The Creighton offense looked as relentless as their usage of the bullpen on Tuesday night. The Bluejays (Overall: 22-11, Big East: 6-2) pounded out 14 hits and stole five bases, and 10 pitchers combined to hold Nebraska-Omaha (Overall: 17-20, Summit: 10-8) to two runs in an 8-2 victory in front of 3,673 fans at TD Ameritrade Park.
“We really achieved everything we wanted to tonight,” said Creighton head coach Ed Servais. “We played pretty good. We got our offense going a little bit, and we got some of these pitchers a positive experience. It’s everything we wanted. We wanted to first, win the game. We wanted to get multiple pitchers involved. From an offensive standpoint we wanted to get Nicky Lopez involved, he did. We wanted to be active on the basepaths, we were.”
“The first three or four innings I thought we executed everything we tried. Bunts, hit-and-run, steals, and that’s kind of how we have to play, because I don’t know how many extra-base hits we had, but I’m sure it was maybe only one.”
Creighton sophomore center fielder put the Bluejays on the board first in the bottom of the first inning. He led off the Creighton half with an infield single, then stole second before moving to the third on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore shortstop Nicky Lopez. Two batters later, he scored easily to give the Bluejays a 1-0 lead when junior right fielder Brett Murray sent a line drive over the Nebraska-Omaha shortstop Clayton Taylor’s head for an RBI single.
The Bluejays opened up the lead in the bottom of the second inning. Senior left fielder Landon Lucansky started the two-out rally with a double down the right field line. He came around to score on a throwing error by Maverick second baseman Isaac Holt on a grounder by Daniel Woodrow that could have ended the inning. With two men on now, Nicky Lopez broke an 0-for-11 stretch at the plate with a two-run single through the hole between first and second base to give Creighton a 4-0 lead after just two innings.
Brett Murray came through again for Creighton in the bottom of the third inning. This time leading off the frame with a single into right-center field. He moved into a scoring position on a ground out and scored standing up when junior second baseman Ryan Fitzgerald sent a single into center field to give the Bluejays a 5-0 edge over the Mavericks.
Nebraska-Omaha got a run across in the top of the fifth inning, but Creighton put another 3-spot on the board in the bottom of the seventh. Harrison Crawford got the inning started with a one-out single into right-center field. He advanced to second on a passed ball, then came home to score — sliding under UNO catcher Adam Caniglia’s tag — on an RBI single up the middle by Ryan Fitzgerald. With runners at the corners and still just one out, Lucansky brought home Fitzgerald when he shot a ball through the left side of the infield for his third hit of the game. Junior designated hitter Matt Gandy advanced to third on Lucansky’s single and came home to make it 8-1, Bluejays, when Maverick reliever Brett Sasse uncorked a wild pitch.
Lucansky, a senior who typically pinch-hits in a reserve DH/1B role, started in right field for Kevin Connolly. The three hits tied his career-high and the double that sparked the second-inning rally was just his second of the season. After delivering the game-winning hit to help complete the sweep of Xavier, combined with Tuesday’s effort in the battle for Omaha, has left Lucansky in a good place going forward.
“There was a stretch where I was kind of struggling a little bit at the plate,” Lucansky said. “I didn’t really feel comfortable, so I’ve been trying to put a little extra work in, stay after and take batting practice. That got me a little more comfortable. Knowing that I’ve had some success the past few weeks really got my confidence up and I’m feeling better.”
After a run by UNO in the top of the eighth inning, Creighton closer David Gerber shut the door once again. With a man on the ninth, Gerber struck out pinch-hitter Cole Volkers and got Mark Handberg to hit one back to him on the mound to start a game-ending 1-6-3 double play.
The Bluejays will next hit the road for a three-game series at Butler beginning on Friday. The Bulldogs (Overall: 15-24, Big East: 2-4) lost 8-2 on Tuesday at home against Northern Kentucky to fall to 3-9 in the month of April. However, two of those wins came on the road last weekend at Seton Hall.