Queens, N.Y. — Creighton Baseball dropped the series opener at St. John’s on Friday, May 3, falling 7-3.
The loss moved the Bluejays to 31-12 on the season and 4-8 in BIG EAST action, while St. John’s moved to 29-11-1 and 9-4 in conference play.
St. John’s opened the bottom of the first inning with three straight hits as Jackson Tucker bounced a slow single up the middle, Ben Beauchamp lined a double past Creighton’s Ben North at third, then Blake Mayberry blooped a soft RBI single to center. A sacrifice fly from Jimmy Keenan gave the Red Storm a 2-0 edge.
Creighton got on the board in the fourth as Matt Scherrman laced a one out double to left, Cuyler Zukowski drew a walk and North laced an RBI single a single to center.
The Red Storm countered with an run in the fifth courtesy of an RBI single from Mayberry, connecting on a single to deep short.
St. John’s busted the game open with four runs on four hits in the eighth, with the big blow coming on a two-run double from Beauchamp.
In the ninth the Bluejays pushed across a pair as North was hit by a pitch, Kyle Hess singled and Nolan Clifford laced a two-out two run single up the middle.
Red Storm reliever Louis Marinaro earned the win (6-2) with 3.1 innings of scoreless relief, while Tim Cunningham nabbed his first career save by getting the final seven outs of the game. Creighton starter Eli Nissen took the loss (2-3), allowing three runs on seven hits over four innings.
The Bluejays and Red Storm return to action on Saturday, May 4 for a doubleheader beginning at 1:00 pm to close out the series.
