Baseball To Face SIU In Elimination Game
5/22/2008 10:00:00 PM | Baseball
Notes Related To Friday's Starter Greg Hellhake
LHP Greg Hellhake (3-1, 4.04 ERA, 11
APP, 8 GS, 35.2 IP, 16 R, 16 ER, 10 BB, 23 SO)
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Redshirt
freshman emerged as Creighton's midweek starter.
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Very
good until last two outings, as his ERA has increased from 2.97 to 4.04 after a
start against
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Best
outing was at #10
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Held
#14
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Allowed
five runs on six hits in his last start -- against #6
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Last
name pronounced Hell-ick.
Notes Related To Ed Servais
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Ed Servais is 196-98 (.667) in his five seasons
at Creighton.
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After
splitting two games on Thursday, he is now 12-8 in the MVC Tournament.
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He
is 9-9 in his career against
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His
196 wins are second-most in Valley history for a coach in his first five
seasons at a league school (Gene Stephenson- 290).
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Three-time
MVC Coach of the Year.
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His
87 conference victories are more than any other coach in league history in their
first five seasons in the MVC.
Updated Creighton Team & Tourney
Notes
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Creighton
has now won six of its last eight MVC Tournament games.
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The
Bluejays are 6-4 all-time in their fourth game of a Valley Tournament.
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Creighton
is 3-3 in MVC Tournament elimination games under Ed Servais, including a 10-9 win over
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Freshman
shortstop Elliot Soto extended his
hitting streak to a career-high seven games with hits in both contests on
Thursday. He is hitting 9-for-27 (.333) in that time.
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CU was hit by one pitch on Thursday against UNI, bringing its
season total to 111. That's the most in the country this season and five shy of
the school and MVC record the club set last year. The 111 HBP is also 12th-most
in NCAA single-season history.
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The Jays have been hit by a pitch in 50 of 57 games this season.
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Creighton leads the nation with 94 sacrifice bunts, which is also
a Creighton and MVC record. Michael
Lam's ninth-inning sacrifice against UNI on Thursday that set the new MVC
record proved to be crucial, as it moved the eventual winning run (T.J. Roemmich) into scoring position.
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The Jays are the only team in NCAA history with consecutive
seasons of 91 or more sacrifice bunts. The Jays had 93 sac bunts last year and
have 94 this season.
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Three of Creighton's last five wins in Wichita at the MVC
Tournament have come in their final at-bat, including T.J. Roemmich's walk-off homer against Bradley on Wednesday and Steve Winkelmann's two-run single in
the top of the ninth against UNI yesterday. CU also won on a walk-off grand
slam in 2005 by Gabe Lapito to
run-rule
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Darin Ruf 's intentional walk in the
ninth inning vs. UNI was his 50th walk of the season and 100th
of his career. He has been intentionally walked 10 times this year and 14 times
in his career. CU has lost just one game this year when he's been intentionally
walked.
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The Rawlings Gold Glove winner at first base last season, Darin Ruf, owns 1,622 career putouts.
That ranks 19th in NCAA history. He has started all 170 of Creighton's games
the past three years at first base.
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Vicente Cafaro handled his 100th
straight chance without an error when he served as the pivot man in Rob
Elliott's 5-4-3 double-play in the top of the fifth inning on Wednesday. His
errorless streak stands at 113 entering Friday and dates back to an April 13th
error against
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Sophomore Robbie Knight
was hit by the 59th pitch of his career in the seventh inning on
Thursday vs. UNI, 14th most in NCAA history and just 49 shy of the NCAA
record held by Notre Dame's Brett Lilley.
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Nick Nordgren tied a career-high with
three hits against UNI, the second time this year he's had three hits.
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Every
pitcher on the Creighton staff with multiple appearances this season has been a
part of one shutout on the mound this season. The Jays lead the nation with
eight shutouts, but have yet to be blanked themselves this spring.
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Creighton
is 5-for-5 stealing bases this weekend and now owns 65 stolen bases on the
season. Eight different players have at least five steals, but no one owns more
than nine.
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T.J. Roemmich has provided a huge spark off the
bench in both Bluejay victories here at the Valley Tourney. On Wednesday, he
hit a pinch-hit three-run homer to end the win over Bradley. Last night, his
pinch-hit single led off the ninth and he would end up scoring the winning run
in the 4-2 win.
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All
10 Creighton players to appear at the plate in the MVC Tournament have two or
more hits, eight of the 10 have scored two or more runs (all but Robbie Knight and Michael Lam), and nine of the 10 (all but Elliot Soto) have at least one RBI.
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Creighton
has played flawless defense through three games at the MVC Tournament, handling
106 chances perfectly. It's helped the Jays up their fielding percentage to
.976 on the season, easily the best in the Valley. CU's .974 fielding
percentage entering this week ranked sixth nationally, narrowly trailing Duke's
nation-best .978 mark.
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Jack VanLeur has also excelled at this year's
Valley Tourney. He's thrown 4.1 scoreless frames, lowering the redshirt
freshman's ERA to 1.61 in 22.1 innings pitched.
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Steve Winkelmann has delivered the game-winning RBI
in both Creighton wins at this year's Valley Tournament, and each of the Jays
last three wins in
Notes Related To Pat Venditte
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Senior
reliever Pat Venditte has appeared
in an NCAA-best 37 games this season, one shy of his own school record from
last season. His 110 career appearances are fourth-most in MVC history and
second in school history behind Scott
Reese's 123.
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With
five strikeouts yesterday vs.
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He now ranks 10th in CU history with 248.1 innings
pitched.
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Among players with at least 225 innings pitched, Venditte is the
only player in CU history to average more than a strikeout per inning. He's got
255 strikeouts in 248.1 innings (9.24 k/9).
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Last year's Valley Tournament MVP, he has both of CU's wins at
this year's event, throwing 6.1 scoreless innings. He's bidding to become CU's
first player to earn all-Tourney honors in consecutive years since Kimera Bartee in 1992-93.
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The co-captain is 9-3 this year with seven saves, and owns a
career mark of 21-8 with 13 saves. His 21 wins are tied for fifth-most in
Bluejay history.
- The ambidextrous pitcher owns 39 career games in which he has struck out a batter with both arms in the same game. The only other current Bluejay to own more than 39 games with at least one strikeout (with any arm) is Zak Moore, who has 42 contests with at least one K.
Notes Related To Creighton/Southern
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Both
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The
teams last met in the MVC Tournament last year in
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During
the 2008 regular-season, Creighton took two of three in
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SIU's
likely starting pitcher, Adam Curynski, threw five no-hit innings against
Creighton in the May 4 win. He allowed one run after allowing three walks and
two wild pitches.
- Creighton's starting pitcher, Greg Hellhake, has never appeared against the Salukis in his career.
With a win,
Creighton would advance to play again on Friday at 7 PM against the loser of
the Wichita State-Missouri State game.
