Throughout a season, a team may have multiple streaks. These streaks can define a season, whether they are good or bad. Creighton’s baseball team is currently in the middle of one of these streaks. This past weekend, they swept their Big East rival, the Villanova Wildcats, to extend their winning streak to eight games–their longest streak since 2021. The Bluejays took the first game 3-2 in a 12-inning marathon and then went on to win the second game 6-3 before taking the final game 12-3. This sweep kept the Bluejays in first place in the very tightly contested Big East standings.
“We’re walking into the ballpark a little bit more confidently,” Head Coach Ed Servais said. “[We] have to keep the guys grounded, though. … Sometimes, the biggest problem young athletes have is dealing with success. We want to make sure that they stay grounded and continue to stay locked in and try to get better each day. It’s nice that we won eight games in a row, but there are a lot of big games left to be played, and I think the guys are looking forward to it.”
The Bluejays were the first team to get on the board in game one of the series. After a scoreless first inning, junior Teddy Deters hit a sacrifice fly in the second inning for the first run of the game. The Wildcats were able to get on the board in the fourth inning with a two-RBI double, gaining a 2-1 lead. However, the Bluejays quickly responded with a solo home run from senior Will MacLean in the bottom of the fourth inning. This tied the game at two runs each. However, pitching quickly became the dominant factor in this game. Graduate Dominic Cancellieri gave up just two runs in six innings before the pitching turned over to the bullpen.
“That is exactly what you need out of a Friday night pitcher,” Servais said. “We’ve had a really hard time getting five or six innings out of our starters, so it’s nice to see [Dominic] throw 91 pitches tonight. We don’t have a chance to do what we did at the end if [Dominic] doesn’t do what he did at the front end of the game.”
Both bullpens continued to shut down the opposing offense. After nine innings, the game was still tied at 2-2. A huge part of this was due to graduate Garrett Langrell, who threw nearly five innings without giving up a run.
“We haven’t stretched [Garrett] out that long this season, but we knew with his arm that he would be able to do that if needed,” Servais said. “We prefer not to, but we knew we could stretch him out to 50 or 60 pitches if we needed him to, like we did tonight. I think if we would have pulled him any earlier, he would have been disappointed, and we would have had to rip the ball out of his hand.”
However, the pitching from Villanova was equally as strong, and the score was still tied at 2-2 with the Bluejays up to bat in the bottom of the twelfth inning. Yet this was the turning point for the Bluejays. Freshman Nick Venteicher was able to get the bat going as he hit a double, with graduate Kyle Hess following it up with a single that brought in the game-winning run for the Bluejays to take game one 3-2.
“That was a really good college baseball game, and it was a shame that someone had to lose,” Servais said. “It was played really well on both sides and well-pitched on both sides. I’m really pleased that our guys hung in there. … I’m happy for Garrett Langrell, who has pitched really well for us this year, and it was nice for Kyle to get that hit.”
The second game saw both teams get on the board very early in the game. The Wildcats scored the first run in the top of the first inning on a fielder’s choice. However, the Bluejays answered in the bottom of the first inning with a pair of runs of their own. These came courtesy of an RBI triple from senior Nolan Sailors, followed by an RBI double from senior Will MacLean. Villanova responded with an RBI single in the third inning and another RBI single in the fourth inning to take a 3-2 lead. However, the Bluejays countered with a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning from junior Nate McHugh to tie the game at 3-3. Deters then hit an RBI triple in the fifth inning before hitting an RBI double in the seventh inning to give the Bluejays a 5-3 lead. McHugh then added another run in the eighth inning on an RBI single. This brought the final score to 6-3 as the Bluejays took the second game of the series.
The third and final game of the series also saw the Bluejays get on the board early. After a scoreless first two innings, Deters and Sailors each hit an RBI triple in the bottom of the third inning to give the Bluejays a 2-0 lead. The Bluejays looked like they were going to cruise to a sweep, extending the lead to 3-0 on a fielder’s choice from Hess in the fourth inning. Sailors then hit his second RBI triple of the game before stealing home plate to give the Bluejays a 5-0 lead in the fifth inning. Freshman Wilson Magers then completed his sixth inning of work on the mound without giving up a run to give the Bluejays their third quality start of the weekend.
“I think we’ve found our stride now,” Magers said. “All three starters this weekend were able to go six innings, and our bullpen has really been helping us out. … We have been making the plays on defense, and the offense has been producing at all three levels.”
However, the game completely flipped in the top of the seventh inning. A total of three errors from the Bluejays led to the Wildcats scoring three runs to bring the score to 5-3. Though the errors could have proven game changing, the Bluejay offense responded, scoring six runs in the bottom half of the inning. Two of these runs came from stealing home plate on wild pitches from Villanova. Sophomore Connor Capece hit a two-RBI double to extend the Bluejay lead before junior Tate Gillen hit a two-RBI single. The Bluejays struck again in the eighth inning as Capece batted in another run. This gave the Bluejays a 12-3 lead that they hung on to for the rest of the game.
“I don’t know what [Connor Capece] has been doing these last three weeks, but it has been working,” Servais said. “He’s not only getting hits but driving the ball and getting big hits. He’s driving in a lot of runs, so I couldn’t be more pleased for him and what he has been doing.”
After the UNO Mavericks snapped the Bluejays’ eight game win streak with an 11-5 victory on Tuesday, the Bluejays will look to bounce back on the road when they play a three-game series with the Butler Bulldogs. The first pitch is set for today at 2 p.m.