OMAHA, Neb. — Kyle Hess tripled home the tying runs in the eighth, then drove home the winning run in the 10th inning as the Creighton Baseball team continued its midweek mastery with a 5-4 walk-off win in 10 innings over No. 13 Coastal Carolina on Wednesday.
The Bluejays are now 30-9 on the season and 10-0 in midweek games. Coastal Carolina, which was making its first return to Omaha since winning the 2016 College World Series, fell to 27-14 on the spring after losing for the second time in as many days.
For the second straight night, Creighton had to rally after surrendering three runs in the top of the first inning. The Jays got one back in the bottom of the first inning on a Teddy Deters double that plated Nolan Sailors.
Nolan Clifford scored Creighton’s second run in the bottom of the third inning after Hogan Helligso hustled down the line to prevent Coastal Carolina from turning a double play.
After Coastal added an insurance run in the top of the eighth inning, Creighton tied the game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning on a triple into the left field corner by Hess.
Hess played the hero in the 10th inning, as well, driving home Ben North from second with a single to right for the game-winner. North was walked to lead off the 10th by Coastal Carolina reliever Oliver Ellison (3-1), then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Matt Scherrman.
Bluejay closer Mason Koch improved to 4-0 with a scoreless 10th inning. He was part of a CU bullpen that allowed just one run in 16 innings against a Chanticleer offense that ranked in the top-10 nationally in runs per game entering the week.
Creighton is back in action on Friday at 6 p.m. when it opens a home series against Georgetown.
