Creighton Puts NC State In NCAA Losers Bracket

Friday, June 3

Lincoln, Neb. (NCAA Lincoln Regional)

8:05 PM

NC State

40-18

Creighton (NCAA Regional)

47-15

Creighton

NC State

6/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

June 3, 2005

Final Stats

LINCOLN, Neb. - Tony Daniel doubled, tripled and drove in four runs and Eric Wordenkemper pitched seven strong innings to lift Creighton to an 8-3 victory over NC State in the first round of the NCAA Lincoln Regional at Hawks Field.

The loss drops the second-seeded Wolfpack (40-18) into an elimination game Saturday vs. Illinois-Chicago at 2:05 p.m. EDT on Saturday. Creighton, the three seed, improved to 47-15 and will play top-seeded Nebraska on Saturday at 8:05 p.m. EDT.

Wordekemper (6-0), who missed eight weeks earlier in the season with a serious elbow injury, allowed three runs on six hits and carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning. He struck out six and did not issue a walk.

"It was a game where Creighton got a little momentum going there and we couldn't slow them down," Wolfpack coach Elliott Avent said. "Wordenkemper was outstanding. He pitched very effectively to both sides of the plate with an outstanding fastball. He hit his spots all night and was was very impressive."

NC State starter Gib Hobson (6-4) took the loss after being charged with two runs on six hits in 3 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out four.

Aside from Daniel, Brad Dutton, Zach Daegas and Gabe Lapito had two hits apiece for the Bluejays. Matt Camp led the NC State offense with a pair of RBIs.

Chris Gradoville led off the top of the second inning for Creighton with a home run to deep right field for the game's first run. He led off the top of the fourth and was hit by a pitch, went to second base on Daniel's sacrifice bunt and scored on Chase Odenreider's single to left-center. Lapito followed with a single to shallow center field, putting runners on first and third and forcing Avent to go to his bullpen early.

Jason Duncan came on in relief of Hobson and pitched out of the inning without further damage, but the Bluejays erupted for four runs in the top of the fifth, matching the number of runs Duncan had allowed in his last 15 appearances combined, covering 35 1/3 innings. Dutton led off with a single to center and scored all the way from first on Dan Norquist's one-out double to the wall in straightaway center field. Gradoville walked, and the runners moved up to second and third on a wild pitch. Daniel doubled to left-center to drive in both runs and give Creighton a 5-0 lead. Odenreider grounded to third for the second out, but Daniel took third on the throw to first and scored when Aaron Bates' throw back from first base was wide of the bag for an error. The unearned run gave the Bluejays a 6-0 lead.

The Wolfpack finally got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth. Brian Aragon led off with a double to right, the Pack's first hit of the game, and Lee Mezistrano's pop-up down the left-field line fell in for a single. Aragon, who had to hold at second to make sure the ball was not caught, was unable to advance on the play. Jake Muyco beat out a bunt single to load the bases with none out. Matt Devine singled through the right side to drive in one run, and Camp beat out the relay to first on his grounder to second to drive in Mezistrano and cut the Creighton lead to four runs at 6-2.

Daeges led off the top of the seventh and reached on an error. Gradoville singled to left with one down to put runners on first and second, and Daniel ripped a two-run triple to deep center field, pushing the lead to 8-2.

Devine was hit by a pitch with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, went to second on Jonathan Diaz's single to left and scored on Camp's single to center.

The Wolfpack's game with UIC will be broadcast on WKNC-FM (88.1) and will be available on gopack.com through Yahoo's subscription service. Live in-game stats will be available on-line at www.ncaasports.com.