The Creighton baseball team entered the final eight days of the regular season with the hope that they could still put together some quality wins and improve their chances at an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament should they fall short in their conference tournament. By Saturday afternoon those plans had changed. The Nevada Wolf Pack (Overall: 40-12, Mountain West: 21-6) put an official end to any discussions about an at-large bid, positing a 5-4 victory on Friday and a 4-0 shutout on Saturday to earn the series win over Creighton (Overall: 27-16, Big East: 10-4). Sunday’s game was rained out, leaving Creighton not only with a series loss to the Wolf Pack, but also taking away a chance at getting a Top 50 win to put on their resume for the postseason.
Visit photos.whiteandbluereview.com to see Mike Spomer’s photos from Game 2 between Creighton and Nevada
Creighton’s starting pitchers struggled in the two games. Friday starter Rollie Lacy allowed three earned runs and walked a season-high five batters in five and 1/3 innings. Saturday starter Keith Rogalla didn’t make it out of the third inning after allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits.
Nevada came in with some gaudy offensive numbers, but they proved it was more than just a product of the ballpark. They did most of their damage in the series with two outs, grinding out at-bats, and making Creighton pitchers work for that third out. In the two games, the Wolf Pack posted a .292 batting average, scored five runs, hit two doubles, walked three times, and stole three bases all with two outs.
“They’re a good offensive team,” Creighton head coach Ed Servais said. “They’re confident, they’re a team that is playing well … they look every bit as good as a team that’s won a conference championship early like this. They’ve been on top of their game.”
Creighton’s offense, on the other hand, was not. The opportunities were there, but throughout the two games the Bluejays couldn’t find enough of those hits with runners in scoring position. Creighton had 16 hits in the two games. Only one fewer than Nevada, but with runners in scoring position they hit just 5-for-22, including 1-for-9 with a man on third, leaving the Bluejays frustrated and searching for answers.
“I don’t know what else we can say about it,” Servais said. “Eventually we’ve got to break through.”
The Bluejays have already clinched a spot as the second-seed in the Big East Tournament that they will host at TD Ameritrade Park beginning on May 21. With four regular season game remaining, they know now what they have to do.
“It’s going to come down to the conference tournament. There’s no if’s, and’s, or but’s any longer,” said the Creighton head coach. “A week or so ago there was an opportunity, but now because of our failure to play well [this weekend] we know what we have to do now. We’ll get things lined up, and we’ll try to work out a couple of these things that we’re not doing very well right now in preparation for the tournament.”
Game One, Friday, May 8: Nevada defeats Creighton, 5-4
Nevada third baseman Bryce Greager highlighted a perfect night at the plate with a go-ahead two-run single off Bluejays reliever Ethan DeCaster in the top of the eighth inning. Greager went 2-for-2 at the plate with a single, a double, two walks, two runs batted in, and a run scored to help the Wolf Pack earn a 5-4 come from behind win over Creighton on Friday night.
Creighton sophomore right fielder Kevin Connolly went 2-for-3 and drove in three runs, including two on a single up the middle in the bottom of the sixth inning to give the Bluejays a 4-3 lead.
“[Kevin] had a couple of really good at-bats to drive in three runs today, so it’s good to see him come around a little bit,” said Creighton head coach Ed Servais.
Aside from Connolly, the only other base hit that produced a run was an RBI single in the bottom of the first inning by sophomore shortstop Nicky Lopez. The Bluejays left nine men on base, went 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position, and finished 0-for-5 with a runner at third base if you take away the hits by Connolly and Lopez. Creighton has now lost six of the eight games that have been decided by one run after starting the season 5-2 in those close knit affairs.
“We left two runners at third with less than two outs, and it’s really been a tough situation for us all year,” Servais said. “Our guys are putting pretty good swings on pitches when there is no one on base, but we’re not putting our best bats forward when we get guys in scoring position. When you play teams like this you’ve got to play close to a perfect game, and offensively we did not. We’ve got to find ways to deliver that run in from third.”
After Greager’s go-ahead hit in the eighth inning, Nevada head coach Jay Johnson turned to his closer Adam Whitt to get the final six outs. Whitt allowed only a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth inning before setting down Creighton second base man Ryan Fitzgerald on strikes to end the game and strand the tying run at second base.
Game One Highlights
Bottom of the 1st: Center fielder Daniel Woodrow turned what looked like a bloop single into a leadoff double thanks to his elite speed. Woodrow was shaken up sliding into second base, but stayed in the game after getting looked over by the coaches and training staff. He moved to third on a balk by Nevada starting pitcher Trenton Brooks, then scampered home on an RBI single through the left side by shortstop Nicky Lopez to put the Bluejays ahead 1-0.
Top of the 2nd: Creighton starting pitcher Rollie Lacy looked to be in good shape after a 6-4-3 double play erased a leadoff walk, but Nevada third baseman Bryce Greager kept the inning alive with his 15th double of the season. He scored two pitches later to tie the game, 1-1, when right fielder Jay Anderson singled up the middle.
Bottom of the 2nd: Third baseman Harrison Crawford and designated hitter Brett Murray each got on base to start the frame. Crawford came home to score on double down the line in right field by right fielder Kevin Connolly to put Creighton back in front, 2-1. The Bluejays had a chance to build on the lead, Trenton Brooks got Nicky Lopez to ground out to first with the bases loaded.
Top of the 3rd: Nevada loaded the bases with a single, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch, then Trenton Brooks helped his own cause with a game-tying sacrifice fly to center field. Center fielder Cal Stevenson scored easily on the play to make it a 2-2 ball game.
Top of the 5th: Rollie Lacy walked the leadoff man for the third time tonight to start the inning. A hit-and-run put men on the corners with nobody out, and Ryan Howell’s run-scoring 6-4-3 double play gave Nevada its first lead of the game, 3-2.
Bottom of the 6th: Creighton started this frame off in a similar fashion as they did in the second — getting Harrison Crawford and Brett Murray aboard with nobody out. Pinch-hitter David Wiedeman moved them into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Then, with the infield drawn in, Kevin Connolly plated both runners with a go-ahead two-run single up the middle to give Creighton a 4-3 lead.
Top of the 8th: Bryce Greager came through with another timely hit for the Wolf Pack. Facing Creighton setup man Ethan DeCaster, the Nevada third baseman laced a two-run single into right field, scoring Austin Byler and Trenton Brooks to put Nevada back in front, 5-4.
Game Two, Saturday, May 9: Nevada shuts out Creighton, 4-0
Nevada pitchers Christian Stolo and Evan McMahan scattered eight hits to shutout the Bluejays, 4-0, and clinch the weekend series. Center fielder Cal Stevenson set the tone for the Wolf Pack at the top of the lineup. The speedy freshman went 2-for-5, scored twice and stole a base in the win. Catcher Jordan Devencenzi delivered a two-run single off Creighton starter Keith Rogalla with two outs in the top of the second inning. Left fielder Kewby Meyer made it 3-0 with an RBI single to chase Rogalla from the game with two outs in the top of the third inning, and right fielder Trenton Brooks knocked in Stevenson in the top of the fifth inning. That was all she wrote. At the end of the day the Wolf Pack finished 3-for-8 with runners in scoring position, all three hits coming with two outs.
“They put pressure on you all the time,” said Creighton first baseman Reagan Fowler. “Last night we had two outs with no one on and they ended up getting two runs out of that inning. Today again, they just grind you out. They make you work for each out and they work on each pitch.”
On the flip side, the Creighton offense looked lost with runners on base. The Bluejays put 11 men on base courtesy of eight hits, a walk, and two hit batters. Of those 11 base runners, five reached scoring position, and out of those five, three did so with only one out. Yet the only hit Creighton could manage all day with a runner in scoring position was a single by shortstop Nicky Lopez in the third inning that moved catcher Joey Mancuso from the second to third with one out. They followed that up with a strikeout by Fowler and a fly out by Brett Murray.
“It’s very disappointing,” Fowler said. “It’s 3-0 and I was up with first and third and one out, and I had a bad at-bat that led to no runs. We just have to find a way to score those runs.”
Left-handed starting pitcher Stolo held the Bluejays scoreless over five innings to improve his record to 7-1 on the season before giving way to right-handed reliever McMahan to close it out. McMahan struck out three hitters and scattered three singles over the final four innings to earn his third save and preserve Nevada’s 40th win of the 2015 campaign.
Game Two Highlights
Top of the 2nd: Nevada right fielder Trenton Brooks led of the frame with a single. He then stole second base and moved to third when Creighton’s catcher Joey Mancuso misfired on his throw down to second. A walk put two men on with two outs, and Nevada catcher Jordan Devencenzi cashed them in with a two-run single to center field off Keith Rogalla to put the Wolf Pack in front, 2-0.
Top of the 3rd: A single by Cal Stevenson and a walk to Trenton Brooks put two on with two outs once again for the Wolf Pack, and once again the Nevada offense took advantage of the situation. Left fielder Kewby Meyer drove his 51st RBI of the season on a single just out of reach of Creighton second baseman Ryan Fitzgerald. Stevenson scored without a throw to push the lead to 3-0.
Top of the 5th: Cal Stevenson led things off with a single over a leaping Nicky Lopez at shortstop. He moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt, then with two outs he scampered home on an RBI single by Trenton Brooks to make it 4-0, Wolf Pack.
Next Up:
- vs #20 Arkansas (Overall: 30-19, SEC: 15-11) on Tuesday, May 12 at 6:00 p.m. at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha (game will be televised on CBS Sports Network)
- vs Villanova (Overall: 21-25, Big East: 7-8) on Thursday, May 14 at 12:30 p.m. at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha
- vs Villanova on Friday, May 15 at 6:30 p.m. at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha (game will be televised on NET)
- vs Villanova on Saturday, May 16 at 1:00 p.m. at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha (regular season finale)