2015 Creighton Baseball: Position Preview

The 2015 college baseball season is officially upon us. The Creighton Bluejays will make their regular season debut out west tonight at 8:00 p.m. (CT) against the Roadrunners of Cal State Bakersfield. The Bluejays are coming off of a season that saw Ed Servais’ team finish with a record of 32-17-1, and capture the school’s first regular season title in any sport as a member of the Big East Conference.

Creighton missed out on the NCAA Tournament after falling to Xavier in the championship game of the Big East Tournament, leaving a bad taste in their mouths after an historic first run through their new conference. The Bluejays must replace 2014 MLB draftees Bryan Sova (closer), Mike Gerber (CF), and Jake Peter (2B), along with a three-year starter and leadoff hitter Brad McKewon (LF), back up catchers Jerry Mitchell and Cody Kottich, and power-hitting outfielder Ben Lahn.

The Bluejays bring back 24 players from a year ago along with 10 newcomers, many of whom will be expected to contribute on Opening Day. This group is seeking to pick up where the previous team left off, and with TD Ameritrade Park Omaha set to host the 2015 Big East Tournament, the Jays will hope to get the opportunity to clinch an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament on their home field.

Time to go around the diamond and meet the 2015 Creighton baseball team…

Starting Pitchers

Projected Weekend Rotation:

• Jack Rogalla (Sr., RHP, 2014 w/Binghamton: 5-8, 3.77 ERA, 63 K, 27 BB)
• Matt Warren (Jr., RHP, 2014: 10-1, 2.03 ERA, 45 K, 25 BB)
• Tommy Strunc (Jr., RHP, 2014: 0-2, 14.54 ERA, 13 K, 17 BB)

Other Potential Starters:

• Jeff Albrecht (So., LHP, 2014: 1-0, 5.15 ERA, 24 K, 18 BB)
• Taylor Elman (Jr., RHP, 2014: 2-6, 6.62 ERA, 40 K, 26 BB)
• Rollie Lacy (Redshirt Freshman, RHP)
• Keith Rogalla (Freshman, RHP, 37th Round draft pick by the Philadelphia Phillies out of high school)

Last season taught us that a weekend rotation at the start of the season is still very much an open competition. Tommy Strunc was selected as the Big East Pitcher of the Year in the preseason, but due to command issues, wasn’t even a candidate to be a mid-week starter by the time the Bluejays made their 2014 home debut in mid-March. On the flip side, Matt Warren went from being a potential mid-week start to an all-conference ace on the regular season champs. This year Warren earned the preseason accolades, being named a preseason All-American along with sharing the preseason honor for Big East Pitcher of the Year with Seton Hall’s Luke Cahill.

Newcomers to the roster of starting pitchers are the Rogalla brothers. Jack, a graduate transfer from Binghamton, brings the experience while younger brother Keith, a 37th round draft pick out of Oak Park & River Forest High School in Illinois, brings the raw talent.

Creighton Prep standouts Taylor Elman and Jeff Albrecht return after seeing action in 26 of Creighton’s 50 games a year ago. Redshirt freshman right-hander Rollie Lacy is also expected to get an opportunity as a starting pitcher.

Sunday starter Austin Groth will miss the season as he continues to rehabilitate his arm after undergoing Tommy John surgery on May 20. Groth threw off a mound for the first time post-surgery a few days ago.

Creighton Head Coach Ed Servais on the depth of his starting pitching:

“I think we have 15 guys that can get college hitters out, and I’ve never been able to say that before now. I believe we have seven guys that could start games, and out of those seven obviously Jack and Keith Rogalla would be two of them. Matt Warren and Tommy Strunc would be another two. Taylor Elman, everybody is familiar with him because he’s pitched before. Jeff Albrecht, who’s pitched before, and then I think a newcomer in that group would be Rollie Lacy. I think those seven guys are possible starting pitchers.”

Relief Pitchers

• Mark Lukowski (Sr., RHP, 2014: 2-0, 3.06 ERA, 1 SV, 11 K, 10 BB)
• Connor Miller (Jr., RHP, 2014 w/Johnson County CC: 9-3, 3.39 ERA, 108 K, 48 BB)
• Will Bamesberger (Jr., LHP, 2014: 2-1, 4.05 ERA, 9 K, 15 BB)
• Sam Norman (So., LHP, 2014: 1 app, 0-0, 0.00 ERA)
• David Gerber (So., RHP, 2014: 0-0, 6.00 ERA, 0 K, 1 BB)
• Ethan DeCaster (Redshirt Freshman, RHP)

Closers

• Max Ising (Sr., RHP, 2014: 2-2, 5.24 ERA, 33 K, 12 BB)
• John Oltman (Jr., LHP, 2014: 0-1, 2.92 ERA, 1 SV, 12 K, 16 BB)
• Nick Highberger (Jr., RHP, 2014: 4-0, 2.58 ERA, 13 K, 13 BB)

Nearly everyone returns from last season’s group of relief pitchers. The one major departure, and that might be overstated, is Bryan Sova. The senior closer was almost single-handedly the reason Creighton was able to clinch the regular season title and put itself in position for a NCAA Tournament bid after he took the ball on short rest either out of the bullpen or to start the game, and didn’t give it back to his head coach until the victory was in hand. With Sova now working on getting professional hitters out, the Bluejays will be asking a group of experienced relievers in Max Ising, John Oltman, and Nick Highberger to get the last three outs.

Newcomer Connor Miller brings a power arm to the Bluejay bullpen. A starting pitcher for Johnson County Community College, Miller struck out 108 batters in 93 innings last season and figures to be a useful weapon for first-year pitching coach Brian Furlong to unleash on the Big East.

Ed Servais on replacing All-Big East closer Bryan Sova:

“Max Ising will probably get the first chance. His arm isn’t quite as resilient as some of the other guys we’ve had in the past, so he’s not going to throw a lot of back-to-back days. You’ll see guys like John Oltman and Nick Highberger get opportunities as well. I don’t think we’re going to have one guy with 12 or 13 saves like we’ve had with some of the previous teams. I think you’re going to see three guys with 3-5 saves.”

Catcher

Projected Starter:

• Kevin Lamb (Sr., RHB, 2014: .232 BA, 10 RBI, 1 SB)

Reserves:

• Joey Mancuso (Jr., LHB, 2014: .310 BA, 4 2B, 8 RBI, 1 SB), Luke Horanski (Fr., LHB)

Senior Kevin Lamb is back healthy after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee in practice during the week leading up to the Seton Hall series last season. He along with junior left-handed hitter Joey Mancuso bring back a lot of experience behind the plate, but the position battle doesn’t end there.

Highly-touted true freshman Luke Horanski joins the team from Canada where he was a standout offensive threat for the Canadian Junior National Team at the Pan American Championships in Mexico during the fall. All three catchers are expected to be in the mix and who plays when may very well depend on the match up early in the season.

Ed Servais on the battle for playing time behind the plate:

“Kevin Lamb is coming back from his injury, which is good. We have Joey Mancuso who caught some last year as well. Then the newcomer in that group would be Luke Horanski, a freshman. You need depth behind the plate and we have it. We have two guys who played quite a bit at this level. Luke has played a lot of international baseball, but not any Division 1 baseball yet, so we’ll see how he adapts to it. We have a couple of left-handed hitters and a right-handed hitter, so there is a lot of mixing and matching we can do throughout the course of the season with those options behind the plate. I can foresee all three of them getting a chance to start opening weekend.”

First Base

Projected Starter:

• Reagan Fowler (Jr., LHB, 2014: .362 BA, 16 2B, 3 3B, 27 RBI, 9 SB)

Reserves:

• Landon Lucansky (Sr., RHB, 2014: .215 BA, 4 2B, 2 HR, 12 RBI)

First base is the most solidified position on the team thanks to the return of junior preseason Big East Player of the Year, Reagan Fowler. Probably the most proven offensive and defensive player entering the season, Fowler is mature in his daily approach and a leader by example. He’ll have the weight of the offense on his shoulders to start the season as Creighton tries to find answers in the heart of the lineup after Mike Gerber (Detroit Tigers) and Jake Peter (Chicago White Sox) took their 15 home runs and 86 runs batted and departed for the professional ranks.

Ed Servais on reigning Co-Big East Player of the Year, Reagan Fowler:

“The part that people don’t talk much about is that this guy can really defend — he’s a really good defensive first baseman. He’s got a long wingspan and his footwork around the bag is exceptional. He saves those infielders a lot of throwing errors. He’s got great hands — he catches a lot of balls at his shoe tops and makes it look easy. He’s got pretty good range.

“Then obviously the kind of hitter he is, he’s kind of a contact, slash hitter. Probably the only thing that Reagan doesn’t have is above average power. You see him and you see a 6-foot-3 220-pound guy you assume he’s got some big power, but he uses the gaps and hits a lot of balls the other way. He stays on balls a lot, doesn’t strike out much. He’s a really good college hitter.”

Second Base

Projected Starter:

• Ryan Fitzgerald (Jr., LHB, 2014: .240 BA, 7 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 19 RBI, 2 SB)

Reserves:

• Tommy Clouthier (Jr., RHB, 2014: .111 BA, 1 HR, 5 RBI)
• David Wiedeman (Sr., RHB, 2014: .200 BA, 2 RBI, 1 SB)

Taking over for Jake Peter at second base is last year’s shortstop Ryan Fitzgerald. Defense is not any area of concern for the coaching staff in regards to Fitzgerald. However, they are expecting an improvement in his offensive production. While he isn’t expected to be the kind of offensive threat Peter was, he will need to improve on his numbers from a year ago if he wants to stay out of the bottom of the lineup.

Ed Servais on jump-starting Fitzgerald at the plate:

“Ryan will make the transition from shortstop to second base pretty easily. I’m hopeful that maybe not playing such a stressful position allows him to be a little bit more offensive. We’re going to need more offense out of him this year than what he was able to give us last year.”

Shortstop

Projected Starter:

• Nicky Lopez (So., LHB, 2014: .276 BA, 4 2B, 1 3B, 18 RBI, 7 SB)

A talented defender as a freshman, Nicky Lopez moves over to the shortstop position for 2015. Like a lot of players that end up playing for Servais, he was a middle infielder in high school and has the confidence of the coaching staff to carry over that experience to the Division 1 level. An underrated offensive player from a year ago, Lopez finished second the team behind only Reagan Fowler with a .392 on-base percentage. Lopez drew 24 walks while only striking out 21 times. He was also successful on seven of his nine stolen base attempts in 2014.

Ed Servais on what he sees in the Illinois native:

“Nicky has looked really good, really all fall and all spring here so far. He’s got the arm you’re looking for in a shortstop. He’s got the quickness and he understands angles. He understands when he’s got to come in on a ball and when he can take a step back to create a decent hop, and he’s got plenty of arm. Nicky gave us a good spark offensively last year, but we’re hoping for a little more offense out of him this year.”

Third Base

Projected Starter:

• Harrison Crawford (Jr., RHB, 2014: .371 BA, 2 HR, 30 RBI)

Reserves:

• Tommy Clouthier (Jr., RHB, 2014: .111 BA, 1 HR, 5 RBI)

Harrison Crawford looks the part of a corner infielder. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound junior college transfer from California has worked hard in the Championship Center weight room to get ready for his first season as a Bluejay. How he handles himself in the field for what was the nation’s top defense last season is a work in progress for Crawford. In the meantime, he’ll stay in the lineup so long as he can produce anywhere in the range of what did at the junior college level.

Behind him is veteran utility man Tommy Clouthier. The junior out of Colorado can play multiple positions in the infield and will be given some opportunities if others under-perform or get hurt.

Ed Servais on Crawford’s potential:

“This will be an interesting several weeks here to find out what Harrison can do. He brings in some great credentials from Ventura Junior College out there in California. He was a .360 hitter out there. He looks good in batting practice, and he’s getting a little bit more comfortable with our defense. I think that’s something that was kind of new to him — how much emphasis we put on the defensive side, but he’s getting more comfortable. I look at where he was in the fall compared to where he is today — he’s made some great strides. He’s added 17 pounds to his frame since he got here. He’s a really intriguing player. We just don’t know for sure what we’re going to get, but we’re going to find out here real quick.”

Ed Servais on his Clouthier, his versatile veteran:

“Tommy has been a part of our program now for four years. He’s a hard, grinding type of player. He’s the kind of guy I like to have in the program. He’s willing to do whatever he can to help the team, whether that means to slide over to second or play third or DH, or come in a pinch-hit role or whatever, he is all aboard. He’s a great player to have in the program.”

Outfield

Projected Starters:

• Left Field – David Wiedeman (Sr., RHB, 2014: .200 BA, 2 RBI, 1 SB)
• Center Field – Daniel Woodrow (So., LHB, 2014: .286 BA, 1 3B, 1 RBI)
• Right Field – Kevin Connolly (So., RHB, 2014 w/Seward CC: .411 BA, 18 2B, 9 3B, 52 RBI, 11 SB)

Reserves:

• Brett Murray (Jr., LHB, 2014: .236 BA, 6 2B, 3 3B, 20 RBI, 5 SB)
• Brandon Mikulka (Jr., LHB, 2014: .125 BA, 1 3B, 2 RBI)
• Devlin Granberg (Fr., RHB)

Replacing First Team All-Big East center fielder Mike Gerber and three-year starting left fielder Brad McKewon is one of the major areas the 2015 squad will need to address. Not only because of the duo’s defensive skills in the outfield at TD Ameritrade Park, but also at the plate where McKewon set the table for Creighton’s offense out of the leadoff spot, while Gerber was a stand out in the clean-up role.

Sophomore Daniel Woodrow has been pegged to replace Gerber in center and has impressed his teammates and coaches with his speed during the fall and preseason winter workouts. Not someone who will be mistaken for a power hitter, Woodrow will have to find different ways to produce offensively, but his speed will help him in center as he takes over for a guy who made that position look easier than it is.

In right field is newcomer Kevin Connolly, a player the coaches are excited to cut loose once the season gets underway. A good hitter with great speed, Connolly and Woodrow are expected to have the attention of opposing defenses when they get on base, while also tracking down fly balls from left-center to the right field foul line that are allowed by a pitch-to-contact pitching staff.

The top candidates for the spot vacated by McKewon’s graduation in left field will be senior David Wiedeman and junior Brett Murray. Wiedeman is sort of a jack of all trades, moving from the infield, where he can also back up Fitzgerald at second base, to the outfield alongside Woodrow and Connolly. He turned in an impressive performance during the team’s only scrimmage this winter where he reached base all but one time, stealing multiple bases and scoring a few runs. He’ll take turns with Murray who played a lot of right field last season, while also spending time at DH. Regardless of what type of lineup Ed Servais wants to send out on that particular day, it will probably be these two trotting out to left field.

Ed Servais on replacing Mike Gerber and Brad McKewon, plus what factors will play a role in determining who patrols left field:

“I feel good about center and right. Daniel Woodrow, who will play center field, and between he and Kevin Connolly, who will play right field, those are our two fastest players. They’re very athletic, have explosive bodies. I think we’ve been blessed to have some tremendous center field play over the years and I think Woodrow will be close to those guys here shortly. It may take him a few games to get comfortable doing what he’s doing out in center.

“There’s a lot of room out between the gaps in TD Ameritrade Park, and Mike Gerber made it look easy out there. The fact that we don’t ask our pitchers to strike a lot of guys out, you know they average roughly five strikeouts per game, there’s going to be 22 balls put in play that we have to get outs out of, so your outfielders do play an important part. We kind of took for granted Mike Gerber and Brad McKewon, those are two very, very good defenders in the outfield that we have to replace. I think it’s going to take a few weeks to get that figured out, but I think Woodrow has got a chance to give us the center fielder we need to play in that ballpark.

“We’ve tried David Wiedeman, an infielder, out in left. We also have Devlin Granberg, a freshman who looked very good in the early workouts. We have some options out there. We’re just going to see. Some days we might go with a more defensive team, some days we might go with more of an offensive team. It depends sometimes what we’re going to do at designated hitter. If we get another kid who steps up offensively we might end up running Brett Murray out to left. If we don’t have another guy step up then we’ll probably push Murray back to a DH role and let Wiedeman play left. We’re going to tinker with that left field situation for the next several games.”

Designated Hitter

Projected Starter:

• Brett Murray (Jr., LHB, 2014: .236 BA, 6 2B, 3 3B, 20 RBI, 5 SB)

Reserves:

• Landon Lucansky (Sr., RHB, 2014: .215 BA, 4 2B, 2 HR, 12 RBI)
• Matt Gandy (Jr., RHB, 2014 w/Chapman: .333 BA, 6 2B, 1 3B, 9 HR, 31 RBI, 6 SB)

Ed Servais on who will get the first crack at DH:

“We’ve got Brett Murray and Landon Lucansky, who’s been a part of program now for three years. We also have a new player into the program by the name of Matt Gandy. Matt is a transfer from Chapman College in California. He’s a physical, left-handed hitter. I would think those three guys would be the options right now at DH.”