Series: Indiana State wins, 2-1
- Indiana State 8, Creighton 5
- Indiana State 5, Creighton 3
- Creighton 7, Indiana State 6
Creighton: 13-8, 3-3 MVC (T-4th)
Rosenblatt Stadium ceases its beer sales sometime before the eighth inning. I know this because I was unable to purchase a beer in the eighth inning, neither on Friday nor on Saturday. What follows is basically an explanation of this.
On both of those nights, playing Indiana State (17-8, 3-3 MVC) in the first games of The Blatt’s final season, the Creighton baseball team got seven great innings from its starting pitcher. The outings had both been so good, in fact, that Creighton head coach Grady Little… err… Ed Servais decided to send the starters back out to the mound for the eighth.
On Friday, facing a 2-1 deficit, junior Jonas Dufek struck out the first batter of the eighth before giving up a single, throwing a wild pitch and serving up an RBI triple. He was relieved by junior Jack VanLeur, but the bullpen gave up five more runs before the inning was over and some late offense from the Jays wasn’t enough in the 8-5 loss.
On Saturday, sophomore Brandon Koenigstein took a 3-1 lead into the eighth. He allowed a single to the lead-off man, got the next guy to fly out, and then gave up a two-run, game-tying homer to Indiana State’s Ryan Strausborger (who, apparently isn’t a fire-throwing rookie pitcher for the Washington Nationals). VanLeur got out of the inning, but Creighton couldn’t take advantage of two base runners in the ninth and lost 5-3 in ten innings.
I think it’s pretty easy to see why one may have needed an eighth-inning fresh one.
An uncharacteristically shaky bullpen and a (seemingly characteristic, unfortunately) lack of timely hitting cost the Jays the first two games, and the bullpen let down again in the series finale at the CU Sports Complex on Easter Sunday. This time, however, the bats came through late.
Creighton freshman starting pitcher Ty Blach gave up three runs in eight innings and left it up to the relievers with a 6-3 lead, but senior Matt Patterson and VanLeur combined to give up three runs and the lead. Freshman second baseman Alex Staehley led off the bottom of the inning with a double. Junior shortstop Elliot Soto was intentionally walked and sophomore Zane Hinkel, playing right field, laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both the runners over. After the Sycamores intentionally walked junior left fielder Trever Adams, senior cleanup hitter T.J. Roemmich, ripped a single through the right side for the walk-off RBI single.
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- From what I can tell from listening to games on the radio and watching little, floating, lego-looking guys on my computer screen, Staehley, batting in the nine hole, has been the Jays’ hottest hitter of late. Oh, and “stats” verify my observation, which is always nice. The freshman from Sugar Grove, Ill., who has started every game at second base, began his career with only one hit in his first 17 at bats. But he is hitting a team-leading .474 in six conference games with four doubles, also tops on the team, and is in the middle of an 11-game hitting streak.
- Senior Ian Dike, finally getting a shot at first base after four-year started Darin Ruf was taken in the Major League Baseball draft by the Philadelphia Phillies, busted out of a slump this weekend by going 4-11 with a home run and a double. He also made several nice plays in the field and has proved to be very solid defensively all year, replacing Ruf’s two gold gloves.
- Senior center fielder Robbie Knight was pinch-hit for in Sunday’s finale. He has been bothered most of the year by a slight hamstring pull. Roemmich moved to center field and Hinkel, subbing for Knight, played right field. In his second at-bat, Hinkel blasted his first-career homer, a two-run shot over the 20-foot fence in left-center field that cut Indiana State’s lead to 3-2 in the sixth inning.
- Rob Anderson, Creighton’s splendid sports information director, told me on Friday that the Jays used to play their soccer games at Rosenblatt Stadium. I did not know that. If you did not know that, now you do and you can cross today off your “learn something new everyday” list. You’re welcome, I suppose.
Creighton travels to Lincoln on Tuesday for its first in-state rivalry game with Nebraska. The game will start at 6:30 p.m. at Nebraska’s Haymarket Park. Tickets are quite available and it’s supposed to be a particularly lovely evening (and by that, I mean it might rain and thunderstorm).
The Jays are then back at Rosenblatt on Wednesday for a 6:30 p.m. game against Kansas, and they will face Valley foe Illinois State in a three-game series at the CU Sports Complex Friday-Sunday.
