A win is a win.
The Creighton Bluejays didn’t produce very much offensively in Friday night’s series opener against the Butler Bulldogs, but thanks to eight strong innings from sophomore ace Rollie Lacy, and a near home run by senior second baseman Ryan Fitzgerald, the Bluejays sent the TD Ameritrade Park crowd of more than 3,100 fans home happy with a 2-1 win to improve to 23-7 on the season and 3-1 in the Big East.
Creighton head coach Ed Servais didn’t give back the victory, but he also didn’t pull any punches when it came to his critique of his team’s continued inconsistencies at the plate.
“I’m really very pleased with our pitching, but I’m very disappointed with our hitting,” Servais said. “This is enough now. We left guys in scoring position, bases loaded, and we had the right guys up. We’re not getting a good pitch to hit, and these are veteran players. They are putting way too much stress on our pitchers and our defense, and we just have to find a way. It’s got to start. It’s too deep into the season now for this offense to continue to be inconsistent.”
The margin for error created by the slumping offense, showed itself early when Butler got a stay of execution in the top of the fourth inning. Against the top of the order, Creighton ace Rollie Lacy retired the first two hitters on a ground out and a strike out, but catcher Chris Marras kept the inning alive for his team when he a 1-2 pitch into left field. The swirling wind at TD Ameritrade Park started to knock the ball down as left fielder Brett Murray sprinted in to make the play. The ball landed safely, then bounced off Murray’s knee and rolled towards the foul line. Marras ended up at second base, and came in to score the first run of the game on a single up the middle by first baseman Jordan Lucio. Just like that, after two quick outs, one mistake and it proved costly in a hurry.
Watching their ace fall behind on the scoreboard appeared to wake those sleeping bats, at least for a moment, as the Bluejays responded with a sudden sense of urgency in the bottom half of the fourth. Ryan Fitzgerald reached base on a bunt single to lead things off, then moved into scoring position when when junior shortstop Nicky Lopez bunted him over to second base. Fitzgerald came home to the tie game on the next at-bat when senior first baseman Reagan Fowler continued his hot-hitting ways over the past week with a double to right-center field. Three pitches, two bunts, and one RBI double later, and the Bluejays had erased the 1-0 deficit.
“We didn’t slam the panic button,” Fitzgerald said. “We knew we had the bats, we knew we’d been swinging it well all night, it was just going right at people. We just had to keep doing the same thing.”
Unfortunately for the blood pressure of their head coach, pitching staff, defense, and the faithful fan base in attendance, the Bluejay bats fell back to sleep in the very next inning. They did just enough to take the lead, but squandered an opportunity to blow the game wide open. They took their one and only lead off the evening when Fitzgerald crushed a ball into right field that landed at the base of the wall with one out and runners on second and third. However, both of Creighton’s baserunners at the time, right fielder Kevin Connolly and catcher Keith Oren, tagged up, allowing only Connolly to score on the play.
Nicky Lopez drew a walk to follow up Fitzgerald’s go-ahead RBI double, loading the bases for the Bluejays with still only one out in the inning. However, Butler starting pitcher Bobby Napoleon retired Reagan Fowler on a shallow fly ball to center field, while Bulldogs reliever Danny Pobereyko got senior third baseman Harrison Crawford to bounce into a force out at second base to end the inning.
“I think [Keith] thought the guy was going to catch it,” Servais said. “The rule is once you see the number of the outfielder you go halfway. He turned to run to catch the ball, so we could see his numbers, and if Keith is halfway I think we have a shot at scoring him. When you’re offense is struggling you can’t afford to make those kind of baserunning mistakes.”
Despite costing the team a potential added cushion, Oren had perhaps his best game in a Creighton uniform. The sophomore backstop out of Florida entered the game sporting a .140 batting average after going hit-less 14 of his last 15 games, but he delivered a trio of base hits against the Bulldogs (9-24, 1-3 Big East). He finished the game 3-for-3 at the plate with a double, and flashed some skills behind the plate as well by gunning down Butler speedster Drew Small for the final out of the top of the first inning after Small reached on a one-out base hit.
“Keith had a good game tonight,” Servais said. “I’m real happy with what he did both behind the plate throwing that runner out, and then getting us three hits tonight.”
Once Fitzgerald’s blast hit the warning track and Connolly crossed home plate, the show belonged to Lacy. The 6-foot-3 right-hander out of Minnetrista, Minnesota tossed 102 pitches during his season-high eight innings of work. He also succeeded in not allowing an earned run for the first time all season, but perhaps most importantly was the much needed rest he gave most of the bullpen after they carried Creighton to two mid-week walk-off wins over Nebraska and South Dakota State.
“Coach did mention to me last game against South Dakota State that we burned the bullpen, and that was already in the back of my mind a little bit,” Lacy said. “I try to go as deep as I can every game. Luckily, the defense knew what the situation was, and they played out of their minds for me tonight. Everything kind of went the right way, and we got our guys saved for the next two days. It was just a really good team effort all the way around.”
Junior closer David Gerber closed out Lacy’s sixth win of the season after watching his ace scatter five hits and strike out six Butler hitters without issuing a single walk all night long.
“He was throwing his best at the end,” Servais said of his Friday starter. “He made that decision to take him out after the eighth pretty hard. I was really happy. He went out there and did what you want your pitchers to do when that game gets near the end, to throw your best stuff, and he had his best pitches going in the eighth inning. The eighth inning might have been his best inning, so he made it hard, but he was a little over 100 [pitches], and that’s the first time he’s gone over 100 this year.”
“We decided to go with Dave, and once again Dave delivered in the ninth. We didn’t have any walks tonight or any hit-by-pitches, so we did a great job with eliminating the free bases tonight.”
With a 1-0 lead in the series, the Bluejays will go for the weekend clincher tomorrow afternoon at TD Ameritrade Park. On the hill for Creighton will be junior left-hander Jeff Albrecht (4-0, 1.23), while Butler plans to counter with a lefty of their own in Nick Morton (2-2, 4.04). First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m. (CST). Creighton plans to honor their 1991 College World Series team during the game before they are inducted into the university’s Athletics Hall of Fame later that night.