The nation’s longest winning streak came to an end Friday as Creighton topped the Missouri State baseball team by a 7-6 final in 10 innings at Eck Stadium in Wichita, Kan.
The Bears (34-20) had won nine in a row prior to being eliminated from the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. CU improved to 31-24.
Fittingly, a game that was tied three separate times went to extras, where Creighton’s Robbie Knight lined a two-out single to right to put CU ahead 7-5.
Then in the bottom of the 10th, Missouri State cut the lead to a run on
Curt Courtwright’s RBI single and had runners on second and third with two outs before
Aaron Conway sharply grounded to shortstop for the final out.
Creighton struck first with two in its first at bat. A disputed safe call at first put Elliot Soto on board with a single, and
Aaron Meade hit Darin Ruf before Vicente Cafaro singled to load the bases with one out. Nick Becker hit the inning-ending double play ball as shortstop
Travis McComack flipped to
Kevin Medrano at second before the relay throw sailed high of first and two runs scored.
The Bears cut the lead in half two batters into the bottom of the first as Conway singled and Medrano tripled him home. Medrano scored on
Ben Carlson’s ground out for a 2-2 tie.
CU went ahead on Soto’s single in the second, but RBI hits by
Chris Playter and
Trevor Rogers gave the Bears a 4-3 lead in the third.
The Bluejays scored single runs in the fifth and sixth to lead 5-4, but it was Playter and Rogers again in the seventh, providing back-to-back doubles with two outs for the tie.
Tim Clubb (4-5) took the loss in relief of
Aaron Meade, throwing 4.2 relief innings and holding Creighton scoreless until Knight’s single in the 10th. He fanned six and walked one.
The Bears will now have to hold out hope for an NCAA at-large bid after going 30-10 in the season’s final 40 games and winning the MVC regular season crown by two games. The selection show will air Monday (May 25) at 11:30 a.m. Central on ESPN.
