Box Score April 23, 2017 Box Score
OMAHA, Neb. -
A replay of Friday night's game occurred as Creighton (18-16, 8-1 BIG EAST) won the game in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, runners on the corners, and a weak dribbler to the short stop, lifted the Jays past the Wildcats (8-23, 2-4 BIG EAST) at TD Ameritrade Park on Sunday afternoon. With their win today, Creighton swept the series after two very close walk off wins.
Junior Ryan Doty (Rye, N.Y.) was phenomenal on the mound for the Wildcats throughout six innings pitched. His momentum started when he struck out the first batter he faced. The Jays were able take the lead in the first inning after Isaac Collins singled up the middle, stole second and then advanced to third on a throwing error. He scored after Thomas Luevano grounded out and Doty was not charged with the run.
The Wildcats answered right back in the top of the second inning to tie the game back at one. Doug deMarrais (Bernardsville, N.J.) picked up his 18th walk of the season to give the Wildcats a quick base runner. Lukas DeRenzi (Mendham, N.J.) singled through the right side to advance deMarrais. Freshman Tyler Bruno (Breinigsville, Pa.) put the ball in play and reached base safely on a fielder's choice as DeRenzi was out at second. With runners on the corners, David Rodgers (West Chester, Pa.) lined out to Creighton's Bryce Only at third. Only timed his jump perfectly to rob Rodgers of the hit. Freshman Ryan Toohers (Florham Park, N.J.) came through for the Wildcats as he singled to right field on the first pitch he saw. deMarrais would score and Villanova and Creighton would remain tied at one throughout the remainder of the game.
Creighton put pressure on Ryan Doty throughout the game as they put runners on in each inning. In the bottom of the fourth, Riley Landuyt hit a line drive right back at Doty that hit his pitching arm. Doty reacted quickly to pick up the second out of the inning and continued to pitch in pain until the sixth inning. He ended his time of the mound with a quick one, two, three inning in the bottom of the sixth.
Sophomore Zach Lutner (Sicklerville, N.J.) came in relief for Doty and did a tremendous job in the seventh inning to shut down the Jays with three pop ups in a row. Lutner then threw another quick inning in the bottom of the eighth, ended by a double play.
In the top of the ninth, the Wildcats were eager to get a run across to take a lead, but Creighton's relief pitcher, David Gerber shut them down.
Lutner began the bottom of the ninth, but Riley Landuyt doubled to left center to start the inning off. Nicholas Oretga pinch ran for Landuyt and was moved to third on a sacrifice bunt. Lutner then intentionally walked the next batter to attempt to force a double play. His time would end as Jake Esp (Sugar Grove, Ill.) would come in to try to secure the last two outs. Esp did his job on the first batter as he got him to pop up on a bunt that deMarrais easily caught behind the plate. With runners on the corners and two outs, Clark Brinkman hit the ball to the short shop, who bare handed the ball, but fumbled the ball as he attempted to throw the runner out of first, which resulted in Oretega to cross the plate safely.
Freshman Ryan Toohers reached base safely in three plate appearances. He had two singles to right field, one that was an RBI. He reached base for the third time on a walk. David Gulati (Collegeville, Pa.) and Lukas DeRenzi each had one hit each.
The Wildcats look ahead to a busy upcoming week. They will travel to Rutgers on April 25 and Penn on April 26 before they return home to host Georgetown in a three-game BIG EAST series.
