Plymouth Meeting, Pa. — Down 5-1 entering the final frame, Creighton Baseball pushed the game to the bottom half with four runs before falling to Villanova 6-5 on Sunday, April 21.
The loss moved Creighton to 28-9 on the season and 4-5 in BIG EAST action, while Villanova climbed to 14-23 overall and 5-7 in conference play.
A scoreless game moving to the bottom of the seventh, Villanova pushed five runs across against Bluejay relievers Shane Curtin and Mason Koch. Villanova opened the frame with a single and a walk. After a sac bunt Shane Solari laced an RBI single to right off Koch. Consecutive walks made it 2-0, while a balk pushed it to 3-0. The final two runs crossed via a two-run single by Jack O’Reilly.
Creighton began its rally with an RBI single from Teddy Deters in the eighth, bouncing a ball up the middle. In the ninth Hogan Helligso got things going with a single to right. Ben North was hit by a pitch with one down and Cuyler Zukowski launched an RBI double to center. A walk by Matt Scherrman set the stage for Nolan Sailors. The Omaha native lined the first pitch down the left field line to knot the game at 5-5! Sailors was stranded at second as the game moved to the ninth.
Villanova got a pair of one out singles off reliever Daniel Hammond, then designated hitter Jason Neff delivered an RBI single off the wall in right to close out the contest.
Hammond took the loss (3-2), allowing one run on two hits in 1.1 innings, while Alex Sachais earned the win (3-1) for Villanova getting the final two outs in the ninth.
Will MacLean and Cuyler Zukowski each finished with two hits, while Sailors collected three RBI.
Creighton returns home for a two-game non-conference series with Coastal Carolina beginning Tuesday, before hosting Georgetown over the weekend.
