Chad Spanberger finished 3 for 3 with a home run, a double and tied a career-high with four RBIs to lead Arkansas to a 6-2 victory over Creighton on Tuesday night at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Tuesday marked the Bluejays’ first contest outside of the state of Nebraska since March 8.
The Razorbacks snapped Creighton’s five-game winning streak.
Spanberger’s career-performance started during his first at-bat. The left-handed hitting sophomore delivered with a two-run home run over the right-field wall and gave the Razorbacks a 2-0 lead in the second inning. He also drove in runs during the fourth and sixth innings.
Creighton (25-8) had its best chance to tie the game or take the lead during the top of the fourth inning.
Junior outfielder Daniel Woodrow led off the Bluejays’ half of the fourth with an infield single.
Junior shortstop Nicky Lopez tried to sacrifice an out with a bunt to advance Woodrow to second, but Arkansas pitcher Weston Rogers elected to throw to second base in an attempt to get the lead runner. Rogers’s throw went over the head of the shortstop covering second, putting runners at first and second with no outs.
Servais elected to have senior infielder Ryan Fitzgerald bunt both runners into scoring position, but the senior fouled off a third-strike bunt for the first out.
Senior first baseman Reagan Fowler, Creighton ‘s leader in runs batted in, fell behind 0-2 before Rogers threw a wild pitch that kicked to the left of home plate. Woodrow hustled towards third base, but Arkansas catcher Grant Koch threw out the speedy outfielder for the second time in the game.
Koch also caught Woodrow attempting to steal second after leading off the first inning with a base hit.
Fowler flew out to left field on a 3-2 pitch to end the inning.
Arkansas (22-15) carried the momentum from the top half into the bottom of the fourth.
Luke Bonfield led off the inning with a comebacker to the mound. Stroschein fielded the ball after deflecting it to the right of the mound, but his throw missed the glove of Fowler at first and the ball sailed into the stands beyond the first-base dugout.
Michael Bernal gave Arkansas runners on the corners after a single to right and Koch drew a one-out walk to load the bases and end Stroshein’s start.
Senior right-hander Connor Miller entered the game to stop the rally and quickly put an 0-2 count on Spanberger, but did not record the out.
Spanberger rolled a groundball into the hole between first and second and forced Fitzgerald to go into a slide to stop the ball from going into the outfield. The second baseman recovered the ball but missed Fowler wide to the left with his throw. Two Razorbacks scored on the play.
Rick Nomura grounded out to second base and drove in the third run of the inning to extend Arkansas’s lead to 5-0.
After a quiet fifth inning, Creighton responded in the sixth with a two-out rally.
Senior outfielder Kevin Connolly led off the inning before sophomore catcher Keith Oren grounded into a double play, but the Bluejays did not go down quietly.
Woodrow started the rally after getting hit by the pitch, Lopez singled to put runners on the corners and Fitzgerald advanced to first via a free pass to load the bases for the Bluejays’ clean-up hitter.
After watching a difficult breaking ball at the bottom of the strike zone for the second strike, Fowler lifted an elevated 2-2 fastball into the left-center field gap to drive in two runs and cut the deficit to three runs.
Senior Matt Gandy had an opportunity with runners at second and third, but the designated hitter could not check his swing on a 3-2 breaking ball out of the strike zone.
Arkansas countered Creighton’s two-run sixth with one run in its half of the inning. Spanberger drove in his fourth run of the game with a one-out double to left-center field during the bottom of the sixth.
The Bluejays advanced a runner to third base in the eighth inning, but did not score.
Seven different Razorback pitchers limited Creighton to three hits with runners on base.
Senior third baseman Harrison Crawford led the Bluejays with three hits while Fowler drove in the lone two runs of the game.
Creighton will play three games in Provo, Utah this weekend against No. 21 BYU. First pitch for Friday’s first game of the series is scheduled for 7 p.m.