Box Score

OMAHA, Neb. - The Creighton Bluejays defeated the Wichita State Shockers (39-26), 3-1 to capture their second Missouri Valley Conference tournament title in school history on Saturday night at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb.

Creighton (44-14) struck early with two runs in the first inning off of Charlie Lowell.  Nick Judkins was hit by a pitch and Jimmy Swift followed with a single.  Trever Adams plated Judkins with an RBI single.  Two batters later, Scott Thornburg drove home Swift with an RBI single to put Creighton ahead 2-0.

In the fifth inning Swift put the Bluejays ahead 3-0 with a sacrifice fly to score Judkins.

Pinch hitter Josh Halbert helped the Shockers cut the Bluejays lead to 3-1 in the eighth inning.  The freshman infielder drove a 1-0 pitch for a double in the right-center gap to bring up the top of the order for the Shockers.  Tyler Grimes drew a four pitch walk and Kevin Hall dropped a sacrifice bunt down the third base line to advance Halbert and Grimes to third and second.  Chris O'Brien drove Halbert home with an RBI groundout

O'Brien singled in the first inning to extend his career-best hitting streak to 29 games and finished 1-for-4 with an RBI.  Grimes was 1-for-2 with two walks and Preston Springer was 1-for-3 with one walk.

Lowell, the MVC Pitcher of the Year settled down for the Shockers after his rough start to keep the Shockers in the game but their bats couldn't break through against the Bluejays.  The left-hander went six innings and allowed three runs on six hits and struck out six with just one walk.  Freshman Cale Elam came in and went three innings and allowed only one hit with one strikeout.

Lowell's record dropped to 10-5 on the season and Jonas Dufek earned the victory for the Bluejays to improve to 11-1 on the season.

With the victory the Bluejays earn the automatic MVC bid to the NCAA tournament.

-WICHITA STATE-