Sugar Land, Texas — Highlighted by a pair of grand slams, Ben North tied a program record with 10 RBI to lead Creighton Baseball to a 22-1 win over Houston Christian in the opening game of the Sugar Land Classic for each squad on Friday, February 23.
Creighton moved to 3-0 on the season after Friday’s result, while the Huskies fell to 3-3.
After a scoreless first inning, the Bluejays took a 1-0 lead in the second on a one-out single by Will MacLean and walks to Nolan Clifford, Hogan Helligso and Kyle Hess. North pushed Creighton out to a 5-0 lead, pushing a 2-2 pitch over the wall in right. Later in the inning Jack Grace tacked on a two-run double to put the Bluejays up 7-0.
Houston Christian answered with a solo home run from Damian Ruiz, but the Bluejays responded with 11 runs in the third.
A pair of bunt singles by Clifford and Hess as well as a hit-by-pitch for Helligso set the stage for North. For the second time in as many innings the Minnesota native cleared the bags with a long ball to right. Before the third inning ended North picked up another RBI, forcing in a run after being hit by a pitch. His final RBI of the game came on a triple to right-center.
North finished 3-for-4 with 10 RBI, tying the Bluejay single-game record held by Ryan Martindale vs. Grand View on Feb. 28, 1991.
Bluejay starter Dominic Cancellieri picked up the win (2-0), limiting Houston Christian to one run on three hits in five innings. Cancellieri recorded six strikeouts and walked just one, tossing 86 pitches. Husky starter James Kirkpatrick allowed seven runs on three hits and five walks in 1.2 innings, taking the lott to move to 0-1.
A short turnaround has the Bluejays back on the diamond at 11 a.m. (CT) against UTSA on Saturday, February 24, before closing out the Sugar Land Classic on Sunday against UIC.
