Missouri St. starting pitcher Ross Detwiler tossed a one-hitter to lead the Bears to a 3-1 win over Creighton in the second round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in Wichita Thursday.
With the score tied 0-0, Detwiler took a no-hitter going until Creighton’s Chad Ogden reached with a single. Zach Daeges, who walked before Ogden’s base hit, later scored on a fielder error by MSU short Tyler Mattson to give Creighton a brief 1-0 lead.
Chris Taylor singled in two runs in the top of the eighth to give the Bears a 2-1 lead. Clay Coulter made it 3-1 with an RBI single later in the inning.
Detwiler finished out the game with eight strikeouts as the Bears won their ninth straight game and improved to 32-20.
Southeast Missouri St. was sent to the losers’ bracket of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament with an 11-5 loss to top-seeded Samford. The Redhawks jumped out to a 4-0 lead on OVC Pitcher of the Year Josh Emke in the first inning, but Samford bounced back with six of their own in the bottom half of the first and never trailed again. Southeast starter Phillip Riley was charged with five earned runs in the inning and was pulled after just a third of an inning.
SEMO reliever Jamie McAllister replaced Drek Herbig in the second inning and finished off the final 6.1 innings.
The Redhawks dropped to 22-32 and will have to win the conference tournament to earn a spot in the NCAA Regionals.
Saint Louis University won its 30th game of the season on Thursday with a 3-2 win over top-seeded Rhode Island in the second round of the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament. B.J. Rodrigue gave the Billikens the go-ahead run with a two-out, RBI-single in the top of the ninth inning to break a 2-2 tie.
The two teams scored a run in the first and the Rams went up 2-1 with a run in the bottom of the second. SLU tied it 2-2 in the top of the fourth inning when second baseman Gilbert Marlowe drove in catcher Bill Musselman with a single.
Then, the pitching duel was on. SLU starter Dave Sever and Rhode Island starter Steve Holmes both pitched nine innings with similar numbers. Sever got the win by alloweing two runs off seven hits, while Holmes got the loss by giving up three runs off six hits. Holmes actually had better control on Thursday with just two walks, compared to Sever’s six.
With the win, the Billikens advance to the semifinals to face second-seeded St. Bonaventure. SLU is 30-26, tying the school mark for wins in a season.