Jordan Hovey and the Bluejays win the weekend series over Kansas State (Spomer / WBR)
Kansas State starter Jaxson Passino hadn’t started a game all season long. In his 10 appearances coming into this game, Passino had thrown 19 innings, allowing 23 hits, 12 earned runs, and an opponents raked his stuff, posting a .284 batting average against.
The fact that he only lasted a single inning shouldn’t surprise you. The fact that Creighton hung four runs on him in that lonely frame shouldn’t surprise you. The fact that Will Robertson was responsible for bashing in two of those runs shouldn’t surprise you.
What should surprise you is that the pitcher that relieved him in the top of the second inning, Will Brennan – who also acts as the Wildcats’ designated hitter, had six starts and 35 innings pitched under his belt, yet they felt the need to go with Passino.
By the time Kansas State made the move the game was pretty much already in hand. Off of Brennan, the Jays blew up the scoreboard for four more runs, which included a two-run shot by Will Robertson in the second, a solo shot by Parker Upton in the fourth, and a RBI double by Upton in the fifth.
It was a steamroll after that as redshirt freshman Jackson Berney managed to get the bases loaded with no one out and deliver a RBI single into left field. The Bluejays seemingly couldn’t do any wrong at the plate.
The body language of the Kansas State players screamed, “surrender.” They allowed Evan Johnson, the senior righty from Gilbert, Iowa, to absolutely destroy them on the mound. Johnson took Ragan’s performance from Friday night and attempted to replicate it. He managed to strike out 8 batters, using the outside corners as his canvas as he painted it with gorgeous fastballs all day long. The Wildcat batters wouldn’t even offer at it, as half of Johnson’s eight strikeouts were backwards K’s.
John Sakowski, Jonah Smith, and Ryan Connolly blitzed through the later innings on the mound, with Smith giving up two runs and an RBI double to allow the Wildcats on the board. Besides that, they were lights out, combining for 44 pitches in three innings of work. Coach Servais handed the ball to Bobby Kametas to shut down the ninth, primarily so Kametas can get a little more work in.
That was the tone of this entire affair. That the juggernaut Bluejays that we’re accustomed to seeing, with its ability to pour in run after run with dongshots or gap doubles or frustrating bloopers into no man’s land, showed up in full for yet another Sunday matchup had to be devastating to a Wildcat team that happened to punch up a weightclass the day before.
This is as well oiled of a machine as Creighton can get on a diamond. Although its Saturday starting slot is seemingly up for grabs, the bats are bashing at a historic pace in the BIG EAST-era. Through 23 games the Jays have mashed 27 homeruns. They hit 37 all of last season, 28 the year prior, and in the 2014-16 season combined, they hit just 49. They’re on pace right now to hit 28 more dingers this year and that’s not including a run at PRASCO Park, if they succeed enough to make it. This is as prolific an offense as Creighton’s had in the past decade or so, and they’ve got two solid weekend options to allow them to go at least two deep in a tournament setting. The one dimension they lack is a Saturday starter and, well, reliable options when that starter fails to get through five.
All in all, the 16-7 Bluejays are looking pretty dynamite heading into their second tilt with Nebraska on Tuesday (6:35 first pitch at Haymarket) and their conference opener against Butler in Indy next weekend.
