Creighton Bluejays (28-15, 11-7 MVC) vs. Missouri State Bears (29-19, 11-7 MVC)
- Thursday: 12:30 p.m. TD Ameritrade Park Omaha
- Friday: 7:00 p.m.
- Saturday: 1:00 p.m.
Overview
Creighton and Missouri State are locked in a tie for the No. 3 seed in next week’s MVC Tournament in Normal, Illinois. While finishing with the No. 2 seed is still mathematically possible, the winner of this weekend’s series between the Bears and Bluejays will likely face the No. 6 seed next week, which will be either Indiana State or Southern Illinois.
The loser of the CU-MSU series will slip to the No. 4 seed and play No. 5 Evansville, with the No. 1 seed (either Illinois State or Wichita State) joining that side of the bracket.
The last time Creighton and Missouri State met in Omaha, the Bluejays eliminated the Bears from the 2011 MVC Tournament in Omaha en route to winning the tournament championship. (Photo by Mike Spomer/WBR)
Media Menu
Listen to John Bishop and Dave Gustafson and 9,000 screaming children on 1180 AM Thursday (it is Cox Kids Day at the Ballpark). Listen to Bishop and Gustafson call the games Friday and Saturday on KOZN 1620 AM (stream here). Watch the webcast of the games here. Catch the live stats here, and follow in-game tweets from the @gocreighton and @cu_baseball Twitter accounts.
Weather
Mama Nature’s been cruel to Creighton baseball this year. But this weekend may offer a reprieve from rainouts, etc. Accuweather.com says the temp at first pitch Thursday will be approximately 75 degrees, with a slight chance of storms later in the afternoon.
The forecast calls for temps in the 80s at first pitch Friday night, with the rain passing by during the day. Same goes for Saturday afternoon, which will see highs in the mid-80s.
Last Weekend
Ed Servais and the Creighton Bluejays took two of three from Wichita State at Eck Stadium. It was CU’s first series win in Wichita since 2003 and helped make it that much more difficult for the Shockers to claim another MVC regular season championship.
Meanwhile, Missouri State was out of conference last weekend, hosting Wright State. The Bears, like the Bluejays, took the first two games of the weekend before dropping Sunday’s tilt. In their most recent Valley weekend series, the Bears suffered a sweep in Springfield at the hands of Wichita State.
Series History
Missouri State and Creighton have been pretty evenly matched during their all-time series. The Bears have 41 wins to the Bluejays’ 40. But CU holds an advantage in Omaha, 22-15.
On the Mound
Probable Starters
- Friday: CU’s Tommy Strunch (7-2, 4.15 ERA) vs. MSU’s Nick Petree (8-1, 1.55 ERA)
- Saturday: CU’s Nick Musec (2-5, 4.88 ERA) vs. MSU’s Jon Harris (8-1, 3.27 ERA)
- Sunday: CU’s Austin Groth (2-1, 4.85 ERA) vs. MSU’s Andy Cheray (1-3, 2.82 ERA)
Nick Petree is the best pitcher in the Missouri Valley Conference. The preseason All-American and All-Valley honoree has dominated this season.
He’s the first pitcher in MSU history to post consecutive 100-strikeout seasons. He’s 30 strikeouts behind Missouri State’s all-time leader in the category, Brad Ziegler (330 Ks from 2000 to 2003). He’s five wins from Ziegler, the all-time victories leader at MSU. And his 1.77 career ERA is second all-time.
Petree is currently second in the MVC in ERA, first in innings pitched, first in strikeouts, and tied for first in wins (with teammate Jon Harris).
Strunc, Petree’s counterpart Friday, is coming off a win at Wichita State during which he limited WSU to three runs on six hits in five innings.
As a team, Missouri State leads the league in ERA (3.12); Creighton is fifth (3.90). The Bears are second in opposing batting average (.243), while the Jays are third (.252). And MSU hurlers lead the league in strikeouts; CU is dead last in that category among MVC teams.
At the Plate
As good as Missouri State’s pitching is, the Bears are in the bottom half of the MVC in batting average (sixth; .272), slugging percentage (sixth; .360), runs scored (sixth; 246), and on-base percentage (fifth; .366).
Creighton is third in average (.286) and second in on-base percentage (.391). But like the Bears, the Bluejays have scored only 246 runs — partially a product of games being altered due to weather. MSU is scoring 5.13 runs per game; the Jays are plating more than half a run more per game (5.72).
MSU freshman Tate Matheny — son of St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny — leads the Bears in batting average (.343; eight in the MVC), hits (71; t-sixth in MVC), runs scored (37; tenth in the MVC)), home runs (4), and is one off the team lead in runs batted in (26). He also strikes out a lot (42 Ks; fourth in MVC).
The Bluejays are led by Jake Peter (.346 average; sixth in MVC) and Frederico Castagnini (.336; ninth in MVC). CU misses the power that Mike Gerber can supply, but the outfielder remains sidelined as the attempts to return from an appendectomy on April 26.