Tigers win on walk-off home run

The Tigers hit two home runs off Venditte for a comeback win.

By Sam Wilson

Published May 9, 2008

Sophomore catcher Trevor Coleman didn’t know which bat to pick. Coleman is a switch-hitter who has a left-handed bat and a right-handed bat. But when he came to the on-deck circle Tuesday in the bottom of the eighth inning he didn’t know which one to use.

He would be facing an ambidextrous pitcher. Despite Coleman’s uncertainty, he hit a home run and sparked a rally in a 5-4-comeback win against Creighton.

Creighton senior Pat Venditte is college baseball’s only ambidextrous pitcher. Ever since he was three years old, he has been pitching with both arms. Because the strain of pitching is split between two arms, Venditte has 31 appearances on the season. The next highest Creighton player has just 20.

Venditte came in the eighth inning with a 4-1 Creighton lead. When Coleman came up to bat, the lead was still intact. There were two outs, and sophomore left fielder Aaron Senne was on first base.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” Coleman said.

Although an ambidextrous pitcher is a distinct rarity in baseball, there is still a rule addressing it. Venditte must choose which arm he will pitch with and cannot change during the at-bat. Coleman would get the chance to react. When he saw Venditte would pitch left-handed, Coleman grabbed his right-handed bat and headed to the plate.

When Venditte pitches left-handed he relies heavily on a slider that works well against left-handed batters.

“It’s just deceptive,” junior left-handed hitting outfielder Ryan Lollis said. “He hides it real well and it just pretty much starts at your hip and it will break over the plate. Or just, he’ll keep it away from you.”

But being able to face that slider as a right-handed batter gave Coleman a distinct advantage.

“He’s got a good slider,” Coleman said. “But, me being a right-handed hitter, he wasn’t able to really throw that. Well, he can. But a pitch coming into you is a lot easier to hit than a pitch going away from you. So it kind of took away the slider.”

Coleman connected for a two-run home run, cutting the deficit to 4-3. Venditte recovered, striking out freshman designated hitter Jonah Schmidt to end the eighth inning.

In the ninth inning, senior first baseman Dan Pietroburgo reached base on an error to start the inning.

Senior Kurt Calvert came in to pinch-run for Pietroburgo and advanced to second base on a bunt by freshman shortstop Andrew Thigpen.

Junior third baseman Kyle Mach was next up in the batting order, but junior Steve Gray came in to pinch-hit.

Gray did not have the same advantage Coleman had; he would have to face a lefty Venditte batting left-handed. It didn’t matter.

Gray hit a walk-off home run to win the game. He had been expecting the slider.

“I was kind of sitting on it,” Gray said. “Especially (when the count was 3-1). So, that’s really all I was expecting, was to see that slider.”