Reagan Fowler scores the winning run for the Bluejays on Tuesday night (Spomer/WBR) CLICK TO BUY
Seven straight losses. Two straight seasons of getting swept in the season series. A 2-9 record since Darin Erstad took over the Nebraska program in 2012. An 8-2 loss in Lincoln two weeks ago that ended a 10-game winning streak. Creighton players and coaches heard it over and over. It was the reality of the current state of their rivalry against the Huskers.
On Tuesday night in front of a pro-Husker crowd of 6,880 at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, the Bluejays were finally able to halt the losing skid when Brett Murray’s line drive with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning landed safely in right field to easily score Reagan Fowler and kick off a celebration three seasons in the making as Creighton rallied to beat Nebraska, 4-3, for their first win over their in-state rivals since April 26, 2013.
“I’m real proud of our guys for how they responded,” Creighton head coach Ed Servais said. “They heard a lot of noise the last couple days about the seven straight losses, and can you beat this team? Do you put too pressure on yourself? I think they got tired of it; I certainly did, so I’m real proud of how they responded. They jumped out to a 1-0 lead and a lot of folks might have said, ‘well here they go again.’ Our guys hung in there and responded.”
Nebraska (22-11, 7-2 Big Ten) struck first in the top of the second inning against Creighton starter Austin Stroschein, who was making his first career start after making five relief appearances and logging just four and 2/3 innings all season.
Huskers sophomore right fielder Jake Meyers put himself in scoring position when he bounced an 0-1 offering from Stroschein inside the left field line, and passed third baseman Harrison Crawford, for a one-out double. Sophomore left fielder Luis Alvarado made Stroschein pay for another 0-1 pitch in the next at-bat when he sent it back up the middle and into center field for a single to score Meyers and put Nebraska ahead, 1-0.
Stroschein recovered well after giving up the run, keeping his team in the game until they rewarded him to begin the bottom of the fourth inning. Junior center fielder Daniel Woodrow led off the frame with a blast to the warning track in center field for a stand up triple. Senior second baseman Ryan Fitzgerald didn’t make him wait there for long as he lifted a ball into deep right field three pitches later for a sacrifice fly to tie the game at one.
The game didn’t stay tied for long as Nebraska took advantage of a pair of free bases handed out by Stroschein in the top of the fifth inning. The Creighton right-hander issued a one-out walk to Alvarado and a two-out base on balls to Jake Schleppenbach before giving way to senior Connor Miller. Huskers shortstop Steven Reveles, hitting out of the No. 9 spot in the lineup, greeted Miller with a line drive back up the middle to score Alvarado and put his team back in front, 2-1.
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See Photos From Brad Williams & Mike Spomer of the Victory
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Austin Stroschein was making his first start of the season for the Bluejays and pitched strong (Williams / WBR) CLICK TO BUY
Stroschein was charged with the run as his first official start as a Creighton Bluejays came to a close after four and 2/3 innings of work. The junior out of Marion, Iowa allowed two hits, two runs, and walked two batters in the outing.
“I was just going out there and trying to give us the best chance that I could, to get as many outs as I could,” Stroschein said.
Still holding onto the one-run lead as the game moved to the bottom of the sixth inning, Nebraska head coach Darin Erstad brought in his top reliever in sophomore right-hander Reece Eddins, but Creighton got after him like no one had all season. Daniel Woodrow was once again the catalyst as he singled off Eddins with one out, then moved to second on wild pitch. A base hit to left by Fitzgerald put runners on the corners, and Nicky Lopez’s chopper to short tied the game at 2-2. Lopez beat the throw to first on top of it to chase Eddins from the contest with a run already in and two aboard with only one out. Facing Nebraska reliever Jeff Chesnut, senior first baseman Reagan Fowler lined a 2-0 pitch into center field to score Fitzgerald and give Creighton their first lead of the night at 3-2.
It was a short-lived lead, however, as Meyers and Alvarado came through once again for the Huskers in the top half of the seventh inning. Meyers led it off with a two-strike triple to the gap in left-center field. He scored four pitches later when Alvarado drove another two-strike offering from Connor Miller to the gap in shallow right-center to score Meyers and tie the game at three.
Creighton’s closer David Gerber held off the Huskers in the top of the 9th giving the Bluejays the chance to win. (Spomer/WBR) CLICK TO BUY
The game was still tied entering the ninth inning, and the Huskers had the duo of Meyers and Alvarado due up second and third in the frame against Creighton closer David Gerber. The junior right-hander opened the inning by striking out Nebraska first baseman Scott Schreiber on three pitches. He then got ground out on a 3-1 pitch for the second out. Alvarado got a base hit to extend the inning, but this time with no one on base it couldn’t do any damage, and Gerber bounced back to strike out catcher Jesse Wilkening on a designed pitch-out in the next at-bat to send his team to the bottom of the ninth needing just one run to win the game.
“My approach was just to attack the zone,” Gerber said. “Going into that situation with the defense we have I know those guys are great offensive players, but I just tried to capitalize low in the zone. The goal going out there was the we need to get back in with the game tied and give our team a chance to do what they did. That was the big thing. I just went there and tried to get the lead-off guy, and then focused on the next two guys one pitch at a time, pitch to contact, and let our defense do some work.”
Even when Alvarado reached base to put represent the go-ahead run for Nebraska, Gerber didn’t panic. Knowing he had a runner that wasn’t in scoring position, he tuned him out and focused solely on the next hitter and getting his offense to the plate in a tie game.
“I was thinking he’s not in scoring position, so right now in my mind he wasn’t a threat,” Gerber said. “I had to focus on the hitter, and he’s going to have to earn it. If he’s going to get a hit, I’m not letting him on first easy. That was my thing, I kind of did erase [Alvarado] from my mind, and I usually do that until guys are in scoring position just because the focus is on that hitter, and if he’s going to get on he’s got to earn it. It worked out well.”
“I actually got kind of lucky out there,” Gerber added. “I had a pitch-out called, and I missed the pitch-out, but he swung and missed. Hey, you take what you can get.”
That set the stage for Creighton offense, and it would only take six pitches in the bottom of the ninth inning against Husker left-hander Max Knutson to break the tie and end the losing streak.
Reagan Fowler started it off by ripping the first pitch he saw into the left field corner for a lead-off double. Next man up Harrison Crawford chopped a ball down the first base side for an out, but Fowler moved over to third base on the play giving Creighton two chances to win the game — they only needed one. Senior left fielder Brett Murray stepped in, laid off the first two offerings from Knutson, then lined a 2-0 fastball over the infield and dropped it in front of Nebraska right fielder Jake Meyers to bring Fowler home as the rest of the Creighton team exploded out of the dugout.
“I was just trying to get a pitch up and try to hit it out into the outfield,” Murray said of his approach to what proved to be the game’s final at-bat. “I knew the infield was going to be in, so I was trying to get a good pitch to hit out into the outfield. He came in with a fastball, and I was honestly looking off speed there, but I was able to get my hands to it.”
“It feels good,” the senior added of finally beating Nebraska as he addressed the media, still wiping shaving cream off his face and cap from the post-game celebration. “We try to approach it like any other game, but ever since I’ve been here we haven’t beaten Nebraska. A lot of other guys are in the same boat, and I knew that we just wanted to get this one today. We were able to play a great game. Austin did a heck of a job getting us into that game — it was just good baseball.”
The Bluejays improved to 21-7 overall on the season with the victory, and will now turn around and get ready to face South Dakota State (10-21, 6-6 Summit) in a 6:30 p.m. (CST) contest at TD Ameritrade Park. The Jackrabbits have won six of their last nine games coming in, but dropped a 7-3 decision to Minnesota on Tuesday night to fall 11 games under .500.
Talented freshman right-hander Ty Ramirez is expected to make his first career start, and just second career appearance for Creighton against South Dakota State. His only outing of the season thus far came in the third game of the season when he pitched one scoreless inning during a 7-3 loss to Fresno State back on February 21.