When last we saw the Creighton baseball team, the Bluejays beat Georgia in the first game of the NCAA Tournament Corvallis Regional before losing to Oregon State and the Bulldogs. The NCAA Tournament appearance was the first for the Bluejays since 2007. The 2012 Creighton baseball team begins its defense of last season’s Missouri Valley Conference regular season and tournament championships this weekend, when the Jays start their season at Central Arkansas.
WBR will preview Ed Servais’ 2012 squad all week, beginning with the pitching staff.
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Creighton’s 3.35 team ERA in 2011 was the program’s best mark in the past 10 seasons. The improvement of Ed Servais’ pitching staff from 2010 to 2011 was a primary reason the Bluejays claimed the Missouri Valley Conference regular season and tournament championships and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
Ty Blach is a preseason All-American for the Bluejays (Adam Streur/WBR)
The 2012 Bluejays must replace weekend starters Jonas Dufek and Greg Hellhake from a team that posted a .240 opponent batting average. But Ed Servais can lean on returning All-MVC left-hander Ty Blach (Jr.) as the team’s ace.
A second-team All-MVC honoree as a sophomore, Blach is one of two starting pitchers on the 2012 MVC Preseason All-Conference team. He went 10-3 with a 2.65 ERA and 100 strikeouts last year, sharing Friday and Saturday starting duties with Dufek. His career 2.84 ERA is second best in Creighton history.
Ahead of his third season at CU, Blach has been named a preseason second-team All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers of America and a third-team Louisville Slugger All-American by Collegiate Baseball magazine.
Brandon Koenigstein (Sr.) started 7 games last season, including contests against Kansas (twice) and Kansas State. He only made two appearances in Missouri Valley Conference games, and instead pitched often in mid-week games against non-conference opposition. Koenigstein will try to bounce back from a junior season during which his ERA ballooned to 8.07 after he posted a 3.95 ERA as a sophomore.
Brandon Koenigstein looks to rebound as a senior (Adam Streur/WBR)
Ed Servais loses some experienced starters, but his bullpen is full of battle-tested relievers. Kurt Spomer (Sr.) saved 13 games and posted a 2.22 ERA as a junior, making 35 appearances. His 13 saves were tied for most in the Valley; he picked of three of them in the MVC Tournament, including the MVC Championship game against Wichita State at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha.
Opponents hit just .202 against Spomer in 2011. He walked just 13 batters in 48.2 innings of work while striking out 37 hitters. He didn’t surrender a single home run.
Kurt Spomer is one of the leading relievers in the country (Adam Streur/WBR)
Chase Webb (Sr.) made 26 appearances as a junior, during which he recorded a 4.30 ERA. He ended the season giving up just one earned run in his final 6 appearances. The right-hander gives Servais another experienced arm in the bullpen.
Reese McGraw (Sr.) went 6-1 in 35 appearances as a junior, posting a 3.00 ERA and a .229 batting average against. The right-hander saved 5 games for the Bluejays in 2011, with his fifth save coming against Missouri State to clinch the regular season championship for Creighton.
Reese McGraw is a valuable bullpen pitcher for Creighton (Adam Streur/WBR)
Mark Winkelman (Jr.) appeared in 34 games out of the bullpen for the Bluejays. He posted a sub-3.00 ERA (2.95) and logged one of the more improbable pitching performances for the Jays during their special 2011 season. Winkleman also started one game, an elimination contest in teh Missouri Valley Conference tournament against against Missouri State Winkelman went 4 innings in a game the Bluejays would eventually win in the 12th inning.
Mark Winkelman adds an experienced left-hander to the Creighton pen (Adam Streur/WBR)
Nick Musec (Jr.) made just 7 appearances as a sophomore, with a 5.25 ERA. The right-hander may get opportunities to start for Servais’ 2012 club. Erik Mattingly (Sr.) appeared in 3 games as a pitcher, throwing a team-low 4 innings. But he appeared in 22 games (including 14 starts) for Creighton as position player; he’s an outfielder. Michael Kratochvil (So.), a right-hander from Northridge, California, is a fourth-generation student at Creighton.
Right-handers Shane Liska (Sr.) and Ryan Knott (Sr.) transfered to Creighton from Xavier and Duke, respectively. They are two of the seven newcomers to the Bluejays baseball roster in 2012. Andrew Urban (Jr.), a right-hander, transfers to the program from Hutchinson Community College. Ryan Price (RFr.) redshirted last season and joins John Oltman (Fr.) as new lefties to the CU bullpen. Rookie right-handers Mark Lukowski (Fr.) and Tommy Strunc (Fr.) round out the new roster additions for 2012.