Six Baseball Players Pick Up MVC All-Conference Honors; Ed Servias Valley Coach of the Year
5/23/2011 9:31:00 PM | Baseball
OMAHA, Neb. - Six Bluejays were awarded Missouri Valley Conference all-conference honors on Monday at the pre-tournament banquet. Jimmy Swift (shortstop), Trever Adams (outfield) and Jonas Dufek (starting pitcher) were all named first team all-conference, while Mike Gerber (outfield), Ty Blach (starting pitcher) and Kurt Spomer (relief pitcher) all picked up second team honors. Bluejays head coach Ed Servais was named the 2011 Coach of the Year, guiding the Jays to a 39-13 overall record and the first MVC regular season title since 2005. It marks the fourth time Servais has received the award in the eight years he has been at Creighton, tied for second-most in league history.
Swift has now started 161 consecutive games while in the Bluejays program, holding down the left side of the infield. Swift started the first three seasons of his career playing the hot corner at third base before making the switch to shortstop this season. Swift is hitting .279 this season with 10 doubles and three home runs. The everyday shortstop for the Jays has been named the MVC Scholar Athlete of the Week for his work on the field and in the classroom on Feb. 23 and was also named the MVC Player of the Week on May 2, following the Bradley series when he finished 7-for-13 with 10 runs driven in. Swift leads the team in hit by pitch this season (10) while holding a .957 fielding percentage. He holds a .291 lifetime batting average while at Creighton.
Adams has been the offensive leader for the Jays this season, scattering his name all over the Creighton record books. The pre-season all-Valley pick leads the team with a .399 batting average this season, including 13 doubles and a MVC leading 14 home runs. He currently sits in 4th on the Creighton all-time charts in career slugging percentage (.669), 5th in career batting average (.377), 10th in slugging percentage in a season (.709) and tied for 10th in home runs in a season with 14. The everyday right fielder has put together hit streaks of 10, 18 and 16 games this season, as well as reaching base safely in the last 35 straight games. Adams was named the MVC Player of the Week on March 14. Adams was a 2010 all-MVC honorable mention as well as all-MVC Tournament Team a season ago. He is currently a semi-finalist for the Dick Howser trophy, an award given to the top player in collegiate baseball.
Dufek has put together the best season of his Bluejay career, holding a 9-1 record with 105 strikeouts in 93 innings of work. He is the first Bluejay since 1999 with more than 102 strikeouts in a season. Dufek threw a complete game against Valparaiso earlier this season, earning him MVC Player of the Week honors after striking out a career high 13 batters, finishing the game in an hour and 25 minutes. The Omaha native has recorded 10 or more strikeouts in a game four times this season and has struck out at least four batters in each start this season. Dufek sits in a tie for 5th with 21 career wins as a Bluejay, 6th in strikeouts in a season (105), 9th for innings pitched in a career (254.1) and 9th in career strikeouts with 221.
Gerber picks up his first Valley honors, as the true freshman has started 41 of the 43 games he has played in this season, holding a .285 batting average. He picked up Creighton's first inside-the-park home run since 2008, when he accomplished the feat at Wichita State on May 7, 2011. Gerber has scored 19 runs while driving in 21 RBI and has also stolen six bases in his rookie campaign. Gerber has hit six home runs, seven doubles and is tied for the team lead with three triples. Gerber picked up the first RBI in TD Ameritrade Park Omaha history, driving a single through the infield to score Trever Adams in the opening game on April 19.
Blach is the first pitcher in the MVC to reach 10 wins this season, holding a 10-1 record in his 16 starts this season. The 2010 Freshman All-American has thrown 89.2 innings this season, giving up just 24 earned runs and holding a 2.41 ERA. He struck out a career high nine batters against Southern Illinois earlier this season, besting his previous best of eight set on March 11 with the win over South Dakota State. Blach has earned the MVC Scholar Athlete of the Week award three times this season for his work on the mound and in the classroom. Blach was the first starting pitcher in TD Ameritrade Park Omaha history, throwing 1.0 innings in the 2-1 loss at Nebraska. His 2.73 career ERA is the second-best in school history by a pitcher who has pitched for two or more years and thrown 100 or more innings.
Spomer has moved into Creighton's closer this season, picking up 10 saves, the most by a Bluejay since Andy Masten had 16 in 2007 for the Jays. He 10 saves are the most by a junior in Creighton history for one season. In 42.1 innings of work this season, the junior owns a 2.13 ERA and has struck out 32. He holds a 2-0 record while at home this season, picking up five saves, including two in the series with Missouri State that gave the Bluejays their first conference title since 2005. Spomer was named the MVC Pitcher of the Week on April 11, after picking up two wins and a save in MVC competition that week.
Creighton enters the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament as the number one seed, winning the regular season for the first time since 2005. Creighton holds a 39-13 overall record, 15-6 in the Valley with an RPI of 40. A win in the tournament will give the Jays the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, the sixth time in school history, first since 2007. If the Jays do not win the tournament, they will need to hope for an at-large bid for the tournament. The 2005 team earned an at-large bid after winning the regular season but falling to Wichita State in the finals.
First Team All-Conference
1B - Johnny Coy, Wichita State
2B - Kevin Medrano, Missouri State
3B - Ryan Court, Illinois State
SS - Jimmy Swift, Creighton
C - Chris O'Brien, Wichita State
DH - Preston Springer, Wichita State
UT - Cody Fick, Evansville
OF - Trever Adams, Creighton
OF - Tyler McNeely, Illinois State
OF - Robby Ort, Indiana State
SP - Jonas Dufek, Creighton
SP - Cody Forsythe, Southern Illinois
SP - Charlie Lowell, Wichita State
RP - Dan Kickham, Missouri State
RP - Kenny Long, Illinois State
Second Team All-Conference
2B - Trentt Copeland, Evansville
SS - Tyler Grimes, Wichita State
C - Jeremy Lucas, Indiana State
DH - Brock Chaffin, Missouri State
UT - Luke Voit, Missouri State
OF - Mike Gerber, Creighton
OF - Jordan Siversten, Southern Illinois
OF - Mike Tauchman, Bradley
SP - Joe Bircher, Bradley
SP - Ty Blach, Creighton
SP - Nick Petree, Missouri State
RP - Kurt Spomer, Creighton
RP - Cale Elam, Wichita State
Honorable Mention
Kevin Tokarski, Illinois State
Jason Leblebijian, Bradley
Brad Kimball, Bradley
Jared Baehl, Evansville
Greg Wallace, Evansville
JD Learnard, Illinois State
Corey Maines, Illinois State
Justin Hauer, Illinois State
Player of the Year: Chris O'Brien, Wichita State
Pitcher of the Year: Charlie Lowell, Wichita State
Newcomer of the Year: Dan Kickham, Missouri State
Freshman of the Year: Nick Petree, Missouri State
Coach of the Year: Ed Servais, Creighton
