Baseball Plays at Sacramento State Wednesday Afternoon
3/7/2012 9:17:00 AM | Baseball
Spring Break Trip - California
Creighton (5-4) at Sacramento State (4-7) • March 7
Sacramento State Hornets
www.hornetsports.com
Record: 4-7 Location: Sacramento, Calif. Enrollment: 27,033
Head Coach: Reggie Christiansen
Career Record: 130-187 School Record: 23-46
Assistant Coaches: Tommy Nicholson, Thad Johnson, Jake McKinley
2011 Record: 19-39 • Starters returning/lost: 5/3
* The Bluejays are slated to start Ryan Knott (RHP), making his first appearance on the mound for the Bluejays. Knott came to Creighton for graduate school following completion of his undergrad at Duke.
* Sacramento State will throw Dallas Chadwick (RHP) in the midweek contest. Chadwick has made five appearances this season and holds a 2.70 earned run average and is 1-0 on the year.
* Creighton is hitting .255 as a team, led by senior first baseman Nick Judkins (.395) and freshman Jake Peter (.391).
* Jake Peter also leads the Bluejays in doubles (4), slugging percentage (.565), and on-base percentage (.500).
* Peter had a .700 slugging percentage at UC Davis, with two of his five hits on the weekend being doubles.
* Nick Judkins has had a pair of hits in each of the last four games, driving in a run in each as well. The first baseman is hitting .395, starting all nine games at first base. Judkins was one of four players to start every game last season.
* Judkins finished Tuesday at California 3-5 from the plate with three runs driven in.
* Judkins led the team with six hits at UC Davis, but also led the Bluejays in the field, going perfect in 39 chances.
* The Bluejays have had a different starting lineup in each game this season, with five different batters hitting in the No. 2 spot in the lineup and seven players in the eight hole.
* While the second spot has been different nearly every game, Chance Ross has started all eight games in the leadoff position.
* Ross has a team high eight walks and holds a .467 on-base percentage.
* Chance Ross led off the game at Cal with a triple, scoring the first run of the game in the top of the first inning. He added a single in the second inning as well, scoring both times he was on base.
* Erik Mattingly has made his case for a true utility player; the senior has made starts as the left fielder, designated hitter and appearances as a pinch hitter and on the hill.
* Brennan Murphy leads the team with four stolen bases, a perfect 4-4 on the season. Murphy safely stole a pair of bases against UC Davis. Chance Ross also has stolen a pair of bases successfully this season, making Murphy and Ross the only two players with multiple stolen bases this season.
* The Creighton bullpen has earned four of the five wins on the season, led by Reese McGraw with two, and holds a 3.71 earned run average, compared to the 1-2 record of the Bluejay starters.
* Ty Blach leads all pitchers with 19.1 innings on the mound. In his three starts this season, Blach has thrown at least 5.0 innings in each of his starts, holding a 1.86 earned run average with nine strikeouts on the season.
* Mark Winkelman threw 2.1 innings of scoreless relief at Cal on Tuesday. The southpaw allowed just one hit and struck out two batters.
* Winkelman has now gone three straight outings without allowing a run and surrendering just three hits while striking out four batters. He is 1-0 through the last four games.
* Creighton is outscoring opponents 40-37 on the season, with a 6-0 advantage in the eighth inning.
Meet Creighton
The Bluejays are coming off one of the most successful seasons in school history, finishing 2011 with a 45-16 overall record. Creighton won the Missouri Valley Conference both regular-season and tournament titles in 2011, marking the first time in program history the Jays have claimed both in a single season.
Creighton returns seven starting position players from the squad last season, led by centerfielder Mike Gerber and senior catcher Anthony Bemboom, both which have been tabbed preseason All-MVC. Gerber finished with a .280 average last season, playing flawless defense in center, while Bemboom shot down seven runners attempting to steal and finished 2011 with a .233 average.
Highlighting a deep pitching staff will be junior Ty Blach, who has already picked up preseason All-America nods. The southpaw held a 10-3 record last season, fanning 100 batters in 102.0 innings of work. Out of the pen, which lost just one pitcher from last season (Jack VanLeur), look for Kurt Spomer (13 saves in 2011), Mark Winkelman (35 appearances) and Reese McGraw (35 appearances, 5 saves) to headline one of the deepest staff's in Ed Servais' tenure.
In 2012, the Jays are led offensively by senior Nick Judkins, who has at least two hits in the last four games straight, and has reached base safely in every game this season. Judkins is hitting .395 this season, leading the team with 15 hits and nine runs driven in. Freshman Jake Peter has started the last seven games at second base and is hitting .391 with a team leading four doubles. Erik Mattingly (.375), Chance Ross (.333) and Scott Thornburg (.320) are all hitting above .300 early in the season, helping Creighton to a .255 overall batting average.
On the mound, Ty Blach has remained as good as promised, holding a 1.86 ERA in 19.1 innings of work, tied for the team lead with nine strikeouts on the season. The bullpen, which had surrendered 13 of the 15 runs heading into the weekend series at UC Davis, helped propel the Jays to a pair of wins over UC Davis. Reese McGraw picked up a win and a save on the weekend, throwing 4.1 innings of scoreless relief. The senior leads the team with six appearances and two wins.
Meet Sacramento State
Sacramento State finished the 2011 season with a 19-39 overall record, 6-18 in the Western Athletic Conference for a 7th place finish. Head Coach Reggie Christiansen is in his second year at the helm of the Hornets, who return five starters and 15 letterwinners from last year's team.
The Hornets are off to a 4-7 start in 2012, including winning three straight before a 13-10 loss at Pacific in their game on Tuesday, Feb. 28. They were just swept in a three-game series at No. 24 UCLA over the weekend, falling 5-2, 6-2, and 11-2.
Thirteen different players have made starts for the Hornets, with Andrew Ayers (.268) and Derrick Chung (.250) the only two players who have started all 11 games. Kyle Moses is leading the team offensively, hitting .435, while Thys Hoskins is hitting .429 in eight starts and leads the team with 12 hits. Hoskins, a freshman, exploded offensively against Pacific, hitting a grand slam and solo home run and now leads the team with a pair of round trippers. The Hornes are hitting .262 overall, and 21 of their 97 hits have been for extra bases (14 doubles, three triples, four home runs).
The pitching staff holds a 5.78 ERA and opposing batters are hitting .296 off the staff. R.J. Davis is yet to surrender a run, as the closer has a pair of saves in seven appearances.
Against the Hornets
Creighton and Sacramento State will be meeting for the first time ever next week. Creighton is 17-11 all-time against the Western Athletic Conference, with the most recent meeting coming against Fresno State on 3/11/00, a 5-1 loss at the Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic at Fresno State. Creighton will also meet up with WAC member Louisiana Tech this season, hosting the Bulldogs at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha on March 14.
Meet the Coaches
Creighton: Ed Servais (9th Season): Ed Servais enters his ninth season leading the Creighton baseball program in 2012. He is the winningest coach in program history, surpassing Jack Dahm (283) and Jim Hendry (289) in 2011, when he led his team to a 45-16 overall record, Missouri Valley Conference regular-season and tournament titles and a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007. Servais was named the MVC Coach of the Year following the 2011 season, the fourth time he has earned the award in his eight years at Creighton.
Servais currently holds a .644 winning percentage at the helm of the Jays, the top number in school history. He has taken the Bluejys to three NCAA Tournaments, including 2011. He has also led the Bluejays to an average of 37 wins in each of the last eight seasons.
Servais' tenure has ranked among the best as a Creighton head coach, as he has guided the team to a 304-169 record, placing him second in the Missouri Valley Conference, fifth in the Midwest, and in the top 20 in the nation in winning percentage during that time. The Bluejays are one of just 10 schools in the Midwest to earn five or more NCAA Regional berths in the last 13 years, and one of two in the MVC along with Wichita State. Servais also has led the Jays to the MVC Tournament title in 2007 and regular-season crown in 2005, and both in the 2011 season.
His teams have finished among the nation's best in fielding percentage and sacrifice bunts every season, including 2011, when the Bluejays finished fourth in fielding percentage (.980) and fourth in sacrifice bunts, with 84. Since coming to Creighton, Servais' teams have committed the fewest errors in the nation, while holding a .977 fielding percentage in the last eight seasons, which also leads the country.
Sacramento State: Reggie Christiansen (2nd Season): After spending two seasons as the associate head coach at Sacramento State, Christiansen led the 2011 squad to a 19-39 record in his first season at the helm of Hornet baseball. In total, seven of his players have been drafted, including one who has made it to the Majors.
Prior to coming to Sacramento State, Christiansen spend 2005-08 as the head coach at South Dakota State, leading the team's hitters, recruiting coordinator and third base coach. He was the coach when the Jackrabbits made the switch from Division II to Division I.
Christiansen also coached as an assistant coach at Kansas, breaking several hitting records including setting a school record with 697 hits, as well as at Menlo College.
Christiansen may be best known for the three-game series he coaches at SDSU against Kansas overnight in the Metrodome, playing a doubleheader at 1:30 a.m. due to scheduling changes, and a 3:30 p.m. game the next day.
John Smith Field (Sacramento State): Also named after a former skipper, John Smith Field has seen numerous renovations and additions since its initial building in 1953. It features a newly sodded infield and a new outfield fence.
It's Good to be Back
A Creighton baseball team hasn't made a trip to California since 2000, when the Bluejays took part in the Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic held at Fresno State. In the final year of participation, the Bluejays went 5-1, with wins over Bowling Green (4-1), Temple (15-0), Fresno State (12-3), Gonzaga (11-2), and UNC-Asheville (5-3), before dropping the final game to host Fresno State 5-1.
2x2x2
Nick Judkins put together three four games with a pair of hits and at least one RBI in each. In the three games at UC Davis over the weekend, Judkins had six hits and three runs driven in, while he went 3-5 at Cal and had three RBI. The senior has had multiple hits in six of the nine games this season and has reached base safely in every game thus far.
Does it All
Erik Mattingly has started in five different games this season, and has made appearances in games in four different positions. Mattingly has seen time as the starting left fielder (three games), a pinch hitter (one game), the designated hitter (two games) and has made a pair of appearances on the mound.
Through the first eight games of the season, he is hitting .375 with a .476 on-base percentage, while holding a 3.86 ERA in 2.1 innings of work.
Lights Out
Creighton's bullpen has been dominant on the mound so far this season, holding a 4-1 record and three saves in 34.0 innings of work. Leading the way is Reese McGraw, who has a 0.96 ERA and a 2-1 overall record in 9.1 innings of work. The senior picked up both a win and a save in the three game series at UC Davis.
McGraw Named MVC Pitcher of the Week
Reese McGraw is the second Bluejay pitcher to be named the MVC Pitcher of the week, as Ty Blach earned the honor following the opening weekend of play. The right-handed McGraw picked up his first save of the season in the 7-6 win on Friday, tossing 2.0 scoreless, hitless innings in relief. He struck out a pair of batters and faced just the minimum in his two innings. In the win on Sunday, McGraw threw another 2.1 innings of scoreless baseball, surrendering just two hits and striking out one to pick up his second win of the season (2-1). Overall, McGraw leads the Bluejay pitching staff in wins (2) and appearances (6), and is tied for the lead with nine strikeouts. He is holding opponents to a .194 batting average.
