The problem with dropping a Sunday getaway game after clinching a series is that if you run the risk of turning one loss into two with the unpredictable nature of a midweek game a few days later. That’s the situation the once red-hot Creighton Bluejays find themselves in after falling 7-3 on Tuesday night at Wichita State, two days after they dropped the series finale at home to Georgetown.
The Bluejays pounded out 12 hits against their former Missouri Valley Conference rivals, but left 10 men on base and went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position against a Shockers pitching staff that entered the game with a 6.24 team earned run average.
“It’s one thing to hit a good ball when no one is on base, but when there are runners in scoring position you have to have your best at-bats,” Creighton senior left fielder Brett Murray said. “That just comes down to getting a good pitch, not trying to be over-aggressive, and just seeing the ball and putting your best swing on it.”
Murray — who went 3-for-4 at the plate, falling a triple shy of hitting for the cycle — helped set the tone early for a Creighton offense that appeared to be on its way to putting up some big numbers.
With midweek arms on the mound, both teams were taking healthy cuts at the plate from the very first pitch, but after stranding a pair of singles in the top of the first inning, the Bluejays needed just one swing to score in their second trip to the plate when Murray deposited a 1-0 pitch from Wichita State starter Codi Heuer over the right field fence to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
Creighton missed an opportunity to open the game up in the third inning when they left two men in scoring position, but they still managed to extend the lead before heading back to the dugout. Junior center fielder Daniel Woodrow led off the frame with a double to the gap in left-center field, then moved over to third a sacrifice bunt by junior shortstop Nicky Lopez before coming home to give the Bluejays a 2-0 lead on an RBI ground out to second by senior first baseman Reagan Fowler.
“I thought we played really good the first four innings,” Creighton head coach Ed Servais said. “We turned two really good double plays, and I was as pleased as we could be in that situation where the first four innings we had a lot of energy.”
Things were still looking good for the Bluejays at that point, but failing to get more than one run across in that inning would allow the momentum they had built to quickly swing in Wichita State’s direction.
Sitting in a 2-0 hole, the Shockers evened things up quickly in the bottom half of the third inning. Facing Creighton starting pitcher Austin Stroschein for the second time, the Wichita State offense teed off with four base hits in a row, including RBI singles by second baseman Luke Ritter and center fielder Mikel Mucha to tie the game at two runs apiece.
Stroschein eventually recovered, retiring the next three hitters on just six pitches to limit the damage, but the Shockers kept the bats rolling in the bottom of the fourth inning. They only scored one run on designated hitter Travis Young’s go-ahead RBI single to take a 3-2 lead, but they put two more men in scoring position and got into the bullpen as the Bluejays needed two relief pitchers — Ty Ramirez and Connor Miller — to get out of the inning.
After his defense stranded the tying run at third base in the top half of the inning, Young came through with his third hit and second RBI of the game to extend the lead in the bottom of the sixth. With a runner on second and one out, Wichita State’s No. 9 hitter lined a single into left field to make it a 4-2 advantage.
The bottom of the order continued to produce for the Shockers as they opened up the game in the bottom of the seventh inning. A throwing error by Creighton third baseman Harrison Crawford on a bunt attempt with two men aboard allowed Wichita State to push another run across, then No. 7 hitter Dayton Dugas chopped a two-run single into left field with the bases loaded to extend the lead to 7-2 heading to the eighth inning.
Dugas and Young, along with No. 8 hitter Josh DeBacker combined to go 6-for-11 at the plate for the bottom of the Shockers’ lineup with three runs scored and four runs batted in against a total of six Bluejay pitchers.
Freshman right-hander Ty Ramirez was saddled with the loss. He was the first option out of the bullpen after Stroschein went three innings and gave up two runs on six hits before departing with the game tied to begin the fourth inning. Once the momentum shifted and the early lead disappeared, the Creighton pitching staff was never able to slow down the Wichita State offense.
“I’m disappointed with some of our guys,” Servais said. “I thought Austin gave us a chance. He gave two up runs in the first three innings, but he gave us a chance, and then the rest of the guys who came in just couldn’t get a leadoff hitter out.”
For as much trouble as his team had limiting Wichita State’s opportunities at the plate, the loss came down to his own club’s hitting — mainly the 3-for-16 performance with runners on base, along with the aforementioned 0-for-9 clip with runners in scoring position.
“We had ample opportunities,” Servais said. “We hit the heck out of the ball when there weren’t any runners in scoring position, but once they got in scoring position we just didn’t have good swings. It’s been kind of holding us back here for a while. We knew that these midweek games were not going to be 2-1, especially in this ballpark — when it gets warm down in Wichita it’s a lively ballpark. We knew we were going to have to come in here and swing the bats.
“I thought we swung the bat well — we had 12 hits, but you have to find a way to score more than three runs. In midweek games you’re not going to win games very often 3-2 or with three runs.”
With their second loss in a row, the Bluejays fell to 32-11 on the season, while Wichita State improved their 2016 record to 18-31.
Next up for Creighton, who leads the Big East regular-season standings by one game with a 10-2 conference record, is a pivotal three-game series at second-place Xavier. The Musketeers are 22-26 overall, but after taking their lumps against the likes of Arizona State, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, and Louisville in the non-conference they have jumped out to a 9-3 mark in Big East play with series wins over St. John’s, Butler, and Seton Hall — the latter two of which they swept as part of the eight-game winning streak they will take into Friday afternoon’s series opener against the Bluejays.
With his team now in a mini-slump, Servais, standing in the visitor’s dugout of Wichita State’s Eck Stadium, was very specific while he listed off the things that need to happen in order for his club to snap out of it this weekend in Cincinnati.
“Our starters have to get us really deep into the game,” he said. “We can not go to the bullpen guys in the fourth or fifth inning. They have to get us deep, and then we have to control the running game — this team has close to 100 stolen bases. Our starters must get us deep, and then have to keep this thing from turning into a track meet. The third thing will be we’re going to a small ballpark, so we have to keep the ball in it. They hit home runs and they have a very short porch to left field.
“Our starting pitching has to step up, like they have; we have to control the running game, because we haven’t seen a running game like this since we played Seton Hall, and then again, we’re going into a whole different ballpark — we’re not at TD Ameritrade this weekend, so we have to find a way to pitch at good height and keep the ball in the ballpark.”
First pitch for Friday’s series-opener between Creighton and Xavier at Hayden Field is set for a 2:00 p.m. (CST).