March 30, 2007

Final Stats

            After scoring three runs through the first three innings, the University of Northern Iowa baseball team managed just one hit and could not score in the final five frames, falling 13-3 in eight innings at Creighton Friday afternoon.

            Aaron Jenkins (1-2) took the loss for UNI (11-12, 1-3), giving up seven runs, walking five and striking out eight in 3.2 innings of work. Pat Venditte (3-1) came in relief for Creighton (16-5, 3-1), allowing just one hit and striking out four in 5.1 innings to earn the win.

            Eric Hoffman was 2-of-3 from the plate for UNI. Deric Manrique was 1-of-3 with a walk and two runs scored for the Panthers.

Deric Manrique led off the game with a walk. He eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Brett Featherston to give UNI a 1-0 lead.

            Jenkins struck out Creigton's first two batters in the bottom half of the first before Chris Gradoville singled up the middle to become the first Bluejay base runner. Darin Ruf drew a walk on full count, and a double from Andrew Small scored both runners to put Creighton in front, 2-1.

            Chad Ogden and Steve Winkelman both reached safely to lead off the bottom of the second. Robbie Knight drew a one-out walk to load the bases. After Jenkins fielded a pop-up bunt to record the second out of the inning, Gradoville drove a double down the right-field line to score Ogden and Winkelman. Jenkins threw out Knight at the plate off a relay from Dane Embury to end the inning with Creighton in front 4-1.

            Manrique led off the top of the third with a single up the middle, and Eric Hoffmann followed with a single to left to put the first two batters on safely. A double-play grounder took Hoffmann off the field, but moved Manrique to third with two outs. Featherston drove a double off the left field wall to score Manrique, and Brandon Douglas singled to score Featherston from second and pull UNI within a run, 4-3.

            Winkelman led off the bottom of the third with a solo home run over the left-center wall to extend Creighton's lead to 5-3. With one out and bases loaded, Ruf grounded to short. Douglas flipped the ball to UNI second baseman Travis Hendrix to record the second out of the inning, but the throw to first was not in time, allowing Ryan Urzendowski to score from third and keep the inning alive. Small followed with an infield single to score Ross Sinclair and put the Bluejays in the lead, 7-3.

            Knight led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk and scored on a ground ball by Gradoville. Ogden hit a two-out triple in the bottom of the seventh and scored on a single by Urzendowski to give Creighton a six-run lead, 9-3.

            In the bottom of the eighth, Creighton put together a walk and four straight singles to score three more runs on no outs. With the bases loaded, Winkleman hit a sacrifice fly into center to score Small and invoke the 10-run rule, ending the game.

            The Panthers and Bluejays will play the second game of the series on Saturday at 2 p.m.