OMAHA, NE ? The Indiana State Sycamores concluded their final road trip of the regular season on Sunday, dropping a pair of games to Creighton University that eliminated the Sycamores from the MVC post-season tournament.
Creighton broke away from a 1-all tie after the first inning of the opening game, which was postponed from Saturday by rain, to post a 5-2 victory and then rallied from a 4-2 deficit to record a 7-4 win in the nightcap. The Bluejays won Friday night's opening game 6-5 in 12 innings and completed the series sweep with the two wins on Sunday.
Indiana State (14-32 overall and 6-15 in the MVC) will return home to host Miami of Ohio at 6 p.m. (ET) on Tuesday and then host the Illinois State Redbirds for the final MVC series of the regular season starting on Thursday. The Sycamores and Redbirds will meet at 6 p.m. (ET) both Thursday and Friday with Saturday's regular season finale set for 1 p.m. (ET). All games will be played at Sycamore Field.
Indiana State and Illinois State are now tied for seventh in the MVC, both going into the final series with 6-15 records and both three games back of Southern Illinois, who holds down the sixth spot with a 9-12 record. SIU takes on Evansville next week to wrap up their MVC season and needs to win just one of the three games to clinch the sixth and final berth in the MVC post-season tournament.
In the nightcap, the Sycamores took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning as Nick Ciolli scored on a Brian Jett single to left. Ciolli had struck out but reached first safely on a dropped third strike, advancing to second on a throwing error by the Creighton catcher.
Creighton's Brett Mieras opened the Bluejay half of the fifth with a triple and scored on a Michael Lam double to tie the game at 1-all. Robbie Knight reached on an infield single which allowed Lam to move to third. The Bluejays went up 2-1 as Lam scored on an Elliott Soto sacrifice fly to right.
The Sycamores rallied in the top of the sixth when three runs crossing the plate, giving ISU a 4-2 lead. Brian Ramirez walked to open the inning and went to second as Chris Schmidt reached on an error. Brady Shoemaker hit into a fielder's choice that forced Schmidt out at second but allowed Ramirez to move to third. Nick Ciolli then singled to center to score Ramirez with Brumagin doubling down the left field line to score both Shoemaker and Ciolli.
Creighton came right back with three of their own in the bottom of the sixth. Back to back doubles by T.J. Roemmich and Vincente Cafara, a Mieras single and a triple by Lam put the Bluejays back in front 5-4. That lead grew to 7-4 in the seventh as Creighton scored a pair with two outs. Roemmich reached on a fielder's choice and went to third on a double by Cafara with both runners scoring as Joe Servais singled to right.
The Sycamores were limited to six hits in the game with David Brumagin hitting a double and Brian Ramirez, Brady Shoemaker, Nick Ciolli, Brian Jett and Bronco Lafrenz each hitting a single.
Micah Spencer (2-5) started for Indiana State and went 5.1 innings in being charged with the loss, giving up five runs on nine hits. David Gurbach worked an inning and a third with Clay Kovac and Chad Dawson each working two-thirds on an inning in relief.
In the opening game of the day, the Sycamores pushed over a run in the top of the first inning to take the early lead. Ryan Strausborger led off with a double to right center, went to third on Chris Schmidt's sacrifice bunt and then scored as Nick Ciolli grounded out to second.
Creighton came back in the bottom of the first as Robbie Knight was hit by a pitch, went to second on Michael Lam's sacrifice bunt and then scored on a single to right by Darin Ruf. The Bluejays took the lead for good in the second on a Brett Mieras single that scored Nordgren, who had led off the inning with a walk.
The Bluejays added two more in the sixth. Vicente Cafaro hit a one-out solo home run to right off of ISU starter Matt Shelton to put Creighton up 3-1. Joe Servais followed with a single and, after Mieras fouled out, Josh Varno came on to replace Shelton. Servais advanced to second on a wild pitch and then scored on an RBI single by Elliot Soto. Nathan Inman then replaced Varno and was able to retire the side.
Brady Shoemaker led off the Sycamore seventh with a single into center field and after Brian Jett walked, the Bluejays replaced starter Nihsen with VanLeur. David Brumagin advanced both runners a base with a sacrifice bunt with Shoemaker scoring ISU's second run when Brian Ramirez grounded out to short.
Creighton got that run back in the bottom half of the seventh when Nordgren hit a bases-loaded line drive to left field and Knight beat out the throw to home plate.
The Sycamores had a scoring opportunity in the eighth after Strausborger tripled but he was left stranded at third.
Indiana State had two runs on six hits with Strausborger hitting a triple, a double and scoring one run. Chris Schmidt, Brady Shoemaker, Brian Jett, and Brian Ramirez had a single each.
Matt Shelton started for the Sycamores and last 5.2 innings, falling to 3-6 on the season after giving up four runs on six hits. Josh Varno faced one batter in the sixth with Nathan Inman finishing the game, allowing a run on two hits.
