CREIGHTON ROLLS PAST INDIANS

After helping Southeast Missouri State University open its baseball season with two thrilling one-run games Saturday, Creighton took all of the suspense out of Sunday's rubber contest of the weekend series.

The Blue Jays banged out 16 hits, made several dazzling defensive plays and rolled to an 11-1 victory in front of 250 chilled fans at Capaha Field.

Creighton, by taking two of three games over the weekend, improved to 6-1.

Southeast, which split a pair of 3-2 games during Saturday's doubleheader, fell to 1-2.

"It was a good series for us," said Creighton coach Jack Dahm. "Our goal when we came here was to take two out of three.

"Southeast is a very solid team and they're going to win a lot of games. We feel good to win two out of three. We played a real solid game today."

The Indians' defense stood out during Saturday's season-opening doubleheader. Southeast struggled defensively Sunday with five errors, although they only led to three unearned runs.

But Creighton's defense stole the show Sunday as the Blue Jays made several dazzling plays, with shortstop Kenny Sarna accounting for two of those.

"The strength of our team is defense," Dahm said.

Southeast coach Mark Hogan didn't seem all that disappointed despite the lopsided loss.

"We're trying to look at a lot of combinations," said Hogan. "Creighton has an outstanding ballclub and they really made some plays.

"The weather this weekend was certainly challenging, but the best thing is we played 23 innings against outside competition."

Through five innings, the game actually looked like it would be a thriller, much like Saturday's two contests had been. But the Blue Jays scored 10 runs over the final four frames after leading just 1-0 heading into the sixth.

Southeast's major bright spot was pitcher Lanson Debrock, a junior out of Notre Dame High School. Debrock struggled some last year but is being counted on as one of the Indians' main starters this year.

And nothing he did Sunday diminished that outlook. Debrock gave up just one run and four hits in five innings. The righthander struck out four and did not issue a walk.

"I thought Lanson threw excellent," Hogan said. "The only reason he was taken out is he was on a pitch count. But he looked good."

Another highlight for the Indians was the team's first home run of the season, a massive shot over the left-field scoreboard by Charlie Marino, who set the school single-season homer record last year by belting 21.

Marino's blast, in the sixth inning, came after the Indians had already fallen behind 6-0.

After Debrock held the Blue Jays pretty much at bay, junior-college transfer Danny Schiltz was touched for five hits and five runs while retiring just one batter in the sixth.

Three more hurlers followed. Chad Bogenpohl, who got a save Saturday, gave up one earned run in 1 1/3 innings; juco transfer Greg Budt hurled 1 1/3 scoreless frames; and Todd Pennington, a freshman from Shawnee (Ill.) High seeing his first collegiate action, allowed one earned run in the ninth.

"I thought Budt and Pennington both threw well," said Hogan.

Freshman Clemente Bonilla Jr. out of California got a hit in his first collegiate at-bat.

But all in all, the game belonged to the Blue Jays, who banged out 16 hits. Dan Lawler had four and Ryan Gripp added three while Brian Smith drove in three runs.

Four Creighton pitchers limited the Indians to seven hits while fanning nine and walking one. Starter Peyton Lewis went five scoreless innings for the win.

Southeast returns to action Tuesday with its first road game as the Indians face Mississippi.