Seven straight wins. A conference title. And now, another shot on the national stage in Head Coach Ed Servais’ final year at the helm of Creighton Baseball.
For the first time since 2019, the Bluejays claimed the BIG EAST Championship and punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament. The 41–14 Bluejays swept through the conference tournament in Mason, Ohio, defeating St. John’s, Xavier, and Connecticut to secure the league’s automatic bid and extend their season.
“I knew we were going to have a good team,” Servais said. “When I decided last summer that I wanted to do one more year, I knew we had a lot of upperclassmen, a lot of seniors, … our schedule favored us, … I just thought things kind of matched up for us. Sometimes it doesn’t work out, this year it did.”
It was a gritty, resilient week for the Jays, who edged their way through the tournament by a combined score of 28–20. They leaned on clutch hitting, strong pitching, and defensive poise to bring home their second BIG EAST Tournament title since joining the conference in 2014.
“In the fall, we set goals, and this was one of our goals,” graduate student Garrett Langrell said. “You know, we’re having a great year, and this is a really good cherry to top it off.”
Creighton opened the tournament with a 10–8 win over St. John’s, powered by timely hitting and late-game execution. The Bluejays jumped ahead early on a solo homer from graduate student Matt Scherrman and an RBI single from sophomore Connor Capece, but St. John’s clawed back, scratching across single runs in five consecutive innings to briefly take a 3–2 lead after the top of the fifth.
The momentum swung again in the bottom half, when Scherrman tied it with an RBI single before senior Nolan Sailors sent a two-run homer over the center field wall. Creighton added insurance in the seventh behind junior Ben North’s two-run double and a wild pitch that brought him home. North, Scherrman, and Sailors combined for nine hits and eight RBIs to carry the offense.
Matt Aukerman earned the win in relief, while Langrell threw 67 pitches over three innings to lock down his 12th save and strand two in the ninth.
Creighton followed up its opening win with another high-scoring performance, outlasting Xavier 11–8 in Thursday’s semifinal. The victory not only pushed the Bluejays into their first BIG EAST title game since 2019 but also marked the 900th career win for Servais.
The Jays fell behind early after Xavier plated a run in the top of the first, but the offense wasted no time responding. Sailors and Capece each delivered RBI doubles in the bottom half to give Creighton a quick 3–1 lead. Xavier countered with a four-run third, taking a 5–3 edge behind a two-run single and a homer, but Creighton answered once again. Junior Teddy Deters chipped away with an RBI single before graduate student Kyle Hess crushed a two-run homer in the fifth to swing momentum back in the Jays’ favor.
“3-1 fastball, down and in. [I] knew he was probably going to come in and attack with that. He was working the changeups away, but got a good pitch to hit and put a good swing on it and kind of blacked out cause I do it for guys,” Hess said.
Creighton extended the lead with a two-run double from senior Will MacLean in the sixth and a clutch two-RBI single by Capece in the seventh, part of a 4-for-5 day for the sophomore. Xavier kept the pressure on with late scoring, but the Bluejay bullpen held firm. Junior Ian Koosman retired nine straight in middle relief to earn the win, while BIG EAST Freshman of the Year Wilson Magers tossed the final 2.2 innings to pick up his first career save.
“I know it wasn’t the cleanest game, but we saw a lot of competitive spirit on both sides,” Servais said. “I give Xavier a lot of credit—they played really hard. I can’t say enough about our guys. Ian Koosman came in in that middle part of the game, settled it down a little bit, and then Wilson Magers, who has never been in that role before, closing the game so real happy for our guys.”
After a day of rest, the Bluejays picked up right where they left off, powering past UConn 7–4 on Saturday night to claim the BIG EAST Championship at Prasco Park. Behind timely hitting and clutch pitching, the Bluejays never trailed, securing their sixth NCAA Regional bid under Servais—and first in five years.
UConn’s powerful offense put pressure on early, loading the bases in the third inning, but Creighton starter Shea Wendt, a sophomore, worked out of the jam to keep the game scoreless. Graduate student Dakota Duffalo quickly shifted the momentum in the bottom half of the frame, turning on a 2-2 pitch and launching it over the left-field wall to give the Bluejays a 1–0 lead.
The Huskies answered in the fifth with a solo homer from Caleb Shpur to tie the game, but Creighton didn’t flinch. The Jays loaded the bases in their half of the inning, and Hess wore a pitch to bring in the go-ahead run. Moments later, Gillen lifted a sacrifice fly to center to plate another, giving Creighton a 3–1 edge.
Beau Root responded with a solo home run for the Huskies in the top of the sixth, but once again, Creighton had an answer. Capece opened the bottom of the inning with a double and scored on a sac fly by MacLean, pushing the lead back to two.
Langrell entered in the seventh and worked through another bases-loaded threat, striking out the final batter to keep the Jays in front. In the bottom half, Hess doubled and eventually scored on a sac fly from North to make it 5–2.
Gillen delivered the final blow in the eighth. After MacLean and Hess reached base, Gillen roped a two-run double down the right-field line, extending the lead to 7–2. The Huskies mounted a late push in the ninth, cutting the deficit to three with a two-run homer from BIG EAST Player of the Year Ryan Daniels, but the Bluejay defense held strong, recording the final three outs to seal the win and ignite a dogpile behind the mound.
Capece capped off an incredible tournament with a 7-for-12 performance across the week, driving in five runs and scoring twice en route to being named the Jack Kaiser Most Outstanding Player. He was joined by four teammates on the All-Tournament Team: Nolan Sailors, Tate Gillen, Matt Scherrman, and Garrett Langrell.
Saturday’s win marked Creighton’s 41st of the season—their highest total since 2019—and a fitting benchmark in a year defined by grit, unity, and purpose. It also delivered the program’s first BIG EAST Tournament title and NCAA bid since that same season: a full-circle moment for a veteran-laden team rallying around its longtime leader in his final campaign.
“This whole season we’ve been playing together, playing for him, playing for each other,” Sailors said. “I mean, it’s caused us to have a 40- win season and that’s all we’ve been trying to do is win every game that we can.”
Now, the Bluejays turn their attention to the national stage.
Creighton (41–14) heads to the Fayetteville Regional, where they’ll open NCAA Tournament play tonight at 7 p.m. CT against Kansas. Arkansas earned the No. 3 overall seed and will host the four-team pod, which also includes Summit League champion North Dakota State.
Kansas (43–15) earned an at-large bid, winning 10 of its final 15 games to reach the postseason for the first time in a decade. The Jayhawks are led by a balanced lineup and a staff that held opponents to a .259 average on the year.
Tonight’s opener will mark the first NCAA matchup between the two programs since March of 2023. With a spot in the regional semifinals on the line—and a familiar opponent in senior pitcher Malakai Vetock across the diamond—the Bluejays will look to keep their hot streak alive and extend their postseason run.
All in hopes of making it back to Omaha. Back to Charles Schwab Field. The place they already call home.