Creighton University
Nebraska
Softball Welcomes Nebraska For Tuesday Night Contest
4/8/2019 5:00:00 PM | Softball
Bluejays seek to snap six-game losing streak
Up Next
Creighton hosts in-state rival Nebraska on Tuesday night for a midweek matchup.
Game Schedule
Game #29 • Tuesday, April 9 • Nebraska at Creighton • 6 p.m.
Follow The Games
A live stream for Tuesday's game will be available via GoCreighton.com/Watch.
Live stats will be available for the game via StatBroadcast.com.
Links to the live stats and video can be found on the Creighton Softball schedule page.
Scoring updates and infographics will be provided via Twitter at @BluejaySoftball.
Up Next
Creighton hosts in-state rival Nebraska on Tuesday night for a midweek matchup.
Scouting Creighton (11-17)
The Bluejays enter Tuesday's matchup on a six-game losing streak and have won only twice during their past 10 games.
Freshman Kiara Mills leads Creighton and ranks sixth in the BIG EAST with a .361 batting average and third in the league with a .721 slugging percentage. Mills is tied for the team lead in home runs (5) and RBIs (19).
Mileah McKelvy also has five long balls while hitting .282 and Kelli Finan owns 19 RBIs to go along with four doubles and three homers.
Lead-off hitter and center fielder Ashley Cantu ranks eighth in the BIG EAST with a .353 batting average and is fourth in on-base percentage (.471). The junior paces the Bluejays in hits (30), runs scored (19) and walks (19). Cantu has reached base in 16 straight games entering Tuesday and is on a Bluejay season-best eight-game hitting streak.
Creighton owns a .266 team-batting average and averages 4.86 runs per game.
Logan Black paces the Bluejay pitching staff with 77.0 innings pitched (16 appearances). She ranks eighth in the BIG EAST with 62 strikeouts and owns a 4.09 ERA.
Laura Roecker also claims a 4.09 ERA and leads Creighton with 17 appearances, including 11 times in relief (53.0 innings pitched).
Kiele Miller ranks 10th nationally with 10.1 strikeouts per seven innings (61 in 42.1 innings) and leads the BIG EAST with a .213 batting average against but has not pitched since March 23.
Head coach Brent Vigness, Creighton's winningest coach across all sports, is in his 26th season at the helm of the Bluejays.
Scouting Nebraska (13-22)
The Cornhuskers started the season 10-6, but have won just three of their last 19 games.
Nebraska endured a 12-game losing streak during the month of March.
Tristen Edwards leads the Huskers in nearly every offensive statistical category, including average (.337), hits (32), runs (25), homers (13), RBIs (33), walks (21), on-base percentage (.475), slugging percentage (.800) and stolen bases (tied) (9). Her home run total (13) leads the Big Ten and ranks 17th nationally.
Edwards is the only Nebraska player hitting above .300 as the team owns a .255 team-batting average.
Courtney Wallace leads the Big Ten with four triples. Nine of Wallace's 15 hits during her freshman campaign are for extra-bases (4 triples, 3 doubles, 2 home runs).
Alyvia Simmons is tied with Edwards for the team-lead in steals with nine and is second on the team with 20 runs scored.
Nebraska has stolen 49 bases in 56 attempts to rank third in the Big Ten and in the top-60 nationally with 1.40 steals per game.
Regan Mergele paces the Husker pitching staff with a 4.17 ERA during 50.1 innings of work, while Lindsey Walljasper leads the team in appearances (21), starts (12), innings pitched (71.2), strikeouts (62) and victories (7).
Head coach Rhonda Revelle is in her 27th season at the helm of the Huskers. Revelle is Nebraska's winningest coach across all sports with 981 victories.
Series History Against Huskers
Nebraska leads the all-times series against Creighton, 85-37.
The Huskers own the last six victories in the series, including a 6-2 win in Lincoln last season.
Creighton's last win against Nebraska came on April 25, 2012 in Omaha by the score of 2-1.
Coaches With Winning Experience
Creighton head coach Brent Vigness and Nebraska head coach Rhonda Revelle own a combined 1,905 victories.
Vigness owns the most wins of any Creighton head coach in school history (768 in 26 seasons), while Revelle is the winningest coach in the history of Husker athletics (981 wins in 27 seasons).
Vigness also claimed 148 victories during five seasons at Assumption College (Worcester, Massachusetts), and Revelle tallied eight during one year at Nebraska Wesleyan.
Home-Grown Talent
A combined 20 players on Tuesday's rosters hail from the state of Nebraska.
Creighton has 11 players from Nebraska, while the Huskers have nine.
Of the 20, 12 individuals are from the Omaha metro area, including eight that played at two high schools in the Millard School District.
Creighton's Sam Alm, Mikaela Pechar and Logan Black each played at Millard West, while Nebraska's Rylie Unzicker, Payton Huscroft, Madi Unzicker and Peyton Glatter played for Millard South.
CU Sports Complex Turns Into Launching Pad
Creighton and South Dakota combined for seven home runs during the Bluejays' home-opener on March 27, and St. John's and Creighton combined for nine homers during a three-game series in Omaha (April 6-7).
The Bluejays own seven home runs through four games played at home, compared to only 14 during 24 contests played away from Omaha.
A total of 47 home runs were hit during 19 Creighton games played at the Creighton Sports Complex in 2018, which is the most during the past 10 seasons. The Bluejays hit 25, while opponents had 22.
Creighton hit a program-record six home runs against UMKC at home on April 17, and the two teams combined for 10 homers.
During the past 10 seasons, the most home runs Creighton has hit during a single season at home is 26 (2010).
During the 2015 season, 41 home runs were hit during the span of 13 games, but 25 of those were hit by the opposition, which is the most during the past 10 seasons.
Here's a look at the home runs totals at the CU Sports Complex during the past 10 years:
HRs (CU HRs) Number of Games Year
16 (7) 4 2019
47 (25) 19 2018
29 (13) 12 2017
26 (9) 15 2016
41 (16) 13 2015
29 (17) 15 2014
20 (13) 14 2013
34 (20) 16 2012
26 (12) 14 2011
42 (26) 19 2010
Creighton's hit 37 home runs overall last season, the most since the team hit 42 in 2014. The program record for home runs in a season is 66, which was set during 2010. The Bluejays have hit more than 30 home runs 13 different times in program history (each time since 2001).
Creighton's Close Contests
Since March 17, Creighton has played eight games decided by two or less runs including seven during BIG EAST play. The Bluejays are 1-7 during those contests with all seven losses coming in league games.
Creighton is 3-9 overall (0-7 in BIG EAST play) during games decided by two runs or less this season.
The Bluejays' last victory during a game decided by two runs or less came on March 17, a 1-0 win against South Dakota State.
Roecker In Relief
Senior Laura Roecker leads the Bluejays with 17 appearances, including 11 in relief. She owns a 3.11 ERA during 27.0 innings of relief work and holds the opposition to a .208 batting average. Comparatively, during her six starts this season Roecker has allowed 19 earned runs in 26.0 innings (5.12 ERA).
The senior pitched 7.1 innings of relief during Creighton's extra-inning loss against Providence on March 30. She posted five consecutive scoreless innings before the Friars tallied the winning run during the 12th inning.
Roecker faced only 16 batters while not allowing a hit or run during 5.0 innings of relief during Creighton's trip to Carbondale, Illinois (Feb. 22-24).
She hit one batter but did not allow a hit or run and left three runners stranded in 2.0 frames while earning the victory against Saint Louis (Feb. 22).
The UNO transfer also walked one and struck out two while not allowing a hit or run during 3.0 innings against Southern Illinois (Feb. 24) to earn her first save as a Bluejay.
Recent Power Surge
Creighton hit only four home runs during the first 18 games of the season, but the Bluejays have launched 16 homers during their past 10 games, including 10 during nine BIG EAST games.
Kiara Mills and Mileah McKelvy each have five home runs to pace the Bluejays. All five of Mills' homers have occurred during the past three weeks, including two at home against South Dakota (March 27) and two in the
conference opener against Georgetown (March 23). McKelvy moved into a tie with Mills for the team lead with a pinch-hit three-run homer on Sunday against St. John's.
Kelli Finan has three, Ashley Cantu has two inside-the-park home runs and Mikaela Pechar owns two.
Creighton Ties Program Record For Homers
The Bluejays hit six home runs on March 27 against South Dakota to tie a program record.
Creighton set its single-game record for homers in a game with six last season against UMKC (April 17).
Kiara Mills hit two long balls on Wednesday against the Coyotes, Ashley Cantu tallied an inside-the-park homer and Mileah McKelvy, Kelli Finan and Mikaela Pechar each launched one.
RPI Update
Creighton is ranked No. 210 in the latest RPI, released by the NCAA on Monday (297 Division I schools ranked). Nebraska is listed at No. 100.
The Bluejays own the sixth-best RPI among BIG EAST teams.
BIG EAST Teams in Division I RPI
97. DePaul
116. St. John's
124. Providence
135. Villanova
178. Seton Hall
210. Creighton
217. Butler
234. Georgetown
