Creighton Walks-Off Against South Dakota State 6-5 in 11

Call it the hangover game.

It's amazing what a great night can do for your psyche. It can give you a new sense of self and well being, improve your self-esteem and increase your chances of potentially going home with that girl at the bar who keeps looking at you - wait, no she's actually looking at a wall of caskets behind you. You're at a funeral home, not a bar you idiot. I don't know why you keep going to funeral homes to pick up women, most of the people who show up there are, well, dead. Wait, does that mean you're into... oh no.

A successful endeavor in any facet of your day can leave you feeling sublime. Creighton, as you probably know, beat the Nebraska Cornhuskers in an absolute thriller last night, a game that featured some incredible heroics by left fielder Brett Murray and some phenomenal bullpen work from Miller, Oltman, and Gerber. The crowd was a heavy mix of blue and red, a two and a half hour affair attended by nearly 7,000 folks in the heart of downtown Omaha.

Today, Creighton was tasked with defeating the RPI #238 team in D-1 baseball. Creighton is ranked as high as #24. If the game were played on paper the Bluejays would win by 214 runs! (that's how RPI works, right?)

Creighton's Keith Rogalla was slated to start. Keith Rogalla should not have started, as he struggled to find the zone, and when he did he gave up some delicious cookies. He went 0.0 innings pitched with 2 walks, 1 hit and 2 earned runs. Freshman Ty Ramirez came in to relieve and did a pretty decent job keeping the riff raff down, but still walked a few and gave up some bombs to the waiting Jackrabbit side.

It was sort of bizarre to watch this game. The crowd was sparse if nonexistent, the night was absolutely gorgeous, there was a bit of a smoky tone to the atmosphere that caught the lights just right. It smelled like BBQ and there were kids just playin' around in the stadium. In other words, if you're some weird guy who likes to be alone, this was tops when it comes to watching a baseball game.

South Dakota State managed to play decent baseball to sort of stun Creighton. Their pitching was mediocre, their batting was good in short spurts, and their defense was just OK. Sometimes, it was hilarious and everyone peed their pants laughing so gosh darn hard at their miscues:

REPLAY | Creighton's got two on with no outs in the fourth after SDSU middle infielders collide on Fowler's chopper. https://t.co/lw5yZEY6Mu

— Creighton Baseball (@CU_Baseball) April 14, 2016

Like all good hangovers it takes a while to re-acclimate yourself to regular life. First thing's first: remember where you are. If you don't know where you are, ask someone. If there isn't anyone to ask, begin vomiting. Someone will eventually find you and save you. Next, drive a vehicle and make sure you remember where the gas pedal is. More importantly, remind yourself how far down you can mash that gas pedal. Next, jerk the wheel violently and figure out how quickly your synapses are firing. Once you get that down, visit a church and make some pasta with a bunch of dogs. Next thing you know, the hangover is over!

Creighton did arguably the same thing. For the first half of the game it appeared as if they were struggling to figure out where they were. On an April evening in Omaha it was as balmy as it gets: 77 degrees and more sunshine than you can shake a stick at. It then moved on to asking someone where they were in which a someone responded, "base... ball... green and brown." This gave them a rough outline of where exactly they were at, but before they could get their bearings it was 4-0. Soon, they got into the proverbial drivers seat and mashed that fucking gas pedal until they tied the game up at 4-4 in the 7th inning.

For the next four innings the Bluejays violently jerked the wheel until they rolled into that beautiful church parking lot. There, they got out, doubled, singled and eventually worked their way into a 'W' with enough pasta for the entire congregation to enjoy.

What started as a hangover game ended in thrilling fashion and by God it was a joy to watch, sort of... kind of. Well, not really.

See you Friday for the Butler series!

Stats!!

South Dakota State

CREIGHTON