Sophomore righthander Tim Clubb stifled a potent Creighton lineup for eight innings and Matt Frevert worked around a pair of singles in the ninth to give Missouri State a 3-1 Missouri Valley Conference win Saturday afternoon at Hammons Field.
Missouri State improved to 14-4 overall with its sixth straight win and 2-0 in the MVC while securing its first series victory over CU since 2001. Creighton dropped to 13-6 and 0-2 in league play.
Clubb fanned a career-best nine Bluejays and scattered five hits to move his record to 3-0. He struck out three in the eighth and surrendered a single unearned run to CU in the fifth. Frevert’s save was his third of the season.
Ben Carlson broke a scoreless tie in the third with a bases-loaded single to give MSU the lead for good. Ben Woodbury and Nolan Keane scored on the play.
After Darin Ruf’s RBI hit in the fifth, the pitchers’ duel between Clubb and CU’s Zak Moore continued until the eighth, when Dallas Hord snuck a double inside the first base bag off reliever Kevin Dooley that scored Ryan Mantle from second for an insurance run and a 3-1 lead.
Moore (2-2) took the loss after 6.2 innings with five hits and seven strikeouts.
Brayden Drake extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a first-inning single, and Woodbury’s 10-game streak ended after an 0-for-2 day with two walks.
The Bears go for the sweep Sunday at 1 p.m.