Ed Servais has helped lead the Jays to the Big East regular season and conference titles (Spomer / WBR)
Coming into the season — his 22nd and final one as head coach of Creighton’s baseball program — Ed Servais was confident that he had a roster of guys capable of putting together a memorable year. But even he admitted that you never truly know if all of it will come together until you get out there and start throwing the ball around when it matters.
41 wins later, including a share of the Big East regular season title and clean sweep through Prasco Park to claim the conference tournament crown, Servais’ instincts proved correct once again as Bluejays topped St. John’s, Xavier, and UConn over the course of four days in Mason, Ohio to secure the Big East’s automatic bid and punch their ticket to the NCAA Regionals for the first time since 2019.
As his players and staff celebrated on the Prasco Park field around him, the long-time Creighton skipper briefly looked back on the journey to this moment ever since he announced a year ago this week that this would be his final run at the helm.
“In the back of your mind when you announce this is going to be your last year you’re thinking, jeez, the last thing you want to do is go 20-30 or something like that,” Servais said. “You want to go out on top. You want the program to be headed in the right direction. You want the players to focus on themselves. A lot of these guys have been a part of this for four years and they deserve it … it’s special. I’ll have a chance to reflect on it quite a bit when it’s all over.”
The top-seeded Bluejays completed the feat courtesy of a 7-4 win over the UConn team they shared the regular season championship with a week ago.
Creighton starter Shea Wendt tossed three hitless innings. He struck out six Huskies in his 3-plus frames to set the tone on the mound and make sure the game started off in a relatively “normal” fashion on a night when the Jays just needed to find a way to win one game while the Huskies had to win twice.
Wendt’s six punchouts tied his career-high and it was just the second time in his career that the native of Blair, Nebraska held an opponent scoreless over three or more innings.
“We don’t have a chance without him,” Servais said of the sophomore right-hander. “We needed him to get us into the game; we needed him to get us some outs; he got us nine. In the first part of games like that there is a lot of tension, there is a lot of stress, and he handled it.
“He gave us a chance. I think he settled the team down … I just can’t say enough about Shea and what he did.”
Graduate senior Dakota Duffalo got the start at designated hitter and started the scoring off with a solo blast over the scoreboard behind the left field fence to give Creighton a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning. It was the first start of the tournament for Duffalo, but after some good batting practice sessions throughout the week, Ed Servais felt that he could provide the Jays some punch at the bottom of the lineup. The Utah transfer rewarded his head coach by leaving the yard for the first time since March 22.
“That was huge,” Servais said. “I’ve watched batting practice quite a bit basically to try to make decisions on DH role because the other spots are pretty locked in. Dakota had taken some good BP the last couple days, but he hasn’t had too many at-bats so I wanted to see what he could do.”
Creighton held UConn hitless through the first four and a third innings until center fielder Caleb Shpur ended the drought with a solo homer off the left field scoreboard to tie the game at 1-1. The Bluejays answered in the bottom half of the fifth, taking the lead back when Kyle Hess was hit by a pitch with strikes and the bases loaded. They added to it on a sacrifice fly to center off the bat of Tate Gillen to bring home first baseman Will MacLean and make it a 3-1 ballgame with 12 outs to go.
Starting with that fifth inning, the Bluejays would go on to score at least one run in each of their final four innings where they came to the plate. MacLean and shortstop Ben North’s sac flies in the bottom of the sixth and seventh made it 5-2, and Gillen’s 2-out, 2-run double in the eighth pushed the lead to 7-2.
That was plenty of run support for closer Garrett Langrell, who locked down the final nine outs to finish off the championship performance.
“We knew that with ‘Lang’ going there was never really a doubt on the mound,” MacLean said. “For us offensively in the batter’s box we just had to keep applying pressure. Whether that was with the bunt game or putting balls in play and making them make plays. We knew we were going to barrel up all their guys because we were doing it all night, so we just had to stay on them. That was big for ‘Lang’ and everyone else who went out there knowing we were going to score, so all they had to do was fill up the zone and let our defense work behind them.”
MacLean had to put those words into action on the final play of the game, and he did so in spectacular fashion. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Langrell induced a hot shot in the hole to the Bluejay first baseman. Instead of flipping to his pitcher covering, as is typically the move on a play like, MacLean ate it and raced to the bag himself, eventually diving headfirst and tagging the bag with his glove before UConn designated hitter Beau Root could beat him to it.
The play seemed a bit unconventional, but as it turns out, it was the only decision MacLean could have made because he couldn’t actually see Langrell.
“It’s funny because I really didn’t have a choice,” MacLean said. “I was talking to Kyle [Hess] and Teddy [Deters] all day because that sun was starting to set right behind the backstop, and it was in my eyes all day. I was standing there are first base in that last inning telling myself, ‘Oh my god, if they hit a ground ball to me, I’m not going to be able to see it.’
“And of course, I manifested it, and the ball was hit right to me. I looked up after I snagged it, and I couldn’t see ‘Lang’ because of the sun. I had no idea that he was standing right next to me. I just had to go, and my best bet was to slide headfirst with the ball and that’s exactly what I did. It was all instinct.”
The original call on the field was that MacLean beat Root for the final out. Creighton’s players dogpiled in front of first base while the umpires ran off to review and ultimately confirm the original call.
As soon as Creighton is done celebrating, they’ll head home, kick their feet up, and meet up on Monday morning to see where the NCAA Selection Committee sends them on the “Road to Omaha.”
For his money, Ed Servais is excited to find out and not just because his team will be happy to be invited.
“I’m really anxious to see where they send us,” Servais said. “I think this team has a chance to stick around for a bit, so we’ll see.”