Coach Ed Servais is always strategizing (Spomer / WBR)
Early on Friday night Creighton head coach Ed Servais felt like his team needed a different approach at the plate with the wind blowing in.
Enter Andrew Meggs.
The redshirt freshman from San Jose, California has spent the 2019 season as a pinch-hitter and a backup to three-year starter Isaac Collins at second base. On Friday night Servais’ decision to go with a more contact-oriented approach and insert Meggs paid off in the bottom of the seventh inning when the 165-pound infielder took a first-pitch breaking ball from Villanova starting pitcher Gordon Graceffo and lined it into right field for a go-ahead, two-out RBI single that sparked the Bluejays to a 4-1 over the Wildcats and into the driver’s seat for a Big East regular season title with one game to go.
“I wasn’t too happy with my first at-bat,” Meggs said after grounding out on three pitches in his first plate appearance of the night just two innings prior to his big hit late. “I don’t think I was ready mentally to hit, so I really wanted to be ready to go on that first pitch [in the seventh]. I thought he might throw me a breaking ball. I got it and I was just glad I could help the team get a win today.”
Graceffo had only allowed five baserunners through six and two-thirds off the strength of a three-pitch mix, but Meggs had caught on to the freshman right-hander’s pitch sequence and went to the plate with a plan in the bottom of the seventh.
“He kind of got into a pattern of throwing that breaking ball early in the count, so I thought with a runner in scoring position that he might do that,” Meggs said. “Talking to some of the guys they all said he was going to throw a first-pitch breaking ball, so they helped me and that got us the win.”
Creighton’s defense in the middle was key on Friday night. (Spomer / WBR)
Meggs’ hit may have made the difference offensively, but without the steady play of junior second baseman Isaac Collins and senior shortstop Jack Strunc at the heart of Creighton’s defense there might not have been a lead to take in the seventh inning or one to protect in the eighth.
Collins kept the game tied in the top of the seventh when he back-tracked on a bloop shot into right-center field. He was breaking to his right to cover second base on a hit and run, but shifted back to his left to make the catch and toss it over to Jake Holton at first base to double off the runner and end the top half of the inning. Strunc made the first out of the eighth inning when he charged to pick a slow roller on the infield grass and fire a strike on the run in time to get the leadoff man at first. He also made the last out of the frame with an over-the-shoulder catch on the run in shallow center field.
“If that ball [to Collins] drops they have guys with first and third with only one out,” Servais said. “We made a lot of good defensive plays late. Isaac’s play, Jack caught that ball over the shoulder and he made another play on a slow roller; came in aggressively to it. We’ve played really, really top level defense for the last seven or eight games. I can’t remember the last time we made an error. You have to [play that type of defense] when you’re in these tight games.”
It also helps to have someone get into a rhythm on the mound and for Creighton that was junior right-hander Ben Dotzler. Senior lefty Denson Hull struggled with his command for the second straight outing and was pulled in favor of Dotzler with runners on the corners, nobody out, and the game tied 1-1 in the top of the fourth inning. Dotzler proceeded to strike out the first two hitters he faced on just seven pitches before inducing a pop fly to right field to strand the runners and keep the game tied.
He ended up retiring 10 of the 11 batters he faced, conceding just a single walk after a nine-pitch at-bat over his three and a third innings of relief.
“Think about when he came in — first and third, nobody out,” Servais said. “He punches a guy out and gets out of that inning without a run being scored. That is huge. We were on our heels. Because Ben had a lot of good pace to what he was doing the team started playing a little faster and with a little bit more confidence. We could have stretched him out even more, but he did pitch quite a bit on Tuesday.
“He gave us everything and then some. I can’t say enough about that first and third situation with nobody out and getting out of that. That’s huge.”
Ben Dotzler backed up the pitching effort on Friday night (Spomer / WBR)
Friday’s win pushes Creighton to 34-11 on the season and gives them a 13-4 record in Big East play, a half game ahead of Xavier in the league standings. The scenario is simple for the Bluejays with one game to go. If weather interferes and forces them to bang Saturday’s regular season finale then they are the outright league champions and the one seed in the conference tournament. If it’s game on, the Bluejays must win in order to take the crown and head to Mason, Ohio as the top seed in the Big East tournament.
That’s a much different situation than they found themselves in at this team last season when their 2018 finale had no bearing on their postseason fate after they had already been eliminated from conference tournament contention. Isaac Collins and the rest of the returning members of last year’s squad haven’t forgotten that.
“It’s completely different now than it was a year ago,” CU’s second baseman said. “We haven’t done anything. We haven’t won the conference tournament yet. We haven’t made a regional yet. Tomorrow is just one step closer to our goal. We want to win the conference and be the number one seed going into the conference tourney. We want to win the conference tourney and then go make a run in the NCAA Tournament. It starts tomorrow. The next game on the schedule is the biggest game of the year.”
Creighton will send senior right-hander Evan Johnson (3-2, 2.96 era in Big East play) to the mound for the potential regular season title clincher against Villanova. The Wildcats have not yet announced a starter for tomorrow. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha.