LAKE CHARLES – McNeese senior second baseman
Brad Burckel tied the school hitting streak record at 24 straight games with his fourth-inning double but Creighton scored four runs in the ninth inning to help push it to a 5-1 win over McNeese on Sunday afternoon and winning the opening weekend baseball series by a 2-1 margin.
The Bluejays (2-1) scored in the first inning when lead-off batter Andrew Meggs doubled then scored on a grounder. That would be the only run allowed by either team until the ninth inning.
The Cowboys (1-2) popped lead-off doubles in both the sixth and seventh innings by
Braley Hollins and
Josh Leslie but neither would be able to score. McNeese had just four hits in the game and left four on base.
The Bluejays scored three of their runs in the ninth on an RBI ground-rule double by Meggs then a two-run home run off the bat of Nolan Sailors.
Braden Duhon led off the bottom of the ninth for the Cowboys with a home run and
Payton Harden followed with a walk. Harden, who tied the school's all-time career record on Saturday was held to 0-for-3 at the plate on Sunday. After Harden's walk, Leslie pasted a hard liner down the third base line that was robbed by Creighton's Ben North, then the next two Cowboy batters struck out to end the game.
Cowboy starting pitcher
Zach Voss took the loss after allowing one run on just two hits in three innings. He struck out three and walked two.
Christian Vega and
Cameron Lejeune were the first two out of the bullpen and combined to throw five hitless and scoreless innings with four strike outs and the four walks.
Burrell Jones,
Ty Abraham and
Payton Tinkler each threw in the ninth inning where the Bluejays got four runs off three hits and a walk.
Justin Kleinsorge earned the win for Creighton after throwing six scoreless innings with two hits and six strike outs. Tommy Steier got the save with three innings of work, allowing one run on two hits, three strike outs and a walk.
McNeese will return to action on Tuesday when it visits Sam Houston then will follow that up with a three game weekend series at UT Arlington next weekend.
