Fowler Walk-Off Sends Creighton To Championship Sunday
Box Score
ABERDEEN, Md. – A single by Creighton’s Reagan Fowler scored the winning run in the 10th inning to give the Bluejays a 4-3 win over St. John’s in an elimination game of the BIG EAST Baseball Championship presented by Jeep on Saturday afternoon at Ripken Stadium. No. 2 seed Creighton advanced to play No. 1 seed Xavier in the championship round on Sunday.
Xavier (29-28) is 2-0 in the double-elimination tournament and needs only one win to capture the BIG EAST crown and the accompanying automatic NCAA Tournament bid. Creighton (38-16) must beat Xavier twice to win the title.
The Musketeers and the Bluejays will play at noon ET on FS2. If a second game is necessary, it will be played following the first contest Sunday afternoon.
The Bluejays overcame a 3-0 deficit with two runs in the sixth and one run in the seventh.
Daniel Woodrow opened the bottom of the 10th with an infield hit off Red Storm reliever Thomas Hackimer (7-3) and advanced to second when St. John’s could not make a play on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Nicky Lopez. Fowler’s single to left-center brought Woodrow home.
Creighton reliever David Gerber (4-3) pitched 4.1 innings, while giving up only one hit to earn the victory.
St. John’s designated hitter Mark Venice hit a solo homer in the fourth to give the Red Storm their 3-0 lead before the Bluejays rallied. St. John’s scored single runs in the first and second innings.
Creighton started its comeback with a two-run homer by designated hitter Matt Gandy in the sixth. The Bluejays tied the game 3-3 in the seventh when Harrison Crawford scored on a sacrifice fly by Woodrow to left-center. The Red Storm (28-26-1)avoided further trouble when Lopez hit into a double play.
It was three up, three down in the top of the eighth for St. John’s. Creighton’s Brett Murray singled to right to get on base with two outs in the bottom of the frame. The Red Storm went to Hackimer to get the final out of the inning.
The ninth inning was scoreless for both St. John’s and Creighton as the frame saw three batters up, three out for both teams. Gerber sent three Red Storm batters packing again in the extra inning.
Creighton and Xavier met in the 2014 Championship game. Xavier came out on top to win the championship title.