May 26, 2000
TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Texas Longhorns (41-18) defeated the Creighton Bluejays (38-22) 5-4 in the first round of the NCAA West Regional held at Packard Stadium in Tempe, AZ. The Longhorns staved off a late rally by Creighton to advance to the next round.
Texas scored a run in each of the first three innings to give them the lead. In the first inning, outfielder Ben Emond scored on a single by first baseman Jeff Ontiveros. The second inning's scoring was started by left fielder Mike Pumo, who doubled to center, and then scored on Matt Rosenberg's double down the right field line. In the third inning, second baseman Tommy Nicholson singled to left and scored two batters later when catcher Sam Anderson singled.
Texas was helped by the outstanding pitching performance by D.J. Jones, who went seven and one-third innings, allowing only six hits and two earned runs, while striking out four. Relief pitcher Charlie Thames came on to pick up his 18th save of the season, which is one shy of the school career record. Thames pitched an inning and two-thirds, giving up a scant three hits and striking out two.
Creighton was led by catcher Dave Rowley, who finished the day 2-for-4 with two RBI. The Bluejays scored one run in the top of the ninth to cut the Texas lead to 5-4 on an RBI groundout, which scored shortstop Ken Sarna. Thames struck out centerfielder Troy Carley for the final out of the game. Creighton now moves into the loser's bracket, and plays the loser of tonight's game (ASU vs. Miami).
Game Notes:
- Texas tied an NCAA record for sacrifice hits with 114 (Pepperdine 1997)
- Texas shortstop Todd West holds the NCAA single season sacrifice bunt record, with 28.
- Texas' Tommy Nicholson has hit safely in 31 of 33 games.
- Creighton's Vince Pietro has reached safely in 59 of 60 games this season.
| Creighton | 000 | 110 | 002 | 4 | 9 | 0 |
| Texas | 111 | 001 | 01x | 5 | 10 | 2 |
WP -- Jones (12-5), LP -- Gooris (7-3), Save -- Thames (18)
Time: 2:16
Attendance: 982