Creighton University
26-6, 3-2
Xavier
16-18, 2-3
Baseball Downed By Musketeers, 15-9
4/13/2024 5:46:00 PM | Baseball
The loss moved the Bluejays to 26-6 on the season and 3-2 in BIG EAST action, while the Musketeers climbed to 16-18 overall and 2-3 in conference action.
Getting a tune-up couple of innings needed to finish Friday's game seemed to dial in the offenses. Xavier seized a 2-0 lead with a two-run blast in the bottom of the first from Aedan Anderson. Creighton responded with three runs in the second, two in the third and two more in the fourth.
The Bluejays' runs in the second came on a three-run double from Kyle Hess, while Will MacLean gave Creighton a 5-2 lead in the third with a two-run blast. Xavier answered with a pair of two-run home runs in the third to surge ahead 6-5 as Anderson went deep for the second time and Jared Cushing also connected. In their next trip to the dish Creighton reclaimed the advantage with a sacrifice fly from Teddy Deters and an RBI single from Nolan Clifford to make it 7-6.
The bullpens quieted the bats until bottom of the seventh as a costly Bluejay error opened the floodgates for Xavier to score nine runs on five hits.
Creighton pushed two runs across in the ninth courtesy of a solo home run by Deters and an RBI single from MacLean but the deficit was too large to overcome.
In a battle of the bullpen, Xavier's Jonathan Kelly earned the win (1-1) with 5.1 innings of two run ball. Creighton reliever Eli Nissen took the loss (2-1), allowing three runs on a hit, a walk and a hit batter.
Creighton and Xavier will play the decisive rubber game on Sunday, April 14 with a 12:00 p.m. (CT) start time.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: KELLY, Jonathan (1-1)
L: Nissen, Eli (2-1)
Batting:
2B: Canales, Colby 1 ; Helligso, Hogan 1 ; Hess, Kyle 2
HR: Deters, Teddy 1 ; MacLean, Will 1
RBI: Deters, Teddy 2 ; Clifford, Nolan 1 ; MacLean, Will 3 ; Hess, Kyle 3
SF: Deters, Teddy 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Sailors, Nolan 1 ; Deters, Teddy 1 ; Canales, Colby 2 ; MacLean, Will 1 ; Zukowski, Cuyler 1 ; Helligso, Hogan 1 ; North, Ben 1 ; Hess, Kyle 1
HBP: Zukowski, Cuyler 1
Batting:
2B: HAMMOND, Luke 1
HR: ANDERSON, Aedan 2 ; CUSHING, Jared 2 ; McCORMICK, Matt 1
RBI: ANDERSON, Aedan 6 ; CHRISTIANSEN, Hayden 2 ; CUSHING, Jared 4 ; McCORMICK, Matt 3
SF: ANDERSON, Aedan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: HAMMOND, Luke 3 ; ANDERSON, Aedan 3 ; CHRISTIANSEN, Hayden 3 ; CUSHING, Jared 3 ; McCORMICK, Matt 1 ; DePREY, Matthew 1 ; LAMBDIN, Jake 1
SB: ANDERSON, Aedan 1 ; CHRISTIANSEN, Hayden 1
HBP: HAMMOND, Luke 1
