Bradley drops series with Creighton; Illinois State sweeps SIU
By: Michael Klos
Updated: May 6, 2012
WMBD/WYZZ-TV STAFF - Peoria, IL - For the second day in a row, Creighton (18-25, 5-12 MVC) took advantage of Bradley's ninth-inning mistakes to earn a 2-games-to-1 series win against the host Braves (25-19-1, 8-10 MVC) with a 4-2 victory Sunday afternoon at O'Brien Field.
After Bradley pulled even on doubles by Max Murphy and Jason Leblebijian in the eighth inning, Creighton plated two runs in the ninth without managing a hit against Braves reliever Jacob Booden (2-2). Jake Peter started the rally by drawing a 1-out walk and when Brennan Murphy bunted down the first base line, Booden's throw to first sailed high, allowing the runners to go to second and third. Booden compounded the problem by immediately uncorking a wild pitch that allowed Peter to score the go-ahead run. Chance Ross followed with a ground ball to second baseman Chris Godinez, whose throw home was high and wide, allowing Brennan to score the insurance run.
After putting runners in scoring position in six consecutive innings, Bradley went down in order in the ninth against Creighton side-arming right hander Reese McGraw (4-5), who also benefitted from Saturday night's rally for his second win in as many days.
Creighton banged out seven singles against Bradley starter Tory Doerr, but managed only single runs in the third and fourth inning to take a 2-0 lead. The Braves sliced their deficit in half in the sixth inning when Murphy drew a one-out walk, advanced to second on a Greg Partyka single, took third on deep fly ball by Leblebijian and scored on an Austin Jarvis single.
Murphy then started Bradley's tying rally by leading off the eighth with a line drive double high off the wall down the left field line. He scored one out later when Leblebijian lined his team-leading 15th double of the year into the right field corner.
McGraw relieved Kurt Spomer, however, and struck out both Jarvis and Bob Schuch to end the threat.
Bradley will close out the Missouri Valley Conference portion of its schedule by visiting Wichita State for a 3-game series next weekend.
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NORMAL, Ill. - The Redbirds plated eight in a 10-hit effort, as the Illinois State baseball team beat Southern Illinois 8-1, completing the series sweep Sunday afternoon at Duffy Bass Field.
Brad Sorkin (3-3) pitched seven and two-thirds innings, allowing just one run and striking out five. Justin Hauer finished the game for the Redbirds, striking out three in just one and a third innings pitched. Southern's Sam Coonrod (2-4) is credited with the loss as he allowed five runs off of four hits in three innings pitched.
Kevin Tokarski and Brett Kay jump-started the offense for the Redbirds in the third inning, posting back-to-back singles, before a throwing error plated Tokarski after stealing third. With the game now tied at one, Ty Wiesemeyer and Zac Johnson hit back-to-back RBI singles, giving the Redbirds their first lead of the game.
The scoring continued in the fourth after Eric Aguilera and Mike Hollenbeck started the inning off with back-to-back singles. Matt Mirabal then gave himself up on a sacrifice bunt, scoring Aguilera from third. Tokarski added an RBI of his own, giving the Redbirds a 5-1 lead.
Four more hits and three runs in the sixth inning would be plenty for Sorkin and Hauer to finish the game. Three Redbirds (Aguilera-Tokarski-Kay) tallied multi-hit games, while Chad Hinshaw's walk in the first extended his on-base streak to 22 games.
