Clark Brinkman celebrates his two-run homer.
Top Seed Creighton Advances To Winners’ Brakcet With 4-1 Victory Over No. 4 Seton Hall
Box Score
OMAHA, Neb. – The game was a battle of All-BIG EAST starting pitchers, but it was freshman Clark
Brinkman's two-run home run that propelled top-seeded Creighton to a 4-1 win over Seton Hall on Thursday night at TD
Ameritrade Park Omaha during game two of the 2017 BIG EAST Baseball Championship Presented by Jeep.
Creighton’s Rollie Lacy (5-2) got the win and went 7.0 innings with five strikeouts and just one unearned run on five hits. Seton Hall senior Zach Prendergast (7-4) allowed just three runs over 5.2 innings in the loss and had four strikeouts. Bluejay Ethan DeCaster was awarded the save, his fifth of the year.
The Bluejays improved to 24-23 and will play Xavier at 7:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. Central on Friday in a winners' bracket matchup, while the Pirates fell to 29-23 and will play St. John's at 3:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. CT on Friday in an elimination game.
Xavier defeated St. John's 13-3 during game one on Thursday afternoon.
The Bluejays broke into the run column during the fifth with Brinkman's home run. With freshamn Jason Allbery at first base after a lead-off walk, Brinkman sent a 2-1 pitch into the left-field bullpen to give Creighton a 2-0 lead.
Seton Hall cut the deficit to one run on an infield hit during the sixth. Mike Alescio singled to short, and an errant throw allowed the first Pirates run to score to make it 2-1.
Creighton countered in the bottom half of the sixth as Bryce Only tripled to right-center field to make it 3-1 in favor of the Bluejays.
The Bluejays added an insurance run in the eighth inning as senior Riley Landuyt doubled over the left-fielder's head to drive in Parker Upton from first base.
Landuyt finished 2-for-4 with a double. Brinkman finished 1-for-3.
For Seton Hall, Matt Toke finished 2-for-4 and the lone run scored.
Creighton improved to 3-0 over Seton Hall on the opening day of the tournament. The Bluejays’ win set up the same match ups for Friday’s games three and four.