Box Score

Creighton claimed a 3-1 win in the series opener with Butler Thursday afternoon at Bulldog Park in Indianapolis. The teams will regroup for single games on both Friday and Saturday.

Thursday's result improves Creighton to 23-22 overall and a league-best 11-3 BIG EAST mark. Butler is 30-20 (6-10 BIG EAST).

With Xavier's win over Georgetown Thursday, the Musketeers claimed the fourth spot in next week's BIG EAST Tournament, eliminating the Bulldogs from contention.

Creighton struck first with two runs in the sixth inning. Isaac Collins opened the frame with a solo home run to right field. Later in the inning, Michael Emodi scored on a wild pitch after reaching on a one-out walk.

Those would be the only two runs allowed by Butler starter Ryan Pepiot in six innings of work. He struck out six. He fell to 4-4 on the season with the loss.

Butler's run came in the bottom of the seventh as Jordan Lucio, Harrison Freed and Alex Horowitz produced three consecutive singles to score Lucio. However, Creighton was able to get out of the inning with a double play as the Bulldogs had runners on first and third with one out.

The final six Butler hitters would be retired in order over the last two innings as Creighton added an insurance run in the ninth.

Rollie Lacy picked up the win for Creighton, improving to 4-2. Lacy allowed one run on seven hits in 7.1 innings of work. He struck out four. Ethan DeCaster came on for the final 1.2 innings, retiring all five batters he faced for his fourth save of the year.

The second game of the series is slated for Friday. The first pitch has been moved up to 2 p.m. (originally scheduled for 4 p.m.) with rain in the forecast for later in the day.

Saturday's series finale, which is also Senior Day for the Bulldogs, had previously been moved up to 12:30 p.m. Friday's game will be streamed through Facebook Live on the Butler Bulldogs account. Saturday's game will air on the BIG EAST Digital Network.