The Huskies are down to 2-4 in Big East play.
UConn baseball struggled against Creighton and fell in its second consecutive conference series for the first time since 2017. The Huskies are 2-4 in Big East play, which is its worst league start since 2014.
Friday: UConn 8, Creighton 7
Too little came too late for Creighton on Friday, who trailed UConn 8-0 heading into the home half of the eighth inning. Oliver Pudvar had bewildered the Bluejay offense, throwing seven scoreless innings, but the lefty walked off after 119 pitches and opened the door for a comeback. Creighton rallied for six runs in the eighth and one more in the ninth, though the Huskies held on for the win.
UConn brought the energy early, tacking on four runs in the two innings and knocking Creighton starter Dominic Cancellieri out of the game after just 1 2⁄3 innings pitched. Rob Rispoli walked to begin the game, followed quickly by a Caleb Shpur single. Ryan Daniels walked to load the bases and Cancellieri’s control issues continued, issuing a free pass the next hitter in Grant MacArthur to push home the game’s first run, before hitting Beau Root to make it 2-0. The third run of the inning would come home on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Bryan Padilla.
In the second, Rispoli again got the action underway with a single. Shpur doubled to move both into scoring position and Rispoli would eventually score on a passed ball.
The Huskies would get their next batch of runs in the fifth, kick-started by a Padilla lead-off home run from Padilla and Rispoli once more made some magic happen with two outs. He singled and advanced to second on a Shpur walk. A double-steal put both runners in motion and an errant throw from Creighton catcher Connor Capece chased Rispoli home and Shpur to third. In total, Creighton’s defense made four errors on the day.
UConn’s final runs came in the eighth, with the insurance proving vital in anticipation of the onslaught of offense Creighton would produce with just six outs to play. Shpur singled to reach base for the fourth time on the day, and came all the way around to score on a Daniels triple. He came home on a MacArthur single.
Pudvar, who pitched seven complete innings for his third-consecutive start, lowered his season ERA to 2.37, walking three and allowing just six hits over seven scoreless.
Entering the eighth, Creighton came to life. Unlike Pudvar, Sam Hutchinson and Greg Shaw III did not have their best stuff Friday. Hutchinson, responsible for four earned runs in the eighth, and Shaw, responsible for two, were saved by Brady Afthim, who entered as the third pitcher in the inning to put out the threat. In the ninth, Afthim labored early as he walked a batter and allowed a double to score a run, but worked around the trouble to strike out the side and lock down the win.
Saturday: Creighton 14, UConn 2
Creighton didn’t leave it to chance on Saturday, scoring five in the first and four more in the third, getting up as much as 12-0 before UConn snapped the shutout in the seventh.
Ryan Daniels knocked a two-run double, scoring Caleb Shpur and Rob Rispoli. That trio had each of UConn’s four hits. Creighton pitching walked four hitters and hit four more, but the Huskies weren’t able to score until then, leaving the bases loaded in the first and two on in the third and fifth.
Meanwhile, Cayden Suchy got jumped. He lasted just four outs, surrendering five runs, three of which were earned, on eight hits. He walked one and struck out a hitter.
The Bluejays had six hits in the first inning, three of which went for extra bases. It seemed like the Huskies were going to hole Creighton to three in the first as Connor Lane’s throw to gun down a stealing Kyle Hess beat him to second, but his hard feet-first slide knocked the ball out of Rispoli’s glove. Two more hits later, Creighton was up 5-0.
Thomas Ellisen replaced him and got through the second without issue, but two wild pitches put a pair of runners in scoring position, enabling four two-out runs on three singles and a hit-by-pitch, putting the home team ahead 9-0.
Creighton added another in the sixth after a grounder snuck under Tyler Minick’s glove at third, the second of two errors on the day. The next hitter knocked a two-run single to push the advantage to 12. It added a pair in the bottom of the seventh, as well.
Sunday: Creighton 11, UConn 7
Creighton officially took the series Sunday in a more tightly-contested win than Saturday’s, but Husky pitchers could not get out of their own way, allowing 10 hits, 11 walks and five hit batsmen.
In total, seven UConn arms worked throughout the game, fronted by right-hander Sean Finn who got the start. He pitched a clean first inning, working around one walk to keep the Bluejays off the board. But in the bottom of the second, Creighton got UConn’s bullpen cranking early, chunking together five runs to take a lead it would not relinquish all game. Finn struck out his first hitter before walking two in a row to end his day. JT Caruso came on in relief, who allowed a walk, single and hit by pitch. He failed to record an out before Jim Penders called to the bullpen once more, bringing on Jude Abbadessa to try and mitigate any further damage. Abbadessa allowed singles to his first two hitters — with the earned runs charged to Caruso — before inducing a ground ball to end the inning.
The Huskies punched right back in the top of the third, loading the bases for Tyler Minick. After going a combined 0-for-10 Friday and Saturday, Minick launched his second grand slam of the year to draw UConn back within one run.
Creighton put two more runs on the board in the bottom of the fourth, tagging Ian Cooke for three hits and two walks in the inning. Cooke allowed two singles and one double to bring in the first run, before giving up two walks with two outs to bring in the second run, ending his day.
UConn got back in the run column in the fifth inning, with Caleb Shpur singling and stealing second with two outs before scoring on a Ryan Daniels double. Creighton answered right back with four runs in the home half of the frame, charged to left-hander Charlie West. In the top of the sixth, Sam Biller roped a two-run home run over the right field fence to cut the lead to four runs.
Gabe Van Emon made his first appearence since March 18 against Duke, pitching 1 2⁄3 scoreless frames.
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UConn (13-17) has now dropped its second-consecutive series to open the Big East slate and will return to action next Tuesday, hosting Bryant in the first game of a five-game home stand starting at 3:05 p.m.