Creighton sophomore outfielder Kevin Connolly helped the Bluejays finish off its time five-game home stand with a 4-2 win against South Dakota State on Tuesday.
The Bluejays only dropped one game during its past five in Omaha, 2-1 against Utah Valley on Saturday.
Connolly’s two RBIs helped give the Bluejays an extra push to seal the win against the Jackrabbits.
“I was just happy to be in those situations tonight,” Connolly said. “I put a good swing on one of them, and I was lucky to drive another guy on the next one.”
Connolly’s first RBI came during the bottom of the second inning for the first run of the game. Connolly’s hit up the middle helped score junior outfielder Brett Murray.
The lead didn’t last long for the Bluejays. The Jackrabbits quickly responded in the top of the third inning, scoring two runs off of wild pitches from junior right-hander Connor Miller.
The score remained 2-1 going into the sixth inning when the Creighton made its move. Bluejay junior reliever Nick Highberger escaped a bases loaded situation to start the sixth inning.
Connolly didn’t fail to excite in the bottom of the sixth, as he drove in his second run.
“[With the] bases loaded you have to put the ball in play,” Connolly said. “That’s all I’m trying to do. I’m trying to drive it and make sure I put it in play.”
Connolly currently owns a 7-game hitting streak and eight total RBIs on the season.
Murray was then able to push Creighton to a 3-2 lead because of a wild pitch from South Dakota State.
The Jackrabbits were in scoring position during the seventh inning but were stopped when Creighton’s relievers junior Will Bamesberger and freshman right-hander Ethan DeCaster took the field.
“Will came in right there in a hard situation, got a strikeout and then I came in and got my righty out,” DeCaster said. “It was a good pitch; kept it low. If he would have put it in play I think it would have gone somewhere on defense.”
Creighton sealed the win in the seventh inning with back-to-back triples by sophomore infielder Nicky Lopez and sophomore outfielder Daniel Woodrow.
Crieghton had a total of three triples throughout the game but was only able to bring in a run from one of the three triples.
“I’ve never saw a team get more triples and leave a guy at third base,” Creighton head coach Ed Servais said. “We might be leading the country in not being able to drive in a runner at third base with less than two outs. That has to change here soon.”
The Bluejays left it to DeCaster and sophomore right-handed pitcher David Gerber to hold the lead through the eighth and ninth innings.
DeCaster and Gerber have worked their way into pitching Creighton’s eighth and ninth innings rotation. This might come surprising to some as neither pitcher was on the travel team for the first two trips of this season.
“I can’t say enough about those guys, I’ve never seen two players who have not been on the travel squad the first two weekends go from that to where they are now the eighth and ninth inning pitchers,” Servais said. “The team has a ton of confidence in them, they’re very confident right now they’re strike throwers, they can get right [handed hitters] and lefties out.”
The Bluejays travel to New York this weekend to play a three-game series against Stony Brook. The series begins on Friday at 2 p.m.