Gump Named MVP But Baseball Falls in Title Game

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Creighton	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	7	4
St. John's	0	0	1	2	0	0	2	0	X	5	6	3

Creighton

St. John's

MASON, Ohio – The Creighton Baseball team's quest for back-to-back BIG EAST Tournament titles fell short on Sunday morning in a 5-3 loss to St. John's at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio. The win marked a conference record 11^th BIG EAST title for the Red Storm and second in three seasons.

Despite the loss, Creighton's Rocco Gump captured the 2026 Jack Kaiser Award, as the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. He capped the weekend with 10 hits, three home runs, two triples, nine RBI with six runs scored and finished Sunday 2-for-4 with a home run and a pair of RBI.

After a scoreless opening inning, Creighton got on the board when sophomore second baseman Nick Venteicher collected a sacrifice fly to send junior catcher Connor Capece home for the first score of the game.

In the top of the second inning, Gump smashed his third home run of the tournament, to push the Bluejays in front 2-0, before St. John's right fielder Cristian Bernardini hit a solo shot to left field to cut the deficit in half.

The Bluejays jumped back in front by two off an RBI single by Gump in the top of the fourth, before the Red Storm surged back to take a lead they would not look back on.

St. John's evened the score in the bottom of the fourth with a pair of runs, before adding two more in the bottom of the seventh to put the game away.

St. John's closer Victor Frederick (2-2) came on in the fifth innings and threw three scoreless frames to earn the victory, while Evan Hoeckele faced one over the minimum in the last two frames to garner his seventh save.

Wilson Magers (3-2), who earned the save in last year's championship game win, was tagged with the loss after allowing two runs (one earned) in two innings of relief. CU entered the game with a league-best .979 fielding percentage, but made a season-high four errors in the contest that led to two unearned runs by SJU that ultimately proved to be the difference.

2026 BIG EAST All-Tournament Team
Jackson Marshall, UConn, So. INF
Connor Capece, Creighton, Jr., C
Rocco Gump, Creighton, Gr., INF
Shea Wendt, Creighton, Jr., RHP
Will Cowan, St. John's, So., DH
Shaun McMillan, St. John's, So., INF
Liam O'Leary, St. John's, Jr., RHP
Jayder Raifstanger, St. John's, Jr., INF
Lewis Rodriguez, St. John's, Jr., OF
Ryan Piech, Xavier, Jr., RHP
Jorge Valdes, Xavier, So., OF

2026 Jack Kaiser Award
Rocco Gump, Creighton, Gr., INF

2026 BIG EAST Baseball Championship Schedule
Thursday, May 21 (ESPN+)
Game 1: No. 1 seed St. John's 4, No. 4 seed Creighton 2
Game 2: No. 3 seed Xavier 5, No. 2 UConn 1
Game 3: No. 4 seed Creighton 7, No. 2 seed UConn 4 (Elimination Game)

Saturday, May 23 (ESPN+)
Game 4: No. 1 seed St. John's 17, No. 3 seed Xavier 6
Game 5: No. 4 seed Creighton 7, No. 3 seed Xavier 4 (Elimination Game)

Sunday, May 24 (ESPN+)
Game 6: No. 1 seed St. John's 5, No. 4 seed Creighton 3

Team Stats

Gump Rocco

North Ben

Wachsmann Isaac

Capece Connor

Players Mentioned

Connor Capece

Rocco Gump

Wilson Magers