Creighton Knocks Off Kansas, 7-3

April 3, 2012

Final Stats

Creighton 7, Kansas 3
TD Ameritrade Park//Omaha, Neb.
040312aaa_541_7647920.jpeg
Senior Zac Elgie started KU’s third inning rally with his eighth double of the season Tuesday at Creighton.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R
KU 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 3
ND 2 0 0 2 0 0 1 2 x 7
Box Score (.pdf) Get Acrobat Reader
Leaders – Batting
Kansas AB R H RBI BB HR
T. Tharp 2 1 1 1 0 1
D. Smith 3 1 1 1 0 0
Creighton AB R H RBI BB HR
C. Ross 4 2 2 1 0 0
B. McKewon 3 2 1 1 0 0
Pitching
Kansas IP H R ER BB SO
D. Morovick 2.0 2 2 0 1 0
C. Toalson (L) 2.0 4 2 2 1 0
J. Jakubov 1.0 2 0 0 0 1
R. Kahana 2.0 1 1 1 1 1
T. Poppe 1.0 1 2 1 1 1
Creighton IP H R ER BB SO
T. Blach 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
A. Urban 2.0 5 2 2 0 0
Koenigstein (W) 2.0 1 1 1 0 2
M. Winkleman 2.0 0 0 0 0 3
K. Spomer 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
R. McGraw 1.0 0 0 0 0 1

OMAHA, Neb. – Sophomore Tucker Tharp hit his first home run of the season and only the second in TD Ameritrade Ballpark all year, but the Jayhawks came up short against Creighton, 7-3 Tuesday night.

Creighton collected two runs in the fourth inning to break a 2-2 tie and led the rest of the way. The Bluejays scored after back-to-back doubles by Jake Peter and Brad McKewon to retake the lead 3-2. A single by Chance Ross gave Creighton what proved to be the deciding run and a 4-2 lead at the time.

The loss snapped KU’s two-game win streak and dropped the Jayhawks to 12-16 on the season, including 3-8 on the road. Creighton improved its record to 13-13 and 6-4 at home.

After falling behind 2-0 on an error in the bottom of the first, KU rallied to tie the game at two in the third. An RBI single by Dakota Smith plated Zac Elgie, who led off the inning with a double to deep left field. After a single by Kevin Kuntz, Ka’iana Eldredge executed a squeeze play to score Smith and tie the game at two. Kuntz has now reached base in 25 of KU’s 28 games this season.

That would be the last time Kansas held a share of the lead as the Jayhawks could not recover from Creighton’s two-run fourth inning. Tharp launched a solo home run to left field for his first of the season and the team’s 13th of the year to bring the Jayhawks within one, 4-3.

Creighton answered by scoring the final three runs to put the game away in the seventh and eighth innings. Creighton recorded a stadium and club-record seven doubles to fuel the offensive output.

KU used five different pitchers throughout the game. Jordan Jakubov pitched a scoreless fifth inning, while recording one strikeout. The starter, Drew Morovick, pitched two innings without surrendering an earned run. However, the Bluejays scored two unearned to take an early lead. Colin Toalson, Robert Kahana and Tanner Poppe also all got work in the game.

KU looks to begin a new win streak on Friday when they resume Big 12 play and travel to Stillwater, Okla. to face the Oklahoma State Cowboys at 6:30 p.m. Fans can listen to the game live on AT&T Jayhawk All-Access and KLWN (1320 AM).