Baseball Hosts Trio Of Mid-Week Games
4/26/2010 4:30:00 PM | Baseball
Creighton
Baseball Game Notes
Games #34-36 • Air Force (9-30), Iowa (16-21) at Creighton (18-15)
1620 KOZN (Wednesday only)
April 27 (DH) • 1 p.m. • April 28 • 6:30 p.m.
CU Sports Complex (1,000) • Rosenblatt Stadium (23,100)
The Series: Air Force
Creighton holds a commanding lead in the all-time series with Air Force, sporting an 18-4 record. The Jays swept the Falcons in a doubleheader at Rosenblatt Stadium last year by scores of 6-5 and 5-0. The first meeting between the two squads came back in 1970.
The Series: Iowa
Iowa has a slight edge in the all-time series, with a 12-7 record against Creighton. The Jays handled the Hawkeyes last year in Iowa City with a 12-3 victory. The last 10 games between the two schools has been evenly split at 5-5.
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 .638 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 427-221-1, with his Creighton mark standing at 245-139.
Mike Hutcheon (Wayne State, 1984) is in his seventh year as head coach for Air Force baseball. With 14 years of head coaching experience, Hutcheon has amassed a 313-415 career record to go with his 74-275 mark at the Academy. Prior to the Academy, Hutcheon made head coaching stops at Bethel College and Belhaven College.
In six years as Iowa's head baseball coach, Jack Dahm (Creighton, 1989) has established the Hawkeyes as Big Ten contenders and is ready to lead the Iowa baseball program to new heights with his commitment to excellence. In Dahm's 16 years as a head coach, he has produced 24 first team all-conference performers, eight freshmen All-Americans and two All-Americans. In his six years at Iowa, Dahm has coached 24 all-Big Ten selections, including eight first teamers. Iowa had only four first team selections in the previous 14 years before his arrival in Iowa City.
Scouting The Falcons
The Falcons have been a solid offensive club this season, posting a .306 team average with 35 home runs. It's on the mound where they have struggled. The Falcons have a team ERA of 10.86, with their lowest ERA on staff sitting at 9.47. Blair Roberts leads the offense with a .353 average, with Garrett Custons not far behind at .345 (with 14 steals). The man to watch is Matt Alexander, who was a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and a first team All-American last season.
Scouting The Hawkeyes
Iowa is right in the middle of a Big Ten logjam in which the first and last place teams are separated by just three games. The Hawks have four regulars hitting over .300. That list includes Zach McCool (.370), Kurtis Muller (.367), Mike McQuillan (.318) and Phil Keppler (.311). The pitching staff has an ERA of 6.31, but is led by Jarren Hippen. Hippen is Iowa's No. 1 starter, and has posted a 3.46 ERA with a 3-3 record in 11 starts.
Last Time Out
Creighton couldn't win its third straight Valley road series to start the season, as Missouri State took two-of-three games from the Jays in Springfield, Mo. The Jays lost two, one-run games in a Sunday doubleheader after Saturday's contest was rained out.
A Glance At The Series: Air Force
Creighton is 4-0 against Air Force in the Ed Servais era. The Jays won single contests in 2004 and 2006 by scores of 13-8 and 9-2 before last season's doubleheader sweep. The last three-game series against the Falcons was in 1999 under current Iowa head coach Jack Dahm. The Jays swept the Falcons in Colorado, scoring 65 total runs in the series. The third game of that series featured a total of 47 runs, in a 31-16 Creighton win.
A Glance At The Series: Iowa
The Iowa-Creighton rivalry was renewed in 2008 after a 10-year hiatus. Creighton took an 8-3 defeat in that game, but retaliated with a 12-3 victory in Iowa City last season. That beating was the largest margin of victory in series history. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the two have played five, one-run games, with Iowa winning four.
Last Year's Meetings
Creighton went a combined 3-0 against Air Force and Iowa in 2009. The Air Force doubleheader saw T.J. Roemmich's three-run, first inning homer lead the Jays to victory in game one, while game two saw Elliot Soto put up two hits, and Matt Patterson and Otto Roberts combine to shut out the Falcons.
Three runs in the third and four in the fourth paced the Jays in their win over Iowa. Robbie Knight, Elliot Soto and Roemmich all had three hits, with Knight posting three RBI, and Roemmich knocking in four
Bluejays vs. Falcons & Hawkeyes
Here are current Bluejays' results against Air Force last year:
Player GP-S AVG R AB-H 2B 3B HR RBI SB
Elliot Soto 2-2 .429 2 3-7 0 0 0 0 0-0
T.J. Roemmich 2-2 .400 3 2-5 0 0 1 5 0-1
Robbie Knight 2-2 .333 1 2-6 0 0 0 1 0-0
Jimmy Swift 2-2 .286 2 2-7 0 0 0 1 0-0
Ian Dike 2-2 .200 1 1-5 0 0 0 0 0-0
Scott Thornburg 1-1 .000 0 0-3 0 0 0 0 0-0
Carson Vitale 1-1 .000 0 0-2 0 0 0 0 0-0
Zane Hinkel 1-0 .000 0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0-0
Pitcher ERA W-L A-S SV IP R ER BB SO
Matt Patterson 0.00 0-0 1-0 0 1.2 0 0 0 2
Jack VanLeur 0.00 0-0 1-0 1 0.1 0 0 0 0
B. Koenigstein 3.38 1-0 1-0 0 2.2 1 1 2 0
Mike Nihsen 13.50 0-0 1-1 0 2.2 4 4 1 1
Here are current Bluejays' results against the Hawkeyes:
Player GP-S AVG R AB-H 2B 3B HR RBI SB
Zane Hinkel 1-0 1.000 1 1-1 0 0 0 0 0-0
Ian Dike 1-1 .500 0 2-4 1 0 0 0 0-0
T.J. Roemmich 2-2 .429 1 3-7 0 0 1 4 0-0
Robbie Knight 2-2 .333 2 3-9 2 0 0 4 1-1
Elliot Soto 2-2 .333 2 3-9 0 0 0 1 1-1
Jimmy Swift 2-1 .200 0 1-5 0 0 0 0 1-1
Carson Vitale 1-0 .200 1 1-5 0 0 0 0 0-0
Scott Thornburg 1-1 --- 0 0-0 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 3 0 0 4
Bobby Lackovic 0.00 0-0 1-0 0 2.0 1 0 0 0
Mike Nihsen 0.00 0-0 1-0 0 1.0 0 0 0 1
Jack VanLeur 0.00 0-0 1-0 0 1.0 0 0 0 0
B. Koenigstein 3.00 1-0 1-1 0 6.0 3 2 1 1
T.J. Roemmich 13.50 0-1 1-1 0 2.0 3 3 0 2
Dahm-It!
Another former Creighton son will return to Omaha. Iowa head coach Jack Dahm spent 17 years at Creighton as a player, assistant coach and head coach. He was an assistant on the Bluejays 1991 College World Series team, and took over as head coach in 1994. Dahm finished his 10-year term at the helm with a 283-276-2 record, while boasting two All-Americans (Ryan Gripp and Peyton Lewis) and seven freshman All-Americans (Matt Buckingham, Steve Grasley, Tony Roth, Scott Yahraus, Drue Councill, Chad Meyers and Brian Smith).
Is It Friday Yet?
Creighton won its series opener on April 23 at Missouri State. It marked the seventh Friday win of the season for the Bluejays, as they have posted a 7-2 mark on the day this season. They have taken the first lead in all but two of those contests, winning one and losing one.
Du It Again
Jonas Dufek turned in another stellar performance in his April 23 pitching win in Springfield. Dufek earned his sixth win of the season, becoming the first right handed starter since Eric Wordekemper in 2005 to reach the six-win mark.
Saving Some Bullets
Getting back to Dufek, he used just 84 pitches to get through that win at Missouri State. That mark was the second-fewest of any Creighton pitcher this season throwing seven or more innings. Brandon Koenigstein holds the low-water mark at 75 pitches in seven innings at Southern Illinois on March 27.
Plenty of Gas In The Tank
Freshman phenom Ty Blach suffered a tough loss in game one of CU's April 25 doubleheader at Missouri State. Blach hurled Creighton's first complete game of the season while only allowing two earned runs. Unfortunately, he gave up three more unearned runs to take the one-run loss. Blach also gave up his first home runs and triple of his young career.
Whiff Master
Speaking of Blach, he is nearing elite company in Creighton history. The southpaw will need 20 strikeouts to be counted in the top-five in CU history in strikeouts by a freshman. The all-time leader is Drue Councill with 77. Behind him is former major leaguer, Alan Benes, with 75.
So, So, Good
Elliot Soto has rejuvenated his season with a recent hot streak. The junior shortstop has hit safely in Creighton's last seven games, going 16-for-31 in those games, with six multi-hit games. Soto has also seen marked improvement since taking over the lead-off spot from injured Robbie Knight. In the last 14 games Soto has led-off, he is hitting .316 with a team-best 17 runs and 18 hits. His overall batting average has risen 33 points in that time.
Scoreless Run Ends For Lackovic
Bobby Lackovic had been Creighton's most effective reliever for the last few weeks, hurling scoreless inning after scoreless inning. Unfortunately for him and the rest of the Jays, that run came to an end on Sunday. Lackovic gave-up the game winning home run in game two at Missouri State, ending a stretch of 10 scoreless outings that spanned 10.2 innings.
