Baseball Hosts Xavier in Home BIG EAST Opening Series
4/9/2015 11:10:00 AM | Baseball
OMAHA, Neb. - Looking for both a little revenge as well as a strong start to the BIG EAST schedule, the Creighton Baseball squad faces Xavier in a three game series beginning Friday, April 10 at 6:30 pm.
Xavier at Creighton
April 10 @ 6:30 pm
April 11 @ 2:00 pm
April 12 @ 1:00 pm
Creighton Leads Series, 5-2
Media Coverage
Radio: 1620 - http://player.streamtheworld.com/_players/nrgmedia/player_gla1.php?callsign=KOZNAM
Webstream ($): http://www.gocreighton.com/liveEvents/liveEvents.dbml
Stats: http://creighton.statbroadcast.com
Creighton vs. Xavier Series:
The Musketeers and Bluejays have met seven times previously, including five times last season. Creighton has won five of the seven meetings, but the Musketeers claimed the most important matchup in the BIG EAST Tournament championship game last season. This series will be the first time the Musketeers have come to Omaha.
1984
3/9 ^ vs. Xavier W 12-0
^ = Played in Miami, Florida
1998
3/7 ^ vs. Xavier W 9-5
^ = Played in Jacksonville, Florida
2014
5/15 at Xavier L 4-9
5/16 at Xavier W 7-2
5/17 at Xavier W 7-6 (12)
5/22 $ vs. Xavier W 9-2
5/24 $ vs. Xavier L 0-5
$ = BIG EAST Tournament in Brooklyn, N.Y.
About Xavier
- Located in Cincinnati, Ohio
- Xavier has an enrollment of 6,650.
- Known as the Musketeers.
- Xavier finished 2014 with an 30-29 record and an 8-10 mark in the BIG EAST.
- The fourth seed in the 2014 BIG EAST Tournament, Xavier dropped the first game to Creighton. The Musketeers went on to win three consecutive elimination games against St. John's, Seton Hall and finally the championship game with the Bluejays.
- Xavier went 1-2 in the NCAA Tournament last season.
- The Musketeers were picked to finish fourth in the preseason BIG EAST poll.
Xavier Head Coach Scott Googins
- In his 10th season at the helm for the Musketeers, Googins has Xavier off to an 8-23 start in 2015.
- Over his career Googins has a 268-285 record, all at Xavier.
Scouting the Musketeers (8-23, 0-3 BIG EAST)
After taking the conference's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament last season, Xavier has struggled through the non-conference portion of the schedule. The Musketeers, however, opened the season at 4-4 including a 2-1 win over #12 Louisville. Xavier bested the Cardinals' ace Kyle Funkhouser in the win. Follwing that win the Muskeeteers lost nine straight.
The Musketeers have dropped their last five games coming into the weekend, Xavier's midweek battle with Ball State on Tuesday was cancelled.
As a team Xavier enters the weekend hitting .240, led by leadoff hitter Nate Soria (.307). The second leading hitter for the Musketeers is Daniel Rizzie (.275).
On the mound Xavier has a team ERA of 4.79, including 142 walks in 264.2 innings. The Musketeers average just over 4.5 walks per game and just under seven strikeouts per contest (6.84).
One area the Musketeers will challenge Creighton with is their team speed, Xavier has 46 stolen bases this season. Xavier has been cut down 11 times trying to steal.
Scouting the Bluejays (2015: 17-9, 2-1 BIG EAST)
The Bluejays took two of three back and forth games at Georgetown last weekend as Creighton looks to defend the regular season BIG EAST title the Bluejays won in 2014.
Junior Reagan Fowler leads the Bluejays with a .347 average, but sophomore Daniel Woodrow has been blazing at the top of the order (.327). As a team the Bluejays are hitting .257 on the season.
Creighton has been forced to be creative on the bump as the top two starters to begin the season (Jack Rogalla and Matt Warren) missed the Georgetown series due to injuries. In addition the Bluejays' top two relievers at the opening of 2015 (Mark Lukowski and Max Ising) have also spent time off the field with injuries.
Despite the revolving door, head coach Ed Servais has found a consistent closer and setup man in David Gerber (five saves) and Ethan DeCaster (1.29 ERA in 14.0 IP).
As a unit the Bluejays have a 3.40 ERA with 100 walks and 159 strikeouts in 235.2 innings in 2015.
Highberger's Dream was Hoyas Nightmare
Faced with a dream scenario of the bases loaded and two outs in a one-run game on Saturday, April 4, junior Nick Highberger went right after Georgetown's A.C. Carter.
To the Hoyas first baseman's credit he fouled off two pitches then took a ball. Staring in at a 1-2 count, Highberger won the battle and the game with a ball down the middle that caught Carter looking to preserve a 4-3 win for Creighton Baseball on Saturday, April 4.
Up 4-1 with three outs remaining, freshman Ethan DeCaster retired the first Hoyas hitter of the ninth on a harmless fly ball to left. After a walk, head coach Ed Servais went to the bullpen for closer David Gerber.
Having already worked a scoreless inning in the first game of the doubleheader, Gerber was not as sharp as usual. A Georgetown single put runners at first and second, then Gerber allowed just his second walk of the season to load the bags. The walk to pinch-hitter, Alex Bernauer, came on just four pitches and caused Servais to go to the pen again for Highberger.
Michael Derenzi fouled off the first four pitches Highberger threw, then reached on an infield single to make it 4-2. Two pitches later Highberger got Jake Kuzbel to tap into an RBI ground out to first then issued an intentional pass to Nick Collins to load the bags once more.
Hey Hey BIG EAST, Lets Play Two
In just over one season as members of the BIG EAST conference, the Creighton Bluejays have already played three doubleheaders (2014: Georgetown & Butler, 2015: Georgetown). Creighton also played two games against St. John's last season on May 11 as the second game was suspended by rain. During those eight contests the Bluejays are 8-0. Mind you Creighton has played just 21 BIG EAST games.
Approaching 100 in TD Ameritrade Park Omaha
Creighton Baseball is approaching its 100th game in TD Ameritrade Park Omaha (TDAPO) as the win over Stetson on Sunday, March 29 was the Bluejays 98th game at TDAPO.
Barring a cancellation, the 100th game will be on Saturday, April 11 against Xavier at 2:00 pm. The facility opened in April of 2011.
2011: 14-4
2012: 11-13
2013: 15-6
2014: 17-7
2015: 8-3
Overall: 65-33
To Beat the Bluejays in BIG EAST Play, You'll Need to Do It Early
In its second season as a member of the BIG EAST Conference, Creighton is showing signs of a great pitcher. That is, to get to the Bluejays you must do so early. Over seven BIG EAST series the Bluejays are 2-5 in the series opening game. Creighton, however, is 14-0 in games two and three.
BIG EAST Series
Game 1: 2-5
Game 2: 7-0
Game 3: 7-0
Bluejays Began March Like a Canary (Lamb), closed Like an Owl (Lion)
Creighton kicked off March looking like a team that preferred to be flying south with four straight losses. The Bluejays, however, found their balance with 10 wins in the final 12 games of the month.
Unfinished Business with Xavier
Creighton enters the weekend with a little added incentive for the series with the Musketeers as Xavier ended the Bluejays' season in 2014. Coming into the BIG EAST Tournament championship game with two victories and zero losses the Bluejays dropped a 5-0 decision to Xavier. The winning pitcher in that game was Trent Astle, who has been the game three starter for the Musketeers this season.
Bluejays Living Next Man Up
The 2015 season has provided a series of unexpected opportunities for the Creighton pitching staff. Consider that the projected rotation on opening day was:
Game 1 starter: Jack Rogalla
Game 2 starter: Matt Warren
Game 3 starter: Tommy Strunc
Setup Men: Mark Lukowski, Nick Highberger & John Oltman.
Closer: Max Ising
Last weekend that rotation looked like this:
Game 1 starter: Rollie Lacy
Game 2 starter: Keith Rogalla
Game 3 starter: Jeff Albrecht
Setup Men: Nick Highberger & Ethan DeCaster.
Closer: David Gerber
