After fighting through the longest baseball game ever played in TD Ameritrade Park’s history and ending their recent losing streak, the Creighton Bluejays lost a close one to the Illinois State Redbirds in the second of two games played on Saturday.

The weekend series was met with intermittent showers that moved Friday’s game to Saturday afternoon for a doubleheader. While the raw details concerning when the game would actually occur were foggy, it was clear that the Jays showed up ready to play on Saturday and put their recent string of losses in the distant past.

As the sun went down and the players took the field for the second game, the attendance tapered off and the only remaining fans were those loyal enough to brave the brisk winds that swept across the field. At times a near silence would blanket the entire stadium as a reminder of just how long both the players and fans had been at it.

“Doubleheaders are very physically and mentally draining but I think as a team we were able to stay focused even when things weren’t going our way,” sophomore outfielder Mike Gerber said.

In the second game, however, the Redbirds brought everything they had left in order to pull out a victory. Their performances at the plate were commendable with seven runs scored in a total of 12 hits.

Creighton finished the game with just two runs in four hits; an offensives display that was countered by Illinois State freshman starting pitcher Dylan Craig, who played his first complete game on Saturday night.

The Redbirds scored two runs in the first two innings of play against Creighton’s starting pitcher Erik Mattingly. Mattingly continued to challenge the Redbirds until the fifth inning when they took the lead after a pair of hits and a walk.

Junior relievers Nick Musec and Andrew Urban picked up where Mattingly left off throughout the rest of the game, but Illinois State continued to find the ball with their bats.

The Bluejays put up their only runs during the third and fourth innings and saw hits from senior infielder Chance Ross, senior catcher Anthony Bemboom, and sophomore outfielders Brad McKewon and Mike Gerber.

“We were doing all of the fundamental things; executing offensively with runners on base and getting timely hits when they were needed,” McKewon said.

Unfortunately the third and final game of the series, scheduled for Sunday, was cancelled due to inclement weather.  The results of the two games the Jays managed to play this weekend put them at a 3-11 record in the Missouri Valley Conference as they prepare for a series of games on the road at Bradley.