OMAHA, Neb. -- Creighton scored all three of its runs in the sixth inning Thursday to hand the Missouri State baseball team a 3-2 setback at TD Ameritrade Park in the Missouri Valley Conference series opener at the new home of the College World Series.

    Missouri State’s Nick Petree (8-2) tossed a complete game and held the Bluejays scoreless through five innings, including escaping a bases-loaded, no out jam in the second, and had a 1-0 lead entering the sixth thanks to Aaron Conway hitting a leadoff double in the fourth and scoring on Brent Seifert’s sacrifice fly.

    Creighton’s Trever Adams led off the sixth with a bunt single that Petree fielded cleanly but never threw to first, and then scored the tying run when Alex Staehely doubled to left center. After an out and an infield single, Mike Gerber snuck a double inside first base and Chance Ross added a sacrifice fly to put CU ahead 3-1.   

    The Bears rallied in the eighth, using two-out singles from Kevin Medrano and Brock Chaffin to score Conway from first for a 3-2 game. CU’s Reese McGraw relieved Jonas Dufek (9-1) with two outs and walked Seifert to load the bases. Closer Kurt Spomer then got Luke Voit to ground to second on the first pitch to keep the score at 3-2.

    Spiker Helms hit a one-out single in the ninth but was left on first as Spomer picked up his ninth save.

    Petree passed Tim Clubb’s MSU record for inings by a freshman, pushing his total to 89 for the year after allowing nine hits, three runs and a walk against two strikeouts.

    The Bears fell to 31-19 overall and 11-7 in the MVC, while Creighton improved its lead to a game and a half at 37-13 and 13-6 in the league. Missouri State can still win the conference title by beating Creighton the next two days in combination with a Bradley victory over Wichita State in any of the three games between those two schools.

    The series continues Friday at 7 p.m.