Inserting senior Clay Cuno into the lineup was one of many decisions to work out for Servais in the MVC tournament (WBR/Adam Streur)
For the third time in his tenure at Creighton, Bluejays skipper Ed Servais leads a team into the NCAA Tournament. He’s the only baseball manager in the school’s history to take the program to the tournament three times, and he owns a 3-4 record in seven regional games.
But this is the first time since 2007 Servais will lead the Jays into an NCAA regional. None of the players on this year’s CU roster have played in an NCAA Tournament game; Jimmy Swift, Greg Hellhake, and Jack VanLeur redshirted on the 2007 team.
We caught up with Servais as he and his team were en route to Corvallis, Oregon, where the Bluejays are the #2 seed in a regional featuring Arkansas-Little Rock, Georgia (Creighton’s Friday opponent), and host Oregon State.
White & Blue Review: First, let’s talk a little bit about last week’s championship run. What does it mean for you and this group of guys, specifically? What about the program in general? It marks the first time Creighton’s won the regular season and league titles. As a coach, how do you explain what this means?
Ed Servais: It was extremely special. It is something that has never been done before and it was great to see the guys work through the adversity. I can’t really explain how special it is to win both the regular season and tournament, as it is tough to understand unless you have coached at Creighton. Jim Hendry was a great coach here, but was never able to complete both. It is just very special. It was tough to do.
WBR: Can you talk a little bit about your decision to turn to guys like Clay Cuno and Gabriel Thibodeaux in the last few games of the Valley tournament? How did the rest of the team respond to those guys getting a shot to produce in such a pressure-packed situation.
ES: We were looking for a spark and those guys have not had much of an opportunity all season. The guys know how hard they worked during the year, and they were excited and supportive of the fact that they would get a shot to make a big contribution. It just so happens it paid off.
WBR: Jonas Dufek and Ty Blach set the tone in the championship game against Wichita State. Just how good are those guys?
ES: About as good as you can get in college baseball. They are both double-digit winners, and are really tough to face. We are also lucky to have such a great bullpen that is there to back those guys up and close out a game.
WBR: Finish this sentence: Creighton will come out of Corvallis as the regional winner if…
ES: …we can keep the score down and hold our opposition down. We don’t want to get into a slugfest; we need to keep the scores around 3-1, 4-1, that range. Our pitching can give us a shot against anyone.