Nebraska trailed by trailed by multiple runs at different points on Tuesday night, but Jake Schleppenbach’s two-run single in the eighth inning got the Cornhuskers (Overall: 31-16, Big Ten: 6-9) over the hump in a 7-6 win over the Creighton Bluejays (Overall: 24-13, Big East: 8-3).
The win gave Nebraska a sweep of the season series against the Bluejays for the second consecutive season. It’s their sixth straight win over their in-state rivals from Omaha, but more importantly it gave them some optimism after going 1-5 over a six-game stretch leading up to the game that left their postseason hopes in doubt.
“They’ve been through a lot the last week,” Nebraska head coach Darin Erstad stated after his team came up short the last two weekends and fell behind a few times against Creighton on Tuesday night. “They were emotionally draining games. We put a lot out there and didn’t get much out of it. The big trial today was to fight the big letdown. We challenged them pretty hard, and I’m going to be honest with you, I was concerned during batting practice. They were quiet and I didn’t see a lot of energy.”
Creighton on the other hand wasn’t lacking in any of those areas to start the game. As they finish the month of April with opportunities approaching that will help bolster their postseason resume, the Bluejays came out with urgency, getting to Nebraska starter Garett King in the second inning of a scoreless game. Junior third baseman Harrison Crawford led off the bottom of the second inning with a single up the middle. After a sacrifice bunt, Crawford moved over to third and eventually scored on two wild pitches by King. After a four-pitch walk to junior designated hitter Matt Gandy, the Husker right-hander allowed a single through the right side to sophomore right fielder Kevin Connolly that put runners at the corners with one out.
A perfectly executed hit-and-run by the Bluejays opened up a big hole on the right side of the Nebraska defense and Creighton senior catcher Kevin Lamb shot an RBI single through it to put the Bluejays up, 2-0. Sophomore center fielder Daniel Woodrow plated a third run in the frame with a deep fly ball to center field for sacrifice fly that brought Connolly to home plate.
“We got stunned a little bit,” Erstad said. “They did a nice job of executing some first and third [situations], and getting a lead on us.”
Nebraska couldn’t get anything going against Bluejay relief pitcher Connor Miller in his first couple innings of work, but the Creighton right-hander lost the zone in the fourth inning and the Husker took full advantage. A lead off walk to center fielder Ryan Boldt and a double to third baseman Blake Headley put men on second and third with no outs. A ground out by designated hitter Ben Miller and a line drive to left-center field by catcher Taylor Fish scored Boldt and Headley to cut Creighton’s lead to 3-2 after three-plus innings.
Boldt was the catalyst for Nebraska one inning later when he stepped up with runners at the corners and drove a ball into center field for a game-tying RBI single. Schleppenbach, who led off the inning with a single, scored easily from the third base to make it 3-3 and erase Creighton’s early three-run lead.
The Bluejays recaptured the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning when junior second baseman Ryan Fitzgerald scored on a passed ball to make it 4-3. Sophomore shortstop Nicky Lopez added to it when he hit a slow roller to short with the bases loaded. Daniel Woodrow broke up a potential double play by sliding hard into second base to allow the run to score and give Creighton a 5-3 lead heading to the seventh inning.
Nebraska got one of those runs back in the top of the seventh to pull within one and then caught probably their biggest break of the game in the bottom half of the seventh. With one out, Harrison Crawford lined a ball down the right field line and into the corner, but he slipped and fell to the ground just as he was approaching first base. He settled for a double, but he looked as if he could have legged out a triple.
The next hitter up, Ryan Fitzgerald, drove a ball into deep right-center field. Boldt tracked it down on the run for the out, but instead of scoring, Crawford could only move up to third on the sacrifice fly. Nebraska right-hander Colton Howell then struck out Gandy to end the inning and leave Crawford stranded 90 feet shy of giving Creighton a two-run lead with three innings to play.
“It wasn’t very good base-running on my part, to be honest,” Crawford said of the fall he took on his one-out double. “Mistakes like that can’t happen. That hurt because Fitzgerald went into the left-center field gap in the next at-bat, and I definitely could have scored off that, because I feel like I could have made it to third [on the hit]. It’s a little frustrating, but that’s part of baseball.”
Nebraska took advantage of the lucky break and retook the lead in the next inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, the Husker’s Schleppenbach stepped up with his team still trailing 5-4. The sophomore didn’t waste much time at the plate as he slapped a two-run single off Creighton sophomore closer David Gerber just past a diving Fitzgerald and into right field to give Nebraska their first lead of the game at 6-5.
The Huskers added an insurance run in the top of the ninth to make it 7-5. A run that proved to be the difference when the Bluejays came to bat in the bottom half. With Nebraska closer Josh Roeder on the mound, Lopez got the rally started with a line drive into that same right field corner that Crawford sent his one-out hit two innings prior. Unlike Crawford, Lopez stayed upright as he hustled around the bases for a triple. One pitch later junior first baseman Reagan Fowler drove a shot of his own into that corner for an RBI double to bring the Bluejays within a run of tying the game.
A sacrifice bunt by pinch-hitter David Wiedeman moved Fowler to third. It also brought the infield in with one out and the tying run on third base- a move that paid off as Roeder got Crawford to ground a ball directly at shortstop Wes Edrington for the second out of the inning. Fitzgerald was Creighton’s last chance, but Roeder struck him out to the end the game after a seven-pitch at-bat that saw Fitzgerald foul off three two-strike pitches before missing a breaking ball low in the zone for the final out.
“I basically got ahead with nothing but fastballs,” Roeder said as he broke down the final at-bat. “We just kept pounding him with fastball, fastball, fastball, and then we wanted to stretch a slider and I ended trying to overthrow that one, too. That one missed high and outside, then [Taylor Fish] called a slider again. I just tried to execute the pitch thinking location, location, location, and I was able to execute it where it needed to be and got him to swing over the top of it.”
Creighton is looking forward to putting this one in the rear view mirror quickly as they head to Sioux City, Iowa tomorrow for a game against South Dakota State (Overall: 26-16, Summit: 12-8).
“I wish we didn’t have to travel, but I think the players would like to go out in a half an hour and play tonight,” Creighton head coach Ed Servais said. “So it’s good that we do play tomorrow. We got a couple things we have to work on, but I don’t think we’ll have any issues tomorrow getting ready to play. [The players] are very disappointed right now, and they should be, but they’re big guys — they’ll figure it out by tomorrow and we’ll be anxious to play at six o’clock.”
First pitch between the Bluejays and Jackrabbits is scheduled for 6:00 p.m at the home of the Sioux City Explorers, Lewis & Clark Park.