Baseball Continues Road Trip at Metrodome Tournament
3/11/2010 2:27:00 AM | Baseball
Creighton Baseball
Game Notes
Games #10-12
Creighton (6-3) at Metrodome Tournament
March 12-14, 2010
vs. South
Dakota State / at Minnesota / vs. Harvard
Mall of America Field at HHH Metrodome
(63,699)
Media Information
Fans can access live stats by going to the baseball schedule page at www.gocreighton.com, and clicking on the link on the right side of the game's listing. Saturday's game against Minnesota can be seen live, courtesy of www.gophersports.com.
Series History
South Dakota State - Creighton leads 10-4
- First Meeting: 1969 - SDSU 3, Creighton 2
- Last Meeting: April 28, 2009 - Creighton 5, SDSU 2
Minnesota - Minnesota leads 19-17
- First Meeting: 1970 - Minnesota 7, Creighton 4
- Last Meeting: March 19, 2000 - Creighton 7, Minnesota 5
Harvard - First Meeting
Creighton's Probable Starters
Friday
RHP Jonas Dufek, Jr. (2-0, 6.59 ERA - 3 BB, 11 K, 13.2 IP)
Saturday
RHP Brandon Koenigstein, So. (0-0, 3.86 ERA - 3 BB, 7 K, 16.1 IP)
Sunday
LHP Ty Blach, Fr. (0-0, 2.45 ERA - 2 BB, 8 K, 7.1 IP)
Recent Results
March 10 - Creighton 11, UT-Arlington 5
March 7 - Sam Houston State 11, Creighton 10
March 6 - Northern Colorado 10, Creighton 3
March 5 - Creighton 6, Sam Houston State (10)
March 5 - Creighton 15, Northern Colorado 8
Head Coach Ed Servais
Ed Servais (UW La Crosse, 1981) is in his seventh season at the helm of the Bluejay program. His .647 win percentage is the best in school history, as he has averaged nearly 40 wins per season during his time as head coach. Servais has taken the Jays to two NCAA Tournaments (2005, 2007) and has won Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year honors three times. His career record stands at 415-209-1 with his Creighton mark sitting at 233-127.
Servais is assisted by associate head coach Rob Smith, Brent Alwine and Brandon Tormoehlen
Road Is Where Home Is
The Jays are currently on a 20-game, 40-day (from game 1 to first home game) season-opening road trip. Only two other trips compare in Bluejay history. Those were in 2003 (20 games-40 days) and 1999 (29 games-58 days). The Jays have currently logged 4774 miles of travel in just under three weeks of play
19 Is Fine
Creighton snapped a brief, two-game skid with an 11-5 victory at UT-Arlington on Wednesday. The Jays posted a season-high 19 hits in the effort with five players going for multiple hit games.
Stat-Padder
Creighton's game on Wednesday featured several fine individual efforts. Five Jays posted multiple hits, as freshman Alex Staehely posted his first career multi-hit game. Other notable individual performances included:
- Trever Adams - 4-for-5, four RBI, two doubles
- Carson Vitale - 4-for-4, three runs
- Staehely - 3-for-4, two runs, RBI
- Elliot Soto - 3-for-5, run, RBI
Along with those offensive performances, Mark Winkelman posted his first career win with 1.1 perfect innings, striking out two.
Adams Amassing Hits
Trever Adams' hits have come in bunches this season. Of the six games he has hits in, five have been of the multiple hit variety. The junior transfer from Hutchinson CC (Kan.) had three, three-hit games in his short Bluejay career before posting a 4-for-5 night at UT-Arlington on Wednesday.
He's Pretty Fly
Elliot Soto came into the season with five career sacrifice flies. The junior has already posted four this season, and is halfway to Creighton's single season record of eight, sent by Dan Norquist in 2005.
Knight Rider
Robbie Knight extended several impressive streaks on Wednesday. Those included:
- Consecutive starts: 104
- Games played: 151
- Hit streak: 11 games
- Reached base: 18
On a more impressive note, Knight has reached base in 51 of his last 52 games.
Hit Man
Knight also continued his quest up the NCAA Division I hit by pitch list. Knight was plunked for the second time this season on Wednesday, placing him in a tie for sixth on the all-time list with 74. Here's how that list currently looks:
Player School - Years, Total
Brett Lilley Notre Dame - 2005-08, 109
Tony Hurtado San Francisco - 1997-00, 92
Cody Rizzo Notre Dame - 2003-06, 84
Gabe Somariba Florida Atlantic - 1999-02, 81
Mark Muscenti Cincinnati - 2003-06, 76
Robbie Knight Creighton - 2007-pr., 74
Logan Johnson Louisville - 2004-07, 74
Jeff Ontiveros Texas - 1999-02, 74
9+ Finally Not Enough
Creighton's loss at Sam Houston State on Sunday snapped a Bluejay streak of 28 straight wins when scoring 9+ runs. The last setback was a 12-10 defeat at the hands of Nebraska on April 3, 2007.
The Stopper
Junior Jack VanLeur has been nearly perfect out of the bullpen this season. VanLeur has yet to allow a run or walk in four appearances, while striking out five in 11.1 innings. VanLeur had a career-long outing on Sunday at Sam Houston State, going 4.2 innings, whiffing two.
Night Birds
Saturday's game with Minnesota will be Creighton's third night game of the year. The Jays have posted .500 or better records in all but one year of Ed Servais' tenure
Year Record Pct.
2010 2-0 1.000
2009 10-6 .625
2008 4-4 .500
2007 10-3 .769
2006 4-5 .444
2005 11-7 .611
2004 5-3 .625
Turn Out The Lights, The Party's Over
Despite losing a ninth-inning lead on Saturday, the Jays have been a near-sure thing in that situation. Since 2002, The Jays are 210-10 (.955) when holding a lead heading into the ninth. Under Servais, the Jays are 156-8 (.951).
Bouncing Back
Since 2004, Creighton is 76-45 in games following a loss and have not been below .500 in such games. Here is a quick glance at those games:
Year Record Pct.
2010 2-1 .667
2009 12-12 .500
2008 13-7 .650
2007 11-4 .733
2006 10-10 .500
2005 12-4 .667
2004 16-7 .696
