BIG EAST Baseball Championship Central
MASON, Ohio – The two top seeds, No. 1 UConn and No. 2 Creighton, advanced to the winners’ bracket of the 2021 BIG EAST Baseball Championship Presented by JEEP on Thursday night at Prasco Park. Creighton defeated No. 3 seed Seton Hall, 8-7, in the first game. In the nightcap, UConn beat No. 4 Xavier, 11-1.
Trailing 7-4 entering the bottom of the ninth, Creighton delivered another walk-off win over Seton Hall. UConn took an early 5-0 lead through three innings before Xavier plated a run. The Huskies added two each in the fourth, fifth and sixth to pull away..
Seton Hall and Xavier will meet in the first elimination game of the tournament at 2:30 p.m. ET on Friday. About an hour after the end of the Pirates-Musketeers game, Creighton and UConn will face off at 6:30 p.m. in the winners’ bracket game.
Creighton 8, Seton Hall 7 (Box Score)
The Pirates jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with single runs in each of the first two innings, getting an RBI triple in the first from Matt Toke and and RBI single by Jerry Huntzinger in the second. Creighton answered with four runs on one hit in the fifth. Creighton starter and BIG EAST Pitcher of the Year, Dylan Tebrake, took the Bluejays into the sixth inning, before giving way to CU sophomore Paul Bergstrom for the final two outs of the sixth. The Bluejay southpaw gave up a run in the seventh, but Creighton closer John Sakowski took a 4-3 lead into the eighth. Seton Hall continued to chip away, plating a run in the eighth on an RBI single from Jonathan Lueders to knot things up at 4-4. In the top of the ninth the Pirates plated three runs on four hits. Down 7-4, the Creighton offense loaded the bags in its final trip to the dish on walks to Andrew Meggs, Alan Roden and Ryan Mantle. One out later senior Dax Roper sliced a two-run double to left-center to make it 7-6, then David Vilches lifted his second sac fly of the game to tie the game at 7-7. Creighton’s Will Hanafan worked a 1-1 count before slicing an RBI single to center for the walk-off victory. Bluejay Ryan Windham collected the win. Mantle led Creighton's offense with three hits and two RBI on the day. Creighton has bested Seton Hall seven straight times in the BIG EAST Championship.
Connecticut 11, Xavier 1 (Box Score)
The Huskies scored in each of the first three innings to take a 5-0 lead before back-to-back doubles from Natale Monastra and Jared Cushing brought in a run for the Musketeers to cut it to 5-1. The Huskies added runs in each of the next three innings to take an 11-1 lead into the seventh inning. Both teams were scoreless the rest of the way. UConn designated hitter David Langer went 4-for-5, scoring three runs with an RBI. Langer hit a double and a home run in his first two at bats. Teammate Reggie Crawford went 2-for-4 and scored twice with an RBI. Leftfielder Erik Stock went 2-for-2 and walked twice, including a sac fly. He scored once and added an RBI. The Huskies have scored 73 runs in the last six games that they have played and have now won a season-high eight games in a row. Zach Bushling, Kyler Fedko, Chris Brown and Pat Winkel each drove in a pair at the dish as the Huskies scored double-digit runs for the sixth-straight game. Austin Peterson (7-1) earned the victory with six solid innings on the mound and was followed by three scoreless frames from left-hander Garrett Coe, who earned his first career save by getting the final nine outs of the game.
2021 BIG EAST Baseball Championship Presented by JEEP
Thursday, May 27 – BIG EAST Digital Network Presented by SoFi
Game 1: #2 Creighton 8, #3 Seton Hall 7
Game 2: #1 UConn 11, #4 Xavier 1
Friday, May 28 – BEDN
Game 3: #3 Seton Hall vs. #4 Xavier, 2:30 p.m. ET
Game 4: #1 UConn vs. #2 Creighton, 6:30 p.m. (approx.)
Saturday, May 29 – BEDN
Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Loser (Elimination Game) at 2:30 p.m. ET
Sunday, May 30 – Championship (FS2)
Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner at 1 p.m. ET
**an If-necessary game will be played at 4:30 p.m. ET should the Game 4 winner lose **