Mason, Ohio (Interstat) — The Big East Baseball Championship gets underway Thursday afternoon as seed Creighton (29-24) faces seed Saint John’s (30-24) at Prasco Park. The winner advances to the semifinals of the double-elimination tournament.

Creighton, the visiting team, sends right-hander Shea Wendt to the mound. Wendt has been inconsistent this month. In his last outing May 16 at Xavier, he threw two scoreless innings of relief with two strikeouts. However, on May 8 against Georgetown he allowed four earned runs on eight hits over 3 1/3 innings. In his lone start against the Red Storm on May 2, Wendt limited Saint John’s to two earned runs over five innings while fanning two. He also worked a scoreless two-thirds of an inning in a win over Xavier on May 14.

Saint John’s counters with left-hander Ian Mowad. Mowad turned in a sharp performance May 16 against Butler, allowing no earned runs over 3 2/3 innings. But he struggled April 26 at Xavier, surrendering six earned runs in two innings. Against Creighton on May 3, he recorded two strikeouts in two-thirds of an inning without allowing a run.

The teams split their regular-season series last month. Creighton took the finale May 3, a 6-5 victory, after dropping the first two games of the set. The Bluejays lost 11-3 on May 2 and 10-3 on May 1.

Creighton enters on a three-game losing streak, most recently falling 5-3 at Xavier on May 16. Wendt was one of three relievers who combined for five scoreless innings in that game, along with Brian Gould and Henry Prindl. The Bluejays have dropped five of their last seven after winning five of six.

Saint John’s snapped a three-game skid with a 4-1 win over Butler on May 16. Mowad was the top pitcher in that game, and Nick Romer and Tommy Conley each tossed 1 2/3 scoreless frames. The Red Storm have won five of their last eight series games.

First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. EDT.