Baseball Visits SIU This Weekend

On Deck - After completing final exams this week, Creighton turns its attention to the diamond for a three-game MVC series at Southern Illinois this weekend.

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 Nick Handley on the call. The audio feed is also available at www.1620thezone.com. Friday's game will be available as an internet-only audio broadcast on gocreighton.com for $4.95.

Scouting Southern Illinois (25-18, 6-9 MVC)- The Salukis are playing their best baseball of the season, with six wins in their last eight games. SIU took the final two games over league-leading Northern Iowa last weekend and then won midweek games at Illinois and Murray State on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The SIU offense is led by preseason all-Valley catcher Mark Kelly, who is batting .349 with team-best totals of 12 doubles and 38 RBIs. Tyler Bullock is the team's biggest power threat, with six homers on the year.
Highly touted pro prospect Cody Adams headlines the pitching staff. He leads the Salukis with 52 strikeouts and has allowed just 11 extra base hits. Shawn Joy has been good of late, including a shutout of #5 Wichita State on April 19. Joy is 4-2 and has a team-high 11 starts. SIU's top reliever is Daniel Wells, who has made 23 appearances with a 4-1 record.

Scouting Creighton (28-15, 11-7 MVC) - The Bluejays did not play a midweek game as the school year concluded with final exams. CU swept a three-game series from Evansville last weekend in Omaha the last time out.
Creighton broke out of a offensive slump with 29 runs last weekend against Evansville. After struggling to get hits in crucial situations during a 2-7 stretch leading into the series, the Bluejay bats exploded for 19 extra base hits. CU hit .483 (14-for-29) with runners in scoring position and compiled 10 two-out RBI during the three-game series.
Creighton received great efforts on the mound from its starting pitchers last weekend and has for much of the season. Jeremy Hauer and Mike Nihsen both carried perfect games into the fifth inning against Evansville.
The bullpen has been solid for much of the season, led by ambidextrous preseason All-American Pat Venditte. Right handers Bob Lackovic and Kevin Dooley and left-hander T.J. Roemmich join Venditte as the workhorses of the bullpen, as the four have combined for 80 appearances this season.
Defensively, the Jays have been solid overall, posting an MVC-best .976 fielding percentage. However, CU has been troubled with errors at crucial times in its losses.

Series History - Southern Illinois leads the series over Creighton, 55-46, since 1979. Last season, the Jays took two of three during the regular-season in Omaha and then defeated SIU, 8-5, in the MVC Tournament. The Salukis won two of three the last time the teams played in Carbondale in 2006.

The Coaches - Southern Illinois head coach Dan Callahan is 381-385-1 in his 14th season with the Salukis. He has led SIU to four top-three finishes in the MVC and five 30-win seasons during his time in Carbondale.
Creighton head coach Ed Servais is 187-93 (.668) 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 7-8 in his career against Southern Illinois, including a 2-5 record in Carbondale at Abe Martin Field.

Ruf's Streak Reaches 13 - First baseman Darin Ruf extended his hitting streak to 13 games with hits in all five games last week. That streak is a career-best for Ruf and is the longest for any player on the team this year.

Nordgren's Big Week - Right fielder Nick Nordgren recorded 12 RBI and three home runs in five games last week to earn the MVC Player of the Week award. He was also named to the College Baseball Foundation's “National All-Star Lineup.” The Norway, Iowa, native homered in both midweek games against Nebraska, notching five RBI in Wednesday's contest at Rosenblatt Stadium. Nordgren then tallied three RBI in the series-opener against Evansville on Friday and finished the week with a two-run homer in Sunday's win over the Purple Aces.

Making The Sacrifice - Creighton leads the country with 67 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 among the national leaders. 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. With the seven shutouts, the Bluejays are tied with four other schools for the national lead.

Return of the Long Ball - After going 10 games without a home run from April 6-20, Creighton has hit eight in the last six games. Nick Nordgren has hit three during that time, while Steve Winkelmann has notched two. The pair are tied for the team lead with eight homers apiece.

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 82 pitches, which ranks fourth nationally. Once again, Knight leads the team and ranks among the national leaders with 18 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 39 of its 43 games.

Knight Needing Armor - Sophomore center fielder Robbie Knight has been hit by 18 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 28 appearances this season lead the MVC and tie for most in the country.

Strikeout King - Venditte leads the MVC with 76 strikeouts in 67.2 innings. He has recorded at least one strikeout in 24 of his 28 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 25 of his 28 appearances. He has struck out a batter using his right and left arm in 14 of those outings. In 101 career appearances, Venditte has fanned batters using both arms 36 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 21 different innings with four or more runs, including six with six or more tallies. Last Sunday against Evansville, CU tallied a season-high eight runs in the fifth inning of its win.

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 21-1 so far in 2008.

Closing the Door - In addition, Creighton has won 63 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.

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 finished second in the final standings last season after being picked fourth. 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 28 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 3.06 ERA after 28 appearances this season, Venditte now possesses a 2.74 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 156 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 two errors in 400 fielding chances, and maintains a .995 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 28 double plays in 43 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
? Creighton has not won a series in Carbondale since taking two of three in 1996 against the Salukis. The road team has won the CU-SIU series just once in the past 10 years.

? Pat Venditte threw 11.1 scoreless innings against SIU last season, allowing just three hits and two walks. Zak Moore has also done well against the Salukis in his career, giving up just one earned run with no walks in nine innings of work.

? Darin Ruf owns 196 career hits -- four shy of the 200 milestone. The only player to record 200 or more hits in Ed Servais' five-year tenure was Zach Daeges, who had 205 of his 238 career hits after Servais took over in 2004.

? After going eight straight games without a hit from April 4-16, Nick Nordgren currently owns an eight-game hitting streak. In that time, Nordgren owns 13 RBI and has hit .385.

? The Bluejay offense tallied 19 extra base hits in three games against Evansville, with only six strikeouts. Before the weekend, CU had only 20 extra base hits in the previous eight games.

? Darin Ruf (14) and Steve Winkelmann (13) are both approaching the Creighton career sacrifice flies record of 15, held by Bob Langer (1989-92).

? No Creighton starter had made it more than seven innings on the mound this season until Jeremy Hauer went 7.2 innings against Evansville last Friday. Hauer now has three of the team's four outings of seven innings or more. Mike Nihsen also threw seven scoreless frames against Illinois State on March 30.

? Creighton has scored first in 20 of its last 21 games, with a 13-8 record during that stretch. The Jays have scored first in 25 of their 28 wins this season and have a 141-30 when scoring first under Ed Servais.

? Creighton did not trail at any point in the three-game sweep of Evansville. For the season, the Jays have not trailed in 18 different wins.

? Mike Nihsen stands four outs shy of qualifying for CU's single-season list for ERA with 50 innings pitched. Nihsen's current ERA of 1.85 would narrowly move to the top of the list, just ahead of Pat Venditte's 1.88 ERA last season.

? Nihsen has thrown 17.2 consecutive scoreless innings in his past four appearances, allowing just three unearned runs. He has allowed just one run in four starts at home this spring.

? Creighton has not allowed a home run in its last six-plus games, a span of 53 innings pitched.
? Vicente Cafaro is 9-for-12 (.750) in CU's last four games, including a pair of doubles and a homer, to bump his average from .304 to .341.

? Five Bluejays have double-digit hit-by-pitch totals: Robbie Knight (18), Steve Winkelmann (15), Brett Mieras (12), Vicente Cafaro (11) and Nick Nordgren (10).

? Darin Ruf has not hit a homer in his last 18 games, matching the longest homer drought of his career (also April 11-May 16, 2006).

? Creighton's last two hits with the bases loaded have been grand slams. CU had gone 0-for-9 since Joe Servais went yard with the bags juiced on April 5 at Bradley until Brett Mieras drove in four with one swing on Saturday against Evansville.

? Pat Venditte and Kevin Dooley have thrown a combined 16 innings during the ninth inning this season. Neither hurler has allowed a run.

? 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 230 career strikeouts are seventh-most in school history and five shy of Christian Sterling (1996-98) for sixth. He is also tied for 10th place in CU history with 11 career saves.

? Creighton is 16-0 when Vicente Cafaro has an RBI. All 25 of his RBIs this year have come in Bluejay victories.

? Mike Nihsen has gone 43 innings since the last home run he's allowed. Jeremy Hauer has allowed only one long ball in 59 innings this season.

? 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 nine times and eight or more 20 times.

? 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. Robbie Knight has been hit 53 times in 103 games for a .52 HBP/game average.

? 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 172 right-handed hitters he's faced, but hasn't allowed a homer in 99 appearances against left-handed hitters.

? Left-handed batters have 93 at bats against Venditte, with 29 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.

? 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 Washington State (2/22), Western Carolina (3/7) and Evansville (4/26).

? Jeremy Hauer has not allowed a run this year in the second or third inning of work. Similarly, Mike Nihsen has not allowed an earned run in the first, fourth or fifth inning this season.

? Creighton's longest of three games last weekend took 2:05 to play. The Jays are 12-0 this year in games that last 2:15 or less after going 19-4 in 2007 games that were 2:15 or less. In the five-year tenure of Ed Servais, Creighton is 72-29 in games lasting 2:15 or less.

? Zak Moore has allowed four runs or less in 27 of 31 career starts on the mound.

? Moore has had seven career appearances of two innings or more in which he did not allow a walk. In those appearances, his ERA is 0.72 (two earned runs in 25 innings).

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