After scrapping their home-opening series with Northern Colorado due to an endless and unforgiving winter, the Creighton baseball team will take its 5-1 record and head back out on the road for a weather-shortened doubleheader on Friday against former Missouri Valley Conference rival Wichita State. Both teams are in different leagues now as the Bluejays are in their sixth season as a member of the Big East, while the Shockers are a handful of games into their second season in the American Athletic Conference. The longtime rivals haven’t agreed on much over their years, but one thing they will certainly be able to find common ground on is the hope that the weather will cooperate well enough this weekend for them to squeeze a few more games into their long and storied history.
Series Details
- Location: Eck Stadium (capacity: 7,851)
- Game 1: Friday, March 1 at 1:00 p.m.
- Game 2: Friday, March 1 (45 minutes after conclusion of Game 1)
- Series History: Wichita State leads the all-time series 116-49-1
- Last Meeting: March 18, 2018 in Omaha (Wichita State won 7-4 at TD Ameritrade Park)
The Weather In Wichita
Mother Nature managed to reduce what was originally scheduled to be a five-game week down to just two, but at least according to weather.com, it looks like the Bluejays and Shockers should be able to get through Friday’s double dip without much interference. Forecast for game day currently calls for a low of 22 degrees with a high of 47 and only a 10% chance of rain at night. That sounds like paradise compared to what Omaha has to offer at the moment.
Thoughts On Wichita State
The Shockers started the season by losing five of their first six games, but ended last weekend with an 18-2 win over Stephen F. Austin and an 8-6 win at UT Arlington to improve to 3-5 before their tussle with the Bluejays. Two of their five losses have come by just a single run, including a 3-2 loss to Stephen F. Austin in 11 innings and a 5-4 setback against 12th-ranked Stanford in a game that was tied going into the seventh inning.
They are led at the plate by three seniors that are each currently sporting on-base percentages north of .500. Second baseman Luke Ritter leads the team in every major offensive category. Through eight games, he is slashing .452/.585/.774 with two home runs, nine runs batted in, and 10 runs scored. Shortstop Jordan Boyer and first baseman Mason O’Brien are the only other players besides Ritter currently hitting above the .300 mark. Boyer is slashing .414/.541/.552 with five runs batted in and eight runs scored, while O’Brien is sitting at .400/.531/.680 with one homer, four doubles, five runs batted in, and five runs scored.
Sophomore right-hander Liam Eddy leads the starting pitching staff with a 2.13 earned run average in 12 and 2/3 innings of work so far in 2019. After working five and 2/3 innings of one-run ball out of the bullpen against Stanford, Eddy earned a start on Saturday the following weekend and went seven innings in the aforementioned 18-2 drubbing of Stephen F. Austin. He came out of the bullpen the first weekend, then started the third game for the Shockers in week two, so they’ll have to shake up their current order if they want to get him a start against the Bluejays during this series.
By The Numbers
- Creighton: 5-1 overall, 0-0 Big East, RPI: 64
- Wichita State: 3-5 overall, 0-0 AAC, RPI: 157
On The Mound
Projected Pitching Matchups
- Friday, March 1, Game 1: Creighton RHP Mitch Ragan (2-0, 4.85 ERA) vs. Wichita State RHP Clayton McGinness (0-1, 4.50 ERA)
- Friday, March 1, Game 2: Creighton LHP Denson Hull (0-0, 11.05 ERA) vs. Wichita State RHP Preston Snavely (1-1, 5.11 ERA)
At The Dish
Projected Starting Lineups
Creighton
- Isaac Collins 2B – .290 OBP | 1 HR | 5 RBI | 1 SB
- Parker Upton CF – .633 OBP | 2 HR | 5 RBI | 3 SB
- Will Robertson RF – .452 OBP | 2 HR | 7 RBI | 0 SB
- Jake Holton DH – .433 OBP | 4 HR | 11 RBI | 1 SB
- Jack Strunc SS – .367 OBP | 0 HR | 6 RBI | 2 SB
- Jordan Hovey 3B – .480 OBP | 2 HR | 5 RBI | 1 SB
- Jason Allbery 1B – .417 OBP | 0 HR | 2 RBI | 1 SB
- Jared Wegner LF – .294 OBP | 1 HR | 6 RBI | 2 SB
- Garrett Gilbert C – .381 OBP | 1 HR | 7 RBI | 0 SB
Wichita State
- Jacob Katzfey CF – .293 OBP | 0 HR | 5 RBI | 0 SB
- Jordan Boyer SS – .541 OBP | 0 HR | 5 RBI | 1 SB
- Luke Ritter 2B – .585 OBP | 2 HR | 9 RBI | 2 SB
- Paxton Wallace 3B – .242 OBP | 1 HR | 3 RBI | 0 SB
- Mason O’Brien 1B – .531 OBP | 1 HR | 5 RBI | 0 SB
- Hunter Gibson RF – .385 OBP | 0 HR | 5 RBI | 0 SB
- Ross Cadena C – .273 OBP | 0 HR | 4 RBI | 0 SB
- Jake Plastiak DH – .286 OBP | 0 HR | 2 RBI | 0 SB
- Alex Jackson LF – .270 OBP | 0 HR | 6 RBI | 0 SB