Baseball Hosts Indiana State in Home Opener at Rosenblatt Friday
4/1/2010 11:00:00 AM | Baseball
Creighton
Baseball Game Notes
Games #19-21 • Indiana State (15-7, 1-2 MVC) at Creighton (12-6, 2-1 MVC)
KOZN 1620 (Fri., Sun.), KOIL 1180 AM (Sat.)
April 2-4, 2010 • 6 p.m. / 6
p.m. / 1
p.m.
Rosenblatt Stadium (Fri.-Sat.) (23,100) • CU Sports Complex (Sun.)
(1,000)
The Series
The Jays currently lead the series 67-46. Last season, Creighton took two of three games in Terre Haute, as the Sycamore win in game three snapped an 11-game Creighton win streak in the series. It was also the first time the Jays had not swept the Sycamores in a regular season series since 2005.
The Bluejays have beat Indiana State 12 straight times in Omaha, including a 15-for-16 stretch, dating back to 2002.
The Coaches
Ed Servais (UW-La Crosse, 1981) is in his seventh season at the helm of the Bluejay baseball program in 2009-10. His .648 winning percentage is the best in school history and he has averaged nearly 40 wins a season during his time as head coach. Servais has taken the Jays to two NCAA Tournaments and has won the Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year award three times in his five seasons. His career record stands at 422-212-1, with his Creighton mark standing at 239-130.
Rick Heller (Upper Iowa, 1986) was named the 28th head baseball coach in Indiana State University history. Heller came to Indiana State after spending 10 seasons at Northern Iowa, who dropped their baseball program following the 2009 season. While at UNI, Heller compiled a record of 270-278-1, winning one Missouri Valley Conference championship and NCAA Regional berth. He coached three MVC Most Valuable Players and one MVC Pitcher of the Year. Overall, Heller has a record of 576-479-4.
Scouting The Sycamores
Indiana State is off to a 15-7 start this season, with a 1-2 mark in MVC play after last weekend's series with Illinois State. The Sycamores cruised in their only mid-week game, blasting Chicago State 10-4. They have a plethora of regulars hitting over .300, led by Luke Fieser, who is hitting .393, while Preseason all-Valley selection Ryan Strausborger also has 12 steals. Jason Van Skike is leading the pitching staff, with a 3-0 record and 4.11 ERA. Kevin Mann has four wins out of the bullpen and Tyler Browning has four saves.
Last Time Out
Creighton opened Valley play by taking two of three games from Southern Illinois in Carbondale. The Jays won the first two games by counts of 4-2 and 2-1 but dropped an 11-inning, 5-4 decision in game three. Brandon Koenigstein and Jonas Dufek picked up wins, while Jack VanLeur saved both wins for Creighton.
A Glance At The Series
The Bluejays have controlled the series in recent years, losing only one regular season series to the Sycamores since 1994. Indiana State has won just two series in Omaha, the first coming as a four-game sweep in 1986, followed by two wins in three games in 1992.
Last Year's Meetings
The Jays came away with the series in Terre Haute last year, winning two of three games. The Sycamores went on to win all but one of their remaining Valley series, as they finished second in the regular season standings. Creighton used two late-game rallies to take 7-3 and 9-4 victories in games one and two, before an 8-3 Sycamore win in the finale. The Jays left 11 men on base in the loss.
Bluejays vs. Sycamores
Creighton has played Indiana State nine times since 2007, winning eight. T.J. Roemmich had a fantastic series last year, going 7-for-11 with four doubles. In eight career games, the senior outfielder is hitting .500, with a whopping seven doubles against Sycamore pitching. Jack VanLeur is the only Bluejay hurler to have faced INS before last season, pitching 1.2 innings the last time they were in Omaha.
Player GP-S AVG R AB-H 2B 3B HR RBI SB
T.J. Roemmich 8-6 .500 7 10-20 7 0 0 2 0-0
Robbie Knight 9-9 .375 10 12-32 1 0 0 5 3-3
Ian Dike 3-2 .333 3 2-6 1 0 0 2 0-0
Jimmy Swift 4-3 .300 1 3-10 1 0 0 2 0-0
Elliot Soto 6-5 .250 3 6-24 0 0 0 6 0-2
Carson Vitale 2-2 .167 0 1-6 0 0 0 0 0-0
Scott Thornburg 3-3 .125 3 1-8 0 0 0 1 0-0
Joey Bowens 1-0 .000 0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0-0
Pitcher ERA W-L A-S SV IP R ER BB SO
Matt Patterson 0.00 0-0 2-0 0 3.0 0 0 2 0
Jack VanLeur 1.69 1-0 3-0 0 5.1 1 1 3 2
Bobby Lackovic 4.15 1-0 2-0 0 4.1 2 2 0 6
Jonas Dufek 6.00 0-1 1-1 0 6.0 4 4 2 1
Greg Hellhake 7.36 0-0 1-1 0 3.2 3 3 2 1
Finally A Senior
Ryan Strausborger is the only Sycamore that has faced Creighton every year since 2007. The senior outfielder is a two-time, all-MVC first team selection, and has started all nine games in the series dating back to that 2007 season. Here's how his numbers look against the Jays:
Player GP-S AVG R AB-H 2B 3B HR RBI SB
R. Strausborger 9-9 .306 6 11-36 2 2 1 3 0-1
A Rosenblatt First
Friday's game marks Creighton's first-ever home opener at venerable Rosenblatt Stadium. The Jays will play an all-time most, 11 games at the stadium during the 2010 regular season. Since 1999, Creighton has posted a 27-18 record (.600).
His Swing Doesn't Look Staehel-y
Alex Staehely has finally gotten over a slow start to bolster the bottom of the Creighton lineup. The freshman second baseman currently has an eight-game hitting streak, dating back to March 13. In a 10-game span he has upped his batting average 60 points by batting .351 (13-for-37) after a .120 start.
More recently, Staehely has packed some extra punch into his offensive game, as four of his last six hits have gone for extra-bases. That included a two-double effort in game one of the Southern Illinois doubleheader (3/27), and his first career home run at Illinois-Chicago (3/19).
Dike Stops A Flood of Strikeouts
Ian Dike stood at the plate in the seventh inning of a tie game at Southern Illinois on Friday mired in a slump. The senior had gone 0-for-10 with seven strikeouts, and needed a boost. He did that and more as he laced a double to bring home Jimmy Swift all the way from first for the eventual winning run. Dike followed that by posting hits in his first three at-bats on Saturday. The three hits matched a single game career high.
Not On The Sacks
True to form, Creighton has put down its share of sacrifice bunts this year. Alex Staehely has seen the most bunt signs of any Jay, as he is tied for the national lead in sac bunts (8) and sac bunts per game (.44).
Blemish-Free
Brandon Koenigstein's victory on Saturday clinched the series for Creighton. It also kept the sophomore perfect on his career. Koenigstein is a perfect 8-0 one-third of the way through his second year. He also lowered his career ERA under the 3.00 threshold, sitting at 2.90. He needs 29 more innings to qualify for CU's career ERA list, where he would sit fifth.
Through The Wickets
The Bluejay defense made three errors in Saturday's loss to Southern Illinois, marking the first such occurrence in 2010. Creighton had just three games of three errors or more in both 2009 and 2008; a vast improvement from seven and eight such games in 2007 and 2006 respectively.
Unusual Suspects
In Creighton's three-error game, two errors were made by two steady defenders. Robbie Knight made his first error since April 2008, a stretch spanning 183 chances. Jimmy Swift also made a throwing error, marking his first 'E' since the first game of the season.
No K's For BK
Zero strikeouts over eight innings usually doesn't bode well for any pitcher. Not in Brandon Koenigstein's case. BK allowed just one unearned run in eight innings over two apperances last week. His start at Southern Illinois was super-efficient, as he needed just 75 pitches to get through seven innings.
Two It Is
T.J. Roemmich had another productive week in the middle of the Bluejay lineup. He posted multiple hits in three of four games, and has two hits in five of his last six games. Roemmich hit .412 last week, with three RBI, two doubles, a home run and two stolen bases. Roemmich also had a two-out single in the ninth to send the third SIU game to extra innings.
The Knight Train
Robbie Knight's on-base streak streak reached 25 straight games before ending on Saturday in Carbondale. Knight had reached base in 58 of his last 59 games, and is currently second on the team in on-base percentage with a .425 mark.
We Got Last Ups!
Creighton suffered its third walk-off loss of the season Saturday at Southern Illinois. The Jays have had eight games decided in the last inning and eight, one-run contests this season. They are 4-4 in one-run games and 3-1 when extra baseball is played.
Home Is Where You Make It
The Bluejays made the best of their recent 18-game road trip to stat the season, posting an 10-3 record in true road games thus far. That mark is tied for best in the league with Indiana State.
We Go For Miles And Miles...
Creighton wrapped up its monster road trip last weeekend in Carbondale, Ill. The Jays will have played 18 games over 36 days at road or neutral sites to start the season. Only two other Creighton teams have faced more days on the road to begin a season.
Year # of Games Days Record 1st Home Game
2010 18 36 12-6 April 2
2003 20 40 5-15 March 25
1999 29 58 19-10 April 9
Two-Out Terrors
Several Jays have excelled with two outs. Carson Vitale (7-for-14) and Trever Adams (16-for-35) are leading the team in that category with averages of .500 and .457 respectively. As a team, Creighton is hitting .328 with two outs, while holding opponents to a .263 mark.
Runners On; Balls Are Gone
A telling stat of how important Trever Adams' addition has been, is his average with runners on base. The junior is hitting .467 (21-for-45), to lead a Jay attack that is swinging the bats at a .345 clip in those situations.
Bouncing Back
The Jays have been quick to rebound from losses as of late. Since 2004, Creighton is 78-45 (.634) in games following a loss and have not been below .500 in such games.
Year Record Pct.
2010 4-1 .800
2009 12-12 .500
2008 13-7 .650
2007 11-4 .733
2006 10-10 .500
2005 12-4 .667
2004 16-7 .696
Total 78-45 .634
Catalysts
Getting the lead-off man on is a key to a big inning. Creighton's lead-off men have reached at a .371 clip this season, with six different Jays reaching at over a .400 rate. Those player are: Trever Adams (.400), Clay Cuno (.400), Robbie Knight (.414), Carson Vitale (.438), Elliot Soto (.500), and Ian Dike (.533).
Planes, Buses, Vans And Automobiles
The mileage count clicked to just over 8000 miles after last weekend's road trek to Carbondale. Here's a look at Creighton's travels thus far:
Destination Round Trip
Omaha-Conway, Ark.-Omaha 1170.14 miles
Omaha-Nacogdoches, Texas-Omaha 1548.86 miles
Omaha-Huntsville, Texas 834.48 miles
Huntsville, Texas-Arlington, Texas 188.07 miles
Arlington, Texas-Minneapolis, Minn. 998.12 miles
Minneapolis, Minn.-Omaha 379.25 miles
Omaha-Manhattan, Kan.-Omaha 388.92 miles
Omaha-Chicago-Omaha 937.76 miles
Omaha-Lawrence, Kan.-Omaha 505.22 miles
Omaha-Carbondale, Ill.-Omaha 1057.60 miles
8008.42 miles without a home game
