Last weekend Creighton Baseball enjoyed some warmer weather and traveled to Fort Myers, Florida for a neutral-site matchup with Northeastern to open the season.
The Bluejays opened the series on Friday with an impressive offensive showing in a 15-7 win—the first opening season win for the team since 2015. The Bluejays opened up in midseason form, scoring 11 runs through the fourth inning and came together for a solid offensive and defensive showing overall. Senior pitcher Ryan Tapani limited Northeastern to one run on five hits and a walk through five innings, sophomore Will Robertson led the team with three hits, and junior third baseman Jordan Hovey and sophomore first baseman Jason Allbery each had a double, two hits, two runs scored and three RBIs.
“We just want to see the level of play improve, and I think it will with just more game experience,” Creighton coach Ed Servais said. “I really like this crew. I think they showed on Friday that we have the opportunity to be pretty good. We just have to sustain it. We have to learn to play three games in three days. We can’t just play one good game and expect the other two to just happen.”
On Saturday, the Bluejays looked to add another win but were bested 12-7. The game was tied at 2-2 through the fourth until the Huskies offense picked up steam, scoring four runs in the fifth and six runs in the sixth. Down 12-2 through the eighth, Creighton was able to rally back with four runs in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough to best the Huskies. Junior Clark Brinkman led the team offensively with two hits and five RBIs.
In Sunday’s game, Northeastern jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the fourth, but the Bluejays started to rally back with hits from juniors Clark Brinkman and Jack Strunc, and sophomore Isaac Collins. The team was unable to complete its comeback and lost 8-3. Brinkman led the team with another strong performance, going 3-for-4 with two runs.
Creighton look to the upcoming week as the Jays head to California for a series at UC-Davis (2-2) Friday through Sunday. After that the Jays travel to Arkansas to play Central Arkansas (1-2) for a weekend series that starts March 2 and goes until fourth. The Jays first play at TD Ameritrade Park on March 16 against Wichita State.