1 p.m. before wrapping up the three-game series with a 1 p.m. contest on Sunday.