Huskers Drop 4-3 Decision to Bluejays

Omaha ?Matt Daeges’ pinch-hit RBI double in the bottom of the ninth broke a 3-all tie, as Creighton edged fourth-ranked Nebraska, 4-3, in front of 7,012 at Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium Tuesday evening.

With one out, Gabe Lapito singled to left before Daeges slapped a 1-1 pitch from Husker reliever Dustin Timm down the third base line past a diving Alex Gordon. The ball went into NU bullpen before left fielder Brandon Fusilier was able to retrieve it and throw out Lapito as he scoring the game-winning win.

The loss snapped Nebraska’s six-game winning streak, as the Huskers dropped to 25-4 on the season. All four of the Husker losses have been by one run, with three coming on the opponent’s last at-bat. Tonight’s Bluejay win snapped a streak of six straight Husker wins at Rosenblatt Stadium.

Creighton (23-7) evened the season series at one game apiece, with the rubber match set for May 10th at Rosenblatt Stadium. Tickets for that matchup are now on sale by calling Ticketmaster locations in both Lincoln (402) 475-1212 and Omaha (402) 422-1212 locations and at Ticketmaster.com.

Dustin Timm, who got the Huskers out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh, suffered the loss in relief for Nebraska, allowing two runs on three hits in three innings of work to drop to 2-1 on the year. Scott Reese picked up the victory for Creighton, allowing one hit in 2.1 innings of shutout relief to improve to 8-0 on the season.

All-American Alex Gordon, who was held hitless in five at-bats in the first meeting, did most of the damage for the Huskers, going 3-for-4 with two RBIs in a losing effort.

The Huskers jumped to a 1-0 lead in the first on Gordon’s one-out RBI single. Jesse Boyer opened the game with a triple into the right field corner before coming home two batters later, as Gordon slapped a single through the right side for his 31st RBI of the season.

Nebraska capitalized on a pair of Bluejay walks in the third, turning them into a pair of runs, extending the lead to 3-0. With two outs, reliever Trevor Benson walked Boyer and Joe Simokaitis before Gordon’s second RBI single of the contest, a single into right, pushed the margin to 2-0. Fusilier then gave NU a three-run cushion, sending a Benson offering into left for an RBI double, his team-high 36th RBI of the season.

Creighton got back one of the runs back in the third off NU starter Phil Shirek, as consecutive two-out doubles by Chase Odenreider and Colin Shockey trimmed the Husker advantage to 3-1.

Shriek allowed one run on three hits through the first five innings before surrendering a leadoff single to Odenreider to begin the sixth. Shockey then bunted a single past reliever Tony Watson to put runners on first and second before a sacrifice moved both runners into scoring position. Watson then intentionally walked Tony Roth to load the bases before Zach Daeges coaxed a walk to pull the Bluejays within 3-2. Timm came into the game and stuck out Dan Norquist before getting Tony Daniel to line out to left to end the threat.

Shirek allowed two runs on four hits in five-plus innings, as he struck out three without walking anyone, but did not factor into the decision.

The Bluejays got the equalizer in the seventh as Shockey’s sacrifice fly to left plated Lapito, who was hit by a pitch and moved to third on Odenreider’s third hit of the evening. Odenreider went 3-for-3 with two runs scored, while Shockey had two hits and a pair of RBIs for Creighton, which was out-hit 8-7.

The game remained deadlocked into the ninth, when the Huskers put runners on second with two outs. Gordon was intentionally walked to put runners on first and second, but Fusilier grounded into an inning-ending fielder’s choice.

Nebraska returns to action Wednesday evening, as it takes on Iowa beginning at 6:05 p.m. the game will be carried statewide on Nebraska Educational Television (NET-1) and carried nationally on CSTV (Ch. 610 on DirecTV and Ch. 305 on Time Warner Cable).

 

--Huskers?

Box score (NCAA) 2005 Nebraska Baseball #4 Nebraska at Creighton Apr 05, 2005 at Omaha, Neb. (Rosenblatt Stadium)

Nebraska 3 (25-4)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB ------------------------------------------------------ Boyer, Jesse rf.......... 2 2 1 0 3 1 0 0 1 Simokaitis, Joe ss....... 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 Gordon, Alex 3b.......... 4 0 3 2 1 0 0 1 0 Fusilier, Brandon lf..... 4 0 1 1 1 1 3 0 2 Buckman, Brandon dh...... 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 Gerch, Andy ph.......... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Ledbetter, Curtis 1b..... 4 0 0 0 0 1 12 0 6 Bruce, Daniel cf......... 4 0 1 0 0 2 4 0 0 Christy, Jeff c.......... 4 0 1 0 0 0 5 0 0 Opitz, Jake 2b........... 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Wehrle, Ryan ph/2b...... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Shirek, Phil p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 Watson, Tony p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Timm, Dustin p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 Totals................... 31 3 8 3 8 5 25 10 10

Creighton 4 (23-8)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB ------------------------------------------------------ Shockey cf............... 3 0 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 Dutton ss................ 3 0 0 0 0 1 4 6 2 Roth 2b.................. 3 0 0 0 1 1 4 7 0 Daeges,Zach dh........... 3 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 Norquist lf/1b........... 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 Daniel c................. 4 0 0 0 0 1 5 1 3 Lapito 3b................ 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 Schultz 1b............... 2 0 0 0 0 0 9 0 0 Hinrichs ph/rf.......... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Daeges,Matt ph.......... 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Odenreider rf/lf......... 3 2 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 Ogilvie p................ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Benson p................ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Mancuso p............... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Bird p.................. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Reese p................. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Totals................... 30 4 7 4 2 5 27 18 6

Score by Innings R H E ------------------------------------------- Nebraska............ 102 000 000 - 3 8 0 Creighton........... 001 001 101 - 4 7 0 -------------------------------------------

Note: 1 out, 1 runner LOB when the game ended.

DP - Bluejays 2. LOB - Huskers 10; Bluejays 6. 2B - Gordon, A.(9); Fusilier, B.(5); Shockey(9); Daeges,Matt(4); Odenreider(5). 3B - Boyer, J.(1). HBP - Lapito. SH - Simokaitis(5); Dutton(11). SF - Shockey(4). CS - Gordon, A.(1).

Nebraska IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP -------------------------------------------------- Shirek, Phil........ 5.0 3 2 2 0 3 18 18 64 Watson, Tony........ 0.1 1 0 0 2 0 1 4 13 Timm, Dustin........ 3.0 3 2 2 0 2 11 13 31

Creighton IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP -------------------------------------------------- Ogilvie............. 2.1 3 1 1 0 0 8 8 26 Benson.............. 0.1 2 2 2 2 0 3 5 24 Mancuso............. 2.0 0 0 0 4 1 5 10 33 Bird................ 2.0 2 0 0 0 3 8 8 26 Reese............... 2.1 1 0 0 2 1 7 9 33

Win - Reese (8-0). Loss - Timm, D. (2-1). Save - None. HBP - by Timm, D. (Lapito). PB - Christy, J.(6). Inherited runners/scored: Watson, T. 1/1; Timm, D. 3/0; Mancuso 2/0; Bird 3/0; Reese 1/0. Pitches/strikes: Shirek, P. 64/42; Watson, T. 13/5; Timm, D. 31/20; Ogilvie 26/17; Benson 24/11; Mancuso 33/14; Bird 26/18; Reese 33/19. Umpires - HP: Jeff Grager 1B: Bruce Allen 3B: Pat Spieler Start: 6:30p.m. Time: 2:25 Attendance: 7012 Shirek, P. faced 1 batter in the 6th. Game: NU29