After Friday night’s 8-1 loss to St. John’s, Creighton junior third baseman Harrison Crawford said the team was too timid at the plate against Big East Pitcher of the Year Ryan McCormick. In Saturday’s elimination game against Seton Hall (25-25), Crawford and the Bluejays (32-18) looked anything but afraid as they ended the Pirates season with a 12-1 rout at TD Ameritrade Park.
One day after only managing one run on two singles over nine innings against the St. John’s ace on Friday night, the Bluejays, thanks to Crawford’s lead, matched that total with two outs in the bottom of the first.
Junior first baseman Reagan Fowler slapped a two-out, two-strike single through the left side of the infield to keep the inning alive for Crawford. The junior third baseman made the extra plate appearance count when he deposited the first pitch he saw, a fastball from Seton Hall starting pitcher Anthony Pacillo, into the blue bleachers in left field behind the Bellino Fireworks sign to give Creighton a 2-0 lead. The Bluejays never looked back.
Crawford had a game-high three hits in his five at-bats. He drove in three runs and also scored three times himself, leading the way for Creighton’s aggressive approach against Pacillo and a Seton Hall bullpen that surrendered 12 runs on 13 hits, and watched a defense behind them commit five errors — all before the seventh inning in a game that got out of hand in a hurry.
“Yesterday, I thought our offense was too timid, and today we put our foot to the pedal and kept going — we just didn’t stop,” Crawford said. “I thought that was the key to our offense today. We didn’t take fastballs like we did yesterday.”
The lead grew in the bottom of the second inning after Seton Hall kicked the ball around the infield. A throwing error by third baseman Kyle Grimm allowed Creighton sophomore right fielder Kevin Connolly to reach first base with one out. Then with two outs, Daniel Woodrow lined a base hit into left field after Seton Hall shortstop D.J. Ruhlman was caught out of position due to Connolly taking off for second on the pitch. Woodrow rounded first and headed for second, creating a play at second that got away from second baseman Chris Chiaradio. That allowed Connolly to score, and Woodrow advanced to third base when the throw home also got away.
Nicky Lopez cashed in the final miscue with an RBI single past the glove of first baseman Sal Annunziata to score Woodrow and make it 4-0, Creighton, after three errors by Seton Hall in the second inning.
Creighton added a run another run in the fourth inning, and two more on a two-run single by designated hitter Matt Gandy in the fifth before opening the flood gates on Seton Hall’s season in the bottom of the sixth. With two runs already home in the inning, Gandy stroked a double into the gap in right-center off Seton Hall reliever Joe DiBenedetto. The hit cleared the bases and put the Bluejays up 12-0.
The hit capped off a 2-hit day for Gandy in which the junior out of Orange County, Cali., drove in a season-high five runs hitting out of the No. 6 spot in the Creighton batting order. Just between Crawford and Gandy, it turned out to be more than enough run support for Creighton starting pitcher Keith Rogalla.
The Bluejays’ freshman right-hander carried a no-hitter against Seton Hall until one out in the sixth inning. He finished his day with a 12-o lead after seven scoreless inning, scattering two singles and three walks while striking out three Seton Hall hitters in one of, if not the best outing of his young Creighton career. After a couple tough outings in a row, Rogalla was able to make the necessary adjustments in order get back on track against the Pirates
“I just slowed my motion down and controlled the zone with my fastball,” Rogalla said. “Obviously getting ahead of hitters is big, and the last couple of starts I’ve struggled to do that, and left fastballs up that lead to hits. So just commanding the bottom of the zone was the big key.”
With the onslaught of runs his offense was providing, Rogalla said he didn’t start thinking about the fact that he hadn’t allowed a hit until about the sixth inning. Which, coincidentally, was when Seton Hall left fielder Zack Weigel ended it with a single to right center.
“When I went out there for the sixth inning I kind of checked the scoreboard and realized it,” Rogalla said. “That probably was a mistake, but I would be lying if I didn’t think about it, but the goal was to win the game. That stuff comes second to winning, and we just wanted to go out there and get to tomorrow.”
Rogalla not only got his team to tomorrow, but he saved the bullpen in the process. This is critical given that Creighton will need enough arms to get through at least 18 innings on Sunday if they want to have a chance at getting back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012.
“I’m breathing a lot better than I did last night that’s for sure,” Creighton head coach Ed Servais said. “We had everything lined up today in case Keith were to have trouble early. We were going to sell out today to try to get to tomorrow, but certainly his effort gives us a better chance. We have eight or nine guys available tomorrow now. We’re going to extend bullpen guys, it’ll be a different game tomorrow. We’ll have to extend guys, but you can’t win this thing until you get there. We’re into Championship Sunday — we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
St. John’s head coach Ed Blankmeyer said after the win over Creighton on Friday night that the identity of his team’s starting pitcher for Sunday would be kept close to the vest until it’s team to divulge that information. Ed Servais on the other hand, didn’t hesitate to name his guy — it’ll be Keith Rogalla’s older brother, Jack, a senior and graduate transfer from Binghamton.
At the beginning of the season, Jack Rogalla was the team’s Friday starter, but elbow trouble derailed his season and once he got healthy he was relegated to a role as a relief pitcher. Tomorrow, for possibly his last outing of his college career, the leash is coming off.
“I’ll use him as long as he can do it,” Servais said. “He’s not on a pitch count tomorrow. He’s not on one inning. Jack will pitch like he did back in February. We’ll stretch him out for as long as we can.”
Due to impending weather, the start time for the first game of a possible two between Creighton and St. John’s at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha has been moved up to 12:00 p.m.
