In a battle between the two Big East hurlers with the lowest earned run averages this season, Creighton junior left-hander Jeff Albrecht out-dueled Georgetown junior right-hander Simon Mathews to lead the Bluejays to a 4-0 series-clinching win over the Hoyas in front of 8,258 fans on Military Appreciation Night at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha.
Albrecht tossed a career-high seven innings, and only allowed a single, a double, and a pair of walks all night to go along with five strikeouts as he improved to 6-0 on the season, and lowered his earned run average for the season to 1.76. It turned out to be a much-needed bounce back outing for the Creighton Prep product who struggled with control and focus issues in his previous start against Villanova.
“I just attacked hitters,” Albrecht said. “The last two weeks I got away from what I had preached on earlier in the season about getting ahead of hitters. That was a big focus along with getting the leadoff hitter out, which I still sort of struggled with. I just worried about strike one, getting ahead of hitters, and let them get themselves out after that.”
As he alluded to, Albrecht allowed the first hitter of the inning to reach in three of the first four innings, but he minimized any potential damage by retiring all 10 Georgetown hitters he faced with a runner on base.
“When he had to make pitches he made them,” Creighton head coach Ed Servais said. “He seemed to get in trouble a little bit in the first couple innings, but when he had to he made pitches. I think he learned a little bit about himself tonight too.
“He never gives up a lot of hits. The only issue is the walks, and I would have guessed he had more than two walks tonight. He had a lot of three-ball counts, a lot of 3-1 counts, but when he had to he made pitches. He deserves a heck of a lot of credit. Getting seven innings out of him this time of year is huge with what we have ahead of us.”
Albrecht obviously didn’t end up needing a whole lot of run support on Saturday night, but he still got plenty of it against the reigning Big East Pitcher of the Week in Mathews. The scoring started early when a couple of solid at-bats by Creighton in the bottom of the second inning led to the first run of the game. Facing one of the top pitchers in the conference, Creighton senior first baseman Reagan Fowler worked a five-pitch walk, and senior designated hitter Matt Gandy followed it up with a base hit through the two-hole. A fly out to center moved Fowler up 90 feet, and a slow chopper to shortstop by senior third baseman Harrison Crawford was just enough to score him as Crawford beat the throw to first to stay out of the inning-ending double play and give the Bluejays a 1-0 lead.
Crawford would make a couple more big plays when the fourth inning rolled around. In the top half, with the tying run on second base, the senior from Oxnard, California made a diving stop on hot shot down the third base line, he got to his feet and one-hopped a throw to Fowler, who scooped it up at first base for the final out of the frame.
In the bottom half, he came to the plate with runners at the corners and one out after Simon Mathews’s wild throw to his first baseman on the previous play put men on the corners for the Bluejays. Crawford dug in against the visibly frustrated right-hander, and poked the first pitch he saw through right side of the infield for an RBI single to make it 2-0.
After the game, Crawford settled on the web gem as his top contribution of the night given that he felt he could have produced more at the plate.
“I was happier with what I did in the field just because I felt like I could have done even more at the plate,” he said.
Coming off a 2015 season in which he led the team in on-base percentage and slugging percentage, the California native has become know more for his improvement in the field, which have produced several highlight-reel, run-saving moments throughout the season.
“He’s come further along than any defensive player we’ve had in a short period of time,” Servais said. “When he got on campus as a junior, I didn’t know if he was going to be able to do it or not. He was so sped up, he was just having a heck of a time. Now if he doesn’t make a spectacular play in a series it’s like an oddball series. Of course, Reagan saves them on the other end. We forget that sometimes what Reagan does with those long hops. He does a heck of a job, but Harrison is the most improved defensive player we’ve had in a long time.”
For Crawford, his improvements on defense have as much to do with his comfort level as they do his skills.
“My first year of junior college I didn’t do well at fielding at all,” the senior third baseman said. “In the second year I felt so much more comfortable, and it’s kind of been the same way here. I don’t get the jitters of playing in front of a crowd like this anymore. I don’t get caught up in the moment. I just relax. I know I can field, so I just do what I can.”
Creighton’s two-run lead held into the later innings until Georgetown had a bit of meltdown in the bottom of the eighth inning, allowing the Bluejays to push across a couple more runs to seal the victory. Two outs shy of possibly his fourth complete game in five starts in Big East play, Simon Mathews gave up an infield hit to junior shortstop Nicky Lopez when he lost a race to first base on a ball that was hit into the hole to first baseman Joseph Bialkowski.
Lopez advanced to second base on a grounder to up the middle by senior second baseman Ryan Fitzgerald to put two men on with still only one out. Georgetown disputed the play, alleging that Lopez was tagged out before reaching second base. The umpires met to discuss the play, but ultimately stuck with the original call. Georgetown head coach Pete Wilk was ejected for arguing after the call was confirmed. A meltdown soon followed as the next two men Creighton sent to the plate, Reagan Fowler and Matt Gandy, each drove in a run to extend the lead to 4-0.
Mathews left the game after seven and 1/3 innings of work in which he allowed eight hits and four runs, all earned — double the amount he had allowed through his first four starts combined in Big East play.
Senior right-hander Nick Highberger closed out the game for Creighton with shutout innings in the eighth and ninth to improve the 23rd-ranked Bluejays to 32-9 overall and 10-1 in conference play.
With a berth in the Big East Tournament now clinched and an 11th consecutive series win already wrapped, Creighton will now go for their second straight series sweep and eighth straight win overall when they face the Hoyas (23-26, 6-8 Big East) tomorrow at noon.
Despite several more meaningful games coming up in a short amount of time, Ed Servais isn’t worried about his team overlooking tomorrow’s series finale as it will be the final Sunday home game for his 2016 senior class.
“There is always a little emotion with [Senior Day],” he said, “but I think everybody wants to send those guys out with their last Sunday home game — even though we’ll play some more home games — they want their last Sunday home game to be a special one. I don’t think they’ll look past tomorrow.”
The Bluejays will honor their 10 seniors — Brett Murray, Connor Miller, Harrison Crawford, Matt Gandy, John Oltman, Ryan Fitzgerald, Will Bamesberger, Reagan Fowler, Nick Highberger, and Matt Warren — prior to first pitch.