Baseball Home For Weekend MVC Series vs. Evansville

On Deck - Creighton returns to the CU Sports Complex for the first time since April 9 to host a three-game Missouri Valley Conference series against Evansville.

Follow Along - Creighton's athletics website, www.gocreighton.com, will offer live stats for all three weekend games. The links can be found under the Multimedia tab on the left side of the athletics homepage. In addition, Saturday and Sunday's games will be broadcast on Omaha's KOZN (1620 AM) with John Bishop and David Gustafson on the call. The audio feed is also available at www.1620thezone.com.

Scouting Evansville (9-31, 3-12 MVC) - The Purple Aces enter as the last-place team in the MVC. Evansville is 3.5 games behind sixth-place Indiana State for the final spot in the MVC Tournament in Wichita.
Evansville is 3-3 in its last six games after starting the year 6-25. Last weekend, the Aces took two of three from Indiana State at home. However, UE enters this weekend off midweek home losses to Ohio Valley Conference members Tennessee-Martin and Austin Peay.
Outfielder Greg Wallace leads the UE offense and tops all MVC freshmen with a .329 batting average. He also has notched a team-best 13 doubles and is second with 20 RBIs. First baseman Derek Melton leads UE with four homers, while catcher Andy Pascoe paces the squad with 29 runs driven in.
On the mound, the Aces have struggled, posting a 6.72 team ERA. No pitcher on the roster has an ERA below 4.86 and UE has allowed 454 hits and 186 walks. Friday starter John Foley has three of UE's nine wins and paces the pitching staff with 37 strikeouts.

Scouting Creighton (25-15, 8-7 MVC) - The Bluejays have dropped four straight games for the first time since 2004.
After an impressive start to the season at the plate which saw CU score at least eight runs in 18 of their first 27 games, the Jays have not reached that total in their last 13.
The pitching staff has been consistent through much of the season. The bullpen has been the strength of the team, but it has allowed 23 runs over the last three games. Prior to that, the pen had posted a 1.48 ERA over the previous 15 games. CU's starters are a combined 15-7 with a 4.16 ERA this season, but have just four wins in MVC play.
Defensively, Creighton has been solid overall, posting an MVC-best .976 fielding percentage. However, crucial errors have haunted the Jays during recent losses.
Midweek Recap - Creighton dropped both games of a home-and-home midweek series with in-state rival Nebraska. The Huskers scored four runs in the sixth inning to win 4-3 on Tuesday in Lincoln. NU then tallied a 13-run fifth inning to run away with a 16-7 victory on Wednesday at Rosenblatt Stadium. Right fielder Nick Nordgren was a bright spot for the Jays, as he homered in both games and picked up a combined seven RBIs in the two contests.

Series History - Creighton leads the all-time series over Evansville, 29-21. The Bluejays have won 16 of the last 22 meetings between the teams since 2002. CU took a 2-1 series win last season at Evansville (March 23-25). The Purple Aces won two of three the last time the teams met in Omaha in 2006.

The Coaches - Evansville head coach David Seifert is 44-54 in his second season with the Purple Aces. He is a former NJCAA Coach of the Year at Parkland College.
Creighton head coach Ed Servais is 184-93 (.667) in his fifth season with the Bluejays. His teams have averaged nearly 40 wins per season and he has been named MVC Coach of the Year three times in his first four seasons. Servais is 10-5 in his career against Evansville, including a 4-2 record at the CU Sports Complex.

Ruf's Streak Reaches 10 - First baseman Darin Ruf extended his hitting streak to 10 games with hits in both midweek games against Nebraska. Ruf's career-long streak is 12 games, the same as Steve Winkelmann's team-best mark to begin 2008. Ruf has 14 different five-game hitting streaks in his career, including five this season.

Nordgren Recovers - Right fielder Nick Nordgren snapped an 0-for-20 hitting drought with a two-out pinch hit double to drive in the winning run in the ninth inning of CU's 3-2 victory over Northern Iowa in game one of a doubleheader on April 19. Since then, Nordgren is batting .400 (6-for-15) with a double, two homers and seven RBIs.

Making The Sacrifice - Creighton leads the country with 63 sacrifice bunts this season after setting a school and MVC record with 93 in 2007. Junior Vicente Cafaro (13) and senior Michael Lam (12) each rank in the top-10 nationally. Ten other Jays have at least one sacrifice bunt in 2008.

Shutout Mark - With shutouts in both games of a doubleheader sweep of North Dakota State on April 9, the Creighton pitching staff increased its season total to seven and surpassed last year's total of five. The seven shutouts tie Tulane and North Carolina for the national lead.

Home Run Drought Ends - After going 10 games without a home run, Creighton has hit four in the past three games. Steve Winkelmann cranked two against Northern Iowa last Sunday, while Nick Nordgren homered on consecutive nights against Nebraska. Winkelmann (8) and Nordgren (7) lead the team in long balls this season.

Black and Blue(jays) - Creighton set a school record after being hit by 116 pitches last season, which was one shy of national leader UC-Irvine. Seven players were hit by at least nine pitches, including new NCAA single-season record holder Robbie Knight, who was beaned 35 times.
So far in 2008, Creighton batters have been hit by 77 pitches, which ranks fourth nationally. Once again, Knight leads the team and ranks among the national leaders with 17 HBP. Eleven different Bluejays have been hit by a pitch, and five have been beaned by at least 10. CU has recorded at least one HBP in 36 of its 40 games.

Knight Needing Armor - Sophomore center fielder Robbie Knight has been hit by 17 pitches in 2008 after breaking the NCAA record last season with 35 bean balls. On March 29 against Illinois State, Knight was hit by three pitches to break the CU career record.

Stopper of the Year - On April 17, senior ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte was among 45 relievers named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Midseason Watch List. Venditte has compiled five saves and five wins so far in 2008. Last year, Creighton closer Andy Masten was a finalist for the award.

Venditte Pitcher of the Week - Venditte was named the MVC Pitcher of the Week on April 14, after recording saves in both games of CU's doubleheader sweep of North Dakota State (April 9) and a win over #5 Wichita State
(April 12). He struck out 14 batters in his four appearances that week, including seven against the Shockers.

Mr. Versatility - As the nation's only ambidextrous pitcher, Venditte has a unique advantage in that he is available to throw in almost every game. His 26 appearances this season lead the MVC and tie for most in the country.

Strikeout King - Venditte leads the MVC with 72 strikeouts in 65.1 innings. He has recorded at least one strikeout in 23 of his 26 appearances. Last season, Venditte led the team with 99 Ks and he is bidding to lead the team in strikeouts for the third straight season.

Righty AND Lefty - So far this season, Venditte has used both arms in 24 of his 26 appearances. He has struck out a batter using his right and left arm in 13 of those outings. In 99 career appearances, Venditte has fanned batters using both arms 35 times, including 10 times last year and on 12 occasions as a sophomore.

Rally Starter - Creighton has used big innings to score many of its runs this season. The Jays have compiled 19 different innings with four or more runs, including five with six or more tallies. However, CU has managed just one four-run inning in its last 13 games, with only nine multi-run frames total during that stretch.

Late-Inning Leads - Rice's two-run eighth-inning rally to defeat Creighton on March 9 marked the first time the Jays had lost a game when leading after the sixth inning since 2006. CU was 35-0 when leading after the sixth inning last season, and are 18-1 so far in 2008.

Closing the Door - In addition, Creighton has won 61 straight games when taking a lead into the ninth inning. The streak dates back to a 5-4 loss to Kansas State on April 11, 2006.

Mancuso Sidelined - Senior pitcher Ben Mancuso has been out of action since making a season-opening start against Washington State on Feb. 22. He began throwing again on March 31 and could return to game action in the coming weeks as his health improves. The preseason All-American and 2007 MVC Pitcher of the Year was 10-3 with a 2.34 ERA last season. .

Hitting Streak - Senior Steve Winkelmann posted the team's longest hitting streak of the season, as he began 2008 with a hit in each of the first 12 games. In his 40 starts this season, he has hit safely in 29 games.

Back-to-Back Jacks - When Darin Ruf and Steve Winkelmann hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning of CU's win over South Dakota State on March 25, it marked the second time the Jays had accomplished the feat this season. Winkelmann and Nick Nordgren went back-to-back against #6 Rice on March 9. Even more interesting, on both occasions the home runs came on consecutive pitches.

Senior CLASS Nominees - Senior pitchers Pat Venditte and Ben Mancuso were two of 30 nominees for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. The honor recognizes seniors for their success both on and off the field, including work in the classroom and community, and overall character. Neither were named among the 10 finalists.

Winkelmann Receives National Honor - Senior third baseman Steve Winkelmann was honored on March 10 as the MVC Player of the Week after collecting 17 RBIs in five games the previous week. On March 12, Winkelmann was selected by CollegeBaseballInsider.com as its Co-National Player of the Week. He recorded eight RBIs in a doubleheader sweep of Memphis (3/5), blasting a grand slam in game one and a three-run homer in the nightcap. He then hit three-run doubles in consecutive games against Western Carolina (3/7) and Michigan State (3/8) at the Rice Classic, and tallied five RBIs total against the Spartans. He concluded his impressive week with a solo home run against No. 6 Rice on March 9.

Last Season - Creighton finished 2007 with its second 45-win season in the past three years, ending with a 45-16 record. The Bluejays placed second in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 19-5 mark, then captured its first MVC Tournament title in school history, defeating 12th-ranked Wichita State in the championship game. The Jays advanced to their eighth NCAA Tournament in school history, finishing with a win over Albany and losses to Oklahoma State and Arkansas. The team featured the MVC Player of the Year (Darin Ruf), Pitcher of the Year (Ben Mancuso), Newcomer of the Year (Andy Masten), Coach of the Year (Ed Servais) and Tournament Most Outstanding Player (Pat Venditte).

MVC Preseason Poll - Creighton was picked to finish second in the Missouri Valley Conference, as voted by the league's coaches. The Bluejays were picked fourth last season, but finished second in the final standings. In addition, first baseman Darin Ruf, starting pitcher Ben Mancuso and relief pitcher Pat Venditte were named to the 14-member all-MVC Preseason Team.

Preseason Recognition - Senior ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte, the 2007 MVC Tournament MVP, has received a multitude of preseason honors. He was chosen to the Golden Spikes and Brooks Wallace player of the year watch lists. He was also named a first-team preseason All-American by Rivals.com and Ping! Baseball and a second-team choice by the NCBWA and Collegiate Baseball. Fellow senior pitcher Ben Mancuso, the reigning MVC Pitcher of the Year, was also named to the Brooks Wallace Watch List and was voted a third-team preseason All-American by the NCBWA and Ping! Baseball.

Always Available - With his outing against Nebraska in Lincoln on April 22, Pat Venditte moved into second on the CU career appearances list. He has made a MVC and NCAA-leading 26 appearances so far in 2008. Last season, Venditte appeared in a school-record 38 games -- in which he used both arms 30 times.

ERA Records - During his standout 2007 campaign, Venditte established a new school record with a 1.88 earned run average. This number was aided by a 43.2-inning scoreless streak from April 11 to May 26, which spanned 17 appearances. With a 3.17 ERA after 26 appearances this season, Venditte now possesses a 2.77 career ERA to rank second in school history.

Jays in the Pros- Three players from the 2007 squad were selected in last June's MLB Draft. Pitcher Marc Lewis was a 20th-round selection of the Florida Marlins, catcher Chris Gradoville was selected in the 24th round by the Texas Rangers and pitcher Pat Venditte was chosen in the 45th round by the New York Yankees. Infielder Chad Ogden also signed a free agent contract with the Rangers. In addition, freshman shortstop Elliot Soto was a 13th-round pick of the Minnesota Twins. Venditte and Soto both turned down the opportunity to play professionally and are part of the 2008 Bluejay team.

Who Needs A Day Off? - Junior first baseman Darin Ruf, the 2007 MVC Player of the Year, has started all 151 games he has played in his career. This includes every one of Creighton's games over the past three seasons.

Mr. Productivity - Ruf led Creighton and ranked in the top-five of the MVC last season in 10 different offensive categories, including batting average (.374), on-base percentage (.463), slugging percentage (.587), total bases (135), doubles (19), RBIs (57), hits (86), runs (53), walks (35) and home runs (8).

Gold Glove - Maybe a better player defensively, Ruf was awarded a Rawlings Gold Glove last season as the nation's best fielding first baseman. He committed only two errors in 611 chances. So far in 2008, he has just one error in 362 fielding chances, and maintains a .996 career fielding percentage.

Turning Two - Creighton led the MVC last season with 77 double plays. In 2005, the Bluejays led the country in the category with 85 twin-killers. CU ended last season with at least one double play in 38 of its last 41 games. So far in 2008, CU has turned 27 double plays in 40 games.

Television Exposure - Creighton will play at least 11 games this season on TV, including five games that will be or were carried nationally by CBS College Sports TV. Nebraska Educational Television has already aired games against Wichita State (4/13), Kansas State (4/15) and Iowa (4/16) and Nebraska (4/22). The May 13 rematch with Nebraska at Rosenblatt Stadium will also be aired by NET.
In addition, WOWT 6.20 (Cox Channel 120) televised two games during the Wichita State series and aired the Nebraska game at Rosenblatt on April 23. Two games with Louisiana-Monroe (May 15-16) at Rosenblatt will also be broadcast.

Radio Coverage - KOZN (1620 AM) will broadcast 23 regular season Bluejay baseball games, including 14 home games, nine road games and all postseason contests. John Bishop and David Gustafson will handle the call. All games can also be heard online at www.1620thezone.com.

Local Mix - The 2008 Bluejay roster consists of 17 Nebraskans, including all but one from the Omaha area. All 17 Nebraska natives came to Creighton from communities within 60 miles of the campus.

No-Hit Winner - Creighton was no-hit for the first time in recorded school history in game one of a doubleheader with North Dakota State on April 9, but won the game 2-0 thanks to nine walks and a hit batsman. According to Boyd Nation, this freak no-hitter scenario was the first in college baseball since Maryland-Baltimore County's Eddie Bach held Hartford hitless and lost 1-0 in a seven-inning game on April 30, 2006.
According to Baseball-Reference.com, there have also been two Major League games in which a team has had a no-hitter thrown for them but lost. The first occurred on April 23, 1964, as Ken Johnson of the Houston Colt .45's was beaten 1-0 by the Cincinnati Reds. Three years later, in 1967, Steve Barber and Stu Miller of the Baltimore Orioles pitched a combined no-hitter, but lost 2-1 to the Detroit Tigers.

Quick Hits
? With three hits against Nebraska on Wednesday, Darin Ruf recorded his 50th career multi-hit game, while also extending his hitting streak to 10 games.

? Ruf is approaching 200 career hits, as he has compiled 192 base knocks in 153 games.

? Steve Winkelmann has recorded an RBI in five straight games. Earlier this season, he posted a seven-game RBI streak from March 5-15, picking up 20 RBIs in that time.

? Robbie Knight played his 100th game vs. Nebraska on Wednesday night at Rosenblatt. Knight has 97 career starts and could reach the century mark in that category this weekend.

? Creighton's current four-game losing streak is the first since March 5-9, 2004 in Ed Servais' first season at the helm. The Jays have never lost five straight games under Servais.

? Creighton has scored first in 17 of its last 18 games, but has only a 10-8 record during that stretch. Under Servais, the Jays are 138-30 when scoring first.

? The Bluejays had recorded at least one sacrifice bunt in 12 straight games before failing to lay one down Wednesday against #10 Nebraska. CU has at least on sacrifice in 33 of its 40 games.

? CU batters have been hit by a pitch in 36 of 40 games this season, ranking among the national leaders with 77. On the other hand, CU pitchers have hit a batter in nine straight games.

? Five Bluejays have double-digit hit-by-pitch totals: Robbie Knight (17), Steve Winkelmann (13), Brett Mieras (11), Vicente Cafaro (10) and Nick Nordgren (10).

? The Jays are outscoring teams 26-2 in the first inning of home games this year. The Jays have scored in the bottom of the first in 12 of 18 home games to date.

? On April 5, Creighton scored 11 of its 12 runs with two outs in a 12-3 win at Bradley, hitting 11-for-22 (.500) with two outs. Since that game, CU is 22-for-132 (.167) with two down.

? CU's last bases-loaded hit came on April 5 when Joe Servais launched a grand slam. After starting the season 17-for-34 with the bases juiced, the Jays are 0-for-9 since the Servais grand slam.

? Creighton allowed just 10 unearned runs in the first 31 games of the season, but 18 unearned runs in the past nine games.

? Of the 28 unearned runs allowed by the Jays this season, 10 have been with sophomore Mike Nihsen on the mound.

? The only two earned runs Nihsen has allowed during his past five appearances were runners that scored after he had left the game.

? Creighton had been 17-0 this season when owning more hits than its opponent prior to last Sunday's loss in which it out-hit UNI, 12-10.

? Pat Venditte allowed four runs on six hits in suffering the loss at #6 Rice on March 9. He had previously allowed only four runs total in his past 22 regular-season appearances.

? Venditte's 226 career strikeouts are seventh-most in school history and nine shy of Christian Sterling (1996-98) for sixth.

? Venditte is also tied for 10th place in CU history with 11 career saves.

? Creighton is 13-0 when Vicente Cafaro has an RBI. All 21 of his RBIs this year have come in Bluejay victories.

? Cafaro is batting .467 (21-for-45) with 12 RBIs in 13 games when hitting second in the lineup. In that spot, he has a .554 on base percentage and a .689 slugging percentage.

? Mike Nihsen has gone 37 innings since the last home run he's allowed. Jeremy Hauer has allowed only one long ball in 51.1 innings this season.

? Zak Moore has not hit a batter in 45.2 innings of work this year. In his 10 starts, opposing starting pitchers have hit 14 CU batters.

? Hauer has retired 53 batters on fly outs, 51 on ground outs and 44 via strikeout. Moore has induced 60 ground ball outs, with 31 fly outs.

? Brandon Knox is 8-for-25 (.320) in Creighton's wins, but 1-for-22 (.045) in losses.

? Creighton's offense has scored 15 or more runs three times this season, 10 or more eight times and eight or more 18 times. However, CU has not reached the eight-run mark in its last 13 games.

? Last year, Pat Venditte did not allow a homer to a right-handed batter despite facing 253 of them. This year, he has allowed five homers among the 169 right-handed hitters he's faced, but hasn't allowed a homer in 95 appearances against left-handed hitters.

? Left-handed batters have 89 at bats against Venditte, with 27 strikeouts.

? When Venditte takes to the hill, NCAA rules dictate that he declare which arm he will throw with before the batter steps into the box. Venditte is only allowed to switch pitching arms between batters, and not in the middle of a pitch count.

? Venditte has been featured in many national publications during his career. He has appeared on the front cover of the New York Times, the “Leading Off” section of Sports Illustrated, in USA Today and Baseball America. He has also made appearances on ESPN's Cold Pizza, the CBS Evening News, Rogers Sportsnet in Canada, CSTV and the George Michael Sports Machine.

? Last season, Robbie Knight was hit by an NCAA record 35 pitches, including 11 times when leading off a game. He tallied seven games in which he was beaned more than once and set a school record with four HBP against Oklahoma on March 7. Despite the repeated drillings, Knight missed only one game in 2007.

? Knight has been hit multiple times in a game on 10 occasions in his career.

? Notre Dame's Brett Lilley set the NCAA record for times hit by a pitch in a career on April 9 with 93 HBP in his 204th game. That averages out to .46 HBP/game. Knight has been hit 52 times in 100 games for a .52 HBP/game average.

? Cafaro made his collegiate debut with a 4-for-4 performance against Washington State on Feb. 22 in the season opener, notching two doubles, an RBI and two runs scored.

? Cafaro is the only player on the team with a four-hit game this season, accomplishing the feat against both Washington State (2/22) and Western Carolina (3/7).

? No Creighton starter had made it through seven innings on the mound until Jeremy Hauer and Mike Nihsen each posted seven scoreless frames in CU's series against Illinois State (March 28-30). Hauer then matched that effort with seven innings in a win April 4 at Bradley.

Baseball Home For Weekend MVC Series vs. Evansville

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