2007 Season Review
2007 Season Review
Season Review Narrative ................................ 36-37 2007 Season Honors ........................................... 37 2007 Game-By-Game Results .............................. 38 2007 Season Statistics ....................................... 39 2007 Games Summary ........................................ 40 2007 Missouri Valley Conference Review ............ 41 2007 Postseason Summary ................................. 42
Introduction Coaches 2008 Bluejays 2007 Review About Creighton Records/History Media Info 36
The 2007 Creighton baseball season was one for the record books, filled with great success and a number of memorable moments. The Bluejays finished the year with a 45-16 overall record, including a 19-5 mark in Missouri Valley Conference play to give CU its best conference winning percentage in school history. Creighton captured its first-ever MVC Tournament crown with a thrilling 10-9, come-from-behind 12-inning victory over regular-season champ Wichita State in the title game. The Bluejays advanced to their eighth NCAA Tournament in school history, finishing 1-2 at the Fayetteville Regional. The Bluejays’ 45 victories ranked as the fourthmost in recorded school history. Built around sound fundamentals and unselfishness, the 2007 squad set school records for sacrifice bunts (93) and times hit by pitch (116). The team again led the MVC in fielding percentage, at .975, and posted a league-best 77 double plays. CU’s pitching staff recorded the MVC’s second-best earned run average, at 3.56. Three hurlers finished with sub-3.00 ERAs and four earned All-America recognition as Creighton allowed fewer runs than any team in the Valley. Along with the team’s success came plenty of individual accolades. Creighton dominated the MVC specialty awards, claiming four of the five most prestigious awards in the conference. Sophomore first baseman Darin Ruf was named the Joe Carter MVC Player of the Year as he Chris Gradoville led the Bluejays in 10 different offensive categories. Junior starting pitcher Ben Mancuso was selected as the MVC Pitcher of the Year after recording a 10-3 record. Senior transfer Andy Masten was brilliant out of the bullpen, earning the MVC Newcomer of the Year award after recording a school-record 16 saves and posting a 2.02 ERA. The architect of the team’s success, head coach Ed Servais, was named the MVC Coach of the Year for the third time in his four seasons as CU’s head man. One of the nation’s best stories revolved around junior pitcher Pat Venditte. The country’s only known ambidextrous pitcher earned All-America recognition from four media outlets and was selected by InsidePitching.com as the Midwest Region Pitcher of the Year after leading the Bluejays with a school-record 1.88 ERA. Venditte also set a school record with 38 appearances, led the team with 99 strikeouts and pieced together an incredible 43.2-inning scoreless streak during the season. He was named the MVC Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after allowing only one run in 12 innings of work, leading to National Player of the Week laurels from Collegiate Baseball. Joining Venditte in receiving All-America accolades were Mancuso, Masten and rookie Casey Schmidt. Schmidt, who went 6-1 on the mound with victories over Kansas State, Nebraska, Wichita State and Albany, became the first Bluejay since 2002 to earn Freshman AllAmerica status. Mancuso was named a third-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball, while Masten earned NCBWA Second-Team All-America accolades. The 2007 season saw 12 different school records broken, including a new NCAA record along the way. Freshman Robbie Knight became the all-time NCAA single-season record holder as he was hit by 35 pitches. Knight was hit four times in a game against Oklahoma on March 7 to set the single-game CU record. Another of the new school records also set an MVC mark, as senior left-handed pitcher Scott Reese became the all-time CU and MVC career appearances record holder, finishing with 123 career outings after appearing in 28 games in 2007. The team’s eventual success seemed far from reality at the beginning of the season, as the team started with a 2-4 record. After a 4-3 opening day victory over Gardner-Webb in Rock Hill, S.C., Creighton lost four of its next five games in February. The Jays finished the trip to South Carolina with losses to 25thranked Winthrop and Maryland. The Bluejays then traveled to Beaumont, Texas, and lost two of three contests. Following a 6-3 win over Arkansas State on Feb. 23, CU lost to Lamar and Northwestern on consecutive days. March started on a much better note, as the Bluejays won their first three contests of the month by sweeping a three-game series at Arkansas-Little Rock. Following two losses at Big 12 Conference member Oklahoma, the Bluejays returned to Omaha for the home-opener on March 9 against Saint Louis. Creighton won all three meetings with the Billikens on their way to a 7-1 opening homestand. After a loss to South Dakota State on March 13, the Jays swept a four-game series with North Dakota State to enter MVC play with a 12-7 record. After falling in the conference opener to Evansville on March 23, the Bluejays stormed back to win the next two games in the series. The momentum was carried into a midweek meeting with 25th-ranked Missouri, as senior Chad Ogden’s walk-off double propelled CU to an upset victory over the Tigers. Creighton ended March with a series-opening win over Northern Iowa, then proceeded to sweep the three-game series over the Panthers with two victories on the first day of April to push the Jays’ win streak to six games. The first of three meetings with Nebraska on April 3 ended CU’s win streak as the Huskers won 12-10 on a 36-degree night at Rosenblatt Stadium. The Bluejays then took an 18-9 record and 5-1 league mark into a battle of what proved to be the MVC’s top two teams at Wichita State. Creighton rallied from a 2-0 deficit with three ninth-inning runs to defeat the Shockers in the series opener, 3-2. Strong pitching by Wichita State, however, stifled the Creighton offense and the Shockers captured the final two games of the series to take control of the MVC standings. Creighton returned to the state of Kansas just two nights later for a midweek non-conference battle at Kansas State. The game would mark the coming-out party for the right-handed Schmidt, as the freshman allowed only three hits in five scoreless innings in his fourth career start, leading CU to a 3-1 win that marked the start of a season-long 11-game win streak. Creighton closed out the month with three-game series sweeps over Bradley, Indiana State and Northern Colorado, sandwiched in between a 2-1 victory over Nebraska in Lincoln on April 17. The win streak gave the Jays a 14-3 April and a 30-11 overall mark entering the final month of the regular season. Southern Illinois ended Creighton’s 11-game win streak on May 4 with a 4-3, 11-inning victory over the Jays at Rosenblatt. CU responded admirably to take the series with victories over the Salukis the following two days, beginning a new win streak covering 10 games. Two doubles by junior Michael Lam led the Jays to a 5-2 win in game two, and Creighton won the rubber match, 7-0, behind a career-best eight scoreless innings on the mound from Mancuso. After a doubleheader sweep over North Dakota State in Fargo on May 9, Creighton notched its fourth series sweep of MVC play on the road at Illinois State to stay in a first-place tie atop the conference standings. The Jays returned to Omaha for the final non-conference matchup of the regular season, the rubber match against in-state rival Nebraska. Before 18,316 fans at Rosenblatt Stadium, seniors Chris Gradoville Marc Lewis and Andrew Small both drove in three runs as the Jays beat the Huskers by a convincing 9-2 tally. The
2008 Creighton Baseball
MVC Scholar-Athlete Team Michael Lam, Jr., INF ....................................First Team Ben Mancuso, Jr., LHP .................................First Team Darin Ruf, So., 1B ..........................................First Team MVC All-Tournament Team Michael Lam, Jr., 2B Zak Moore, So., RHP Chad Ogden, Sr., SS Darin Ruf, So., 1B Ross Sinclair, Sr., OF Pat Venditte, Jr., RHP/LHP (MVP) NCAA All-Regional Team Brett Mieras, Jr., DH Chad Ogden, Sr., SS Steve Winkelmann, Jr., 3B MVC Players of the Week Darin Ruf ..........................................................April 2 Darin Ruf ..........................................................May 14
MVC Scholar-Athletes of the Week Darin Ruf ..........................................................May 2 Darin Ruf ..........................................................May 16 Michael Lam ...................................................May 23
2007 Review
MVC Pitchers of the Week Pat Venditte....................................................March 5 Ben Mancuso .................................................May 7
2008 Bluejays
Chris Gradoville • Johnny Bench Award Semifinalist Michael Lam • CoSIDA Academic All-District VII Ben Mancuso • MVC Pitcher of the Year • Second-Team ABCA All-Midwest Region Andy Masten • MVC Newcomer of the Year • NCBWA Stopper of the Year Finalist • NCBWA Second-Team All-American • First-Team ABCA All-Midwest Region Darin Ruf • Joe Carter MVC Player of the Year • Second-Team ABCA All-Midwest Region • Rawlings Gold Glove recipient Casey Schmidt • Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American
Pat Venditte • Baseball America Second-Team All-American • Rivals.com Second-Team All-American • SouthernCollegeSports.com Second-Team All-American • Collegiate Baseball Third-Team All-American • Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week (5/28) • InsidePitching.com Midwest Region Pitcher of the Year
Media Info
Ed Servais • MVC Coach of the Year
Records/History About Creighton
2008 Creighton Baseball
All-Missouri Valley Conference Ben Mancuso, Jr., LHP .................................First Team Andy Masten, Sr., RHP ................................First Team Darin Ruf, So., 1B ..........................................First Team Pat Venditte, Jr., RHP/LHP .........................First Team Chris Gradoville, Sr., C .................................Second Team
Coaches
Tournament and NCAA All-Regional team.
2007 Creighton Honors
Introduction
win marked the second time in three years Creighton captured the regular season series against the Huskers. Creighton took its first-place MVC standing into the season’s final series against Missouri State at the CU Sports Complex. Behind a strong pitching effort from senior Marc Lewis, the Jays took the series opener with a 1-0 win against MSU ace Ross Detwiler, the eventual sixth pick in the 2007 MLB Draft. After a 3-2 win in game two, the Jays entered the regular season finale with a chance to claim a share of the MVC regular season title. It wasn’t meant to be for CU, however, as the Bears used a three-run first inning to take a 4-3 victory and hand Mancuso only his second loss of the season. Creighton entered the State Farm MVC Tournament in Springfield, Mo., as the No. 2 seed and faced fifth-seeded Southern Illinois in the tournament opener. The Salukis jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but the Jays rallied furiously behind a two-run homer by Ogden and three RBIs by Small to take an 8-5 victory. Venditte was magnificent in relief of the starter Lewis, pitching 5.2 innings of scoreless relief while allowing only one hit. While earning the victory, Venditte extended his scoreless streak to 38.1 innings and lowered his ERA to 1.87. The Bluejays defeated Bradley 2-0 the following day, May 24, behind a gem from sophomore starter Zak Moore. The right-hander fired eight scoreless innings, allowing only two hits. Second baseman Lam was responsible for both runs at the plate and Masten came in to record his school-record 16th save of the season. The two teams met again the following day, but Creighton took the suspense out of this meeting by scoring early and often on its way to a 17-2 win. The victory sent the Jays to the championship game, against old nemesis and 12th-ranked Wichita State. The Shockers entered the championship having to beat Creighton twice as a result of an earlier loss in the double-elimination tournament, while the Jays were unscathed up to that point. In the first championship game, Wichita State ace right-hander Aaron Shafer combined with two other Shockers to hold the Jays to a single run on six hits in a 2-1 WSU victory. The do-or-die championship game was delayed by rain, making for a late night and early morning that Creighton fans aren’t soon to forget. Without an experienced starting pitcher available, head coach Ed Servais turned to the switch-pitcher Venditte to make his first career start in the team’s most important game of the season. Venditte responded with an outing that will go down as one of the finest in CU baseball history, tossing a career-high 6.1 innings while allowing only one run and striking out a careerbest 10 batters. A Wichita State sacrifice fly in the sixth ended Venditte’s scoreless innings streak at 43.2, but the Jays held a 6-1 lead when the junior exited with one out in the seventh. The Shockers, however, found success against CU’s All-American closer Masten with four runs in the eighth and one in the ninth to send the game to extra innings. WSU scored three runs in the top of the 11th inning to turn the once-promising night into a nightmare scenario. However, the resilient Jays responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the frame as seniors Gradoville and Ross Sinclair both laced two-out RBI doubles to keep CU’s dreams alive. After the freshman Schmidt shut down the powerful Shocker bats in his two innings of relief, the stage was set for a memorable bottom of the 12th. After a leadoff walk, the senior Small drove a ball into deep left-center field that one-hopped the wall. Pinch runner Brandon Knox rounded the bases from first and slid safely into home to send the Bluejays into celebration with a 10-9 victory. The conference tournament title gave Creighton an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, where the Jays were sent to the Fayetteville Regional as the No. 2 seed. The 20th-ranked Jays entered the regional opener against third-seed Oklahoma State as winners of 25 of their last 28 games, but the 22ndranked Cowboys jumped out to a four-run first inning and rode starting pitcher Oliver Odle to a 6-4 win. The Jays battled back for a dominating eliminationgame victory over Albany, routing the Great Danes by a score of 21-11. Junior Steve Winkelmann went 3-for-4 and drove in six runs, the most by a CU player in 2007, and six other Bluejays recorded multi-hit games. The lopsided victory would prove to be the team’s last of the season, as 11th-ranked Arkansas ended Creighton’s season with a 6-0 win behind strong pitching from 2007 first-round MLB draft pick Nick Schmidt and two homers from catcher Brian Walker. The 2007 team consisted of 10 seniors, whose success leaves the 2008 Jays with big shoes to fill. The seniors from the 45-win team leave their mark on the CU record books, picking up 159 victories in four seasons and making two trips to the NCAA Tournament. Despite the loss of many key contributors, the future remains bright as CU returns three of its four regular starters and both corner infield spots in 2008. With the foundation laid by the 2007 team and its predecessors, the longChad Ogden was named to both the MVC Allterm outlook for Creighton baseball is very promising.
37
Introduction Coaches 2008 Bluejays 2007 Review About Creighton Records/History Media Info
2007 Game-By-Game Results (45-16) Date 2/9 2/10 2/11 2/23 2/24 2/25 3/3 3/3 3/4 3/6 3/7 3/9 3/10 3/11 3/13 3/16 3/17 3/18 3/18 3/23 3/24 3/25 3/27 3/30 4/1 4/1 4/3 4/6 4/7 4/8 4/11 4/13 4/14 4/15 4/17 4/20 4/21 4/22 4/27 4/28 4/29 5/4 5/5 5/6 5/9 5/9 5/11 5/12 5/13 5/15 5/17 5/18 5/19 5/23 5/24 5/25 5/26 5/26 6/1 6/2 6/3
Opponent vs. Gardner-Webb & at #25 Winthrop & vs. Maryland & vs. Arkansas State % at Lamar % vs. Northwestern % at Arkansas-Little Rock at Arkansas-Little Rock at Arkansas-Little Rock at Oklahoma at Oklahoma SAINT LOUIS SAINT LOUIS SAINT LOUIS SOUTH DAKOTA STATE NORTH DAKOTA STATE NORTH DAKOTA STATE NORTH DAKOTA STATE NORTH DAKOTA STATE at Evansville* at Evansville* at Evansville* #25 MISSOURI NORTHERN IOWA* NORTHERN IOWA* NORTHERN IOWA* NEBRASKA # at #8 Wichita State* at #8 Wichita State* at #8 Wichita State* at Kansas State BRADLEY* BRADLEY* BRADLEY* at Nebraska at Indiana State* at Indiana State* at Indiana State* NORTHERN COLORADO NORTHERN COLORADO NORTHERN COLORADO SOUTHERN ILLINOIS* # SOUTHERN ILLINOIS* # SOUTHERN ILLINOIS* at North Dakota State at North Dakota State at Illinois State* at Illinois State* at Illinois State* NEBRASKA # MISSOURI STATE* MISSOURI STATE* MISSOURI STATE* vs. Southern Illinois @ vs. Bradley @ vs. Bradley @ vs. #12 Wichita State @ vs. #12 Wichita State @ vs. #22 Oklahoma State $ vs. Albany $ at #11 Arkansas $
Home games in BOLD CAPS & = Played at Rock Hill, S.C.
38
W/L Score W 4-3 L 3-4 (10) L 4-10 W 6-3 L 3-12 L 3-4 W 10-6 W 4-2 (10) W 8-4 L 2-4 L 2-8 W 6-1 W 5-4 (10) W 14-0 L 4-13 W 7-4 W 5-3 W 10-6 W 9-8 L 0-6 W 4-3 W 9-1 W 4-3 W 13-3 W 10-5 W 8-1 L 10-12 W 3-2 L 1-2 L 1-7 W 3-1 W 4-2 W 4-2 W 3-2 W 2-1 W 15-5 W 3-2 W 16-0 W 8-4 W 9-4 W 17-6 L 3-4 (11) W 5-2 W 7-0 W 12-2 W 13-5 W 10-3 W 5-3 W 7-3 W 9-2 W 1-0 W 3-2 L 3-4 W 8-5 W 2-0 W 17-2 L 1-2 W 10-9 (12) L 4-6 W 21-11 L 0-6
Creighton R H E 4 11 0 3 9 0 4 4 1 6 8 1 3 7 0 3 7 0 10 13 0 4 14 2 8 9 1 2 5 1 2 9 0 6 7 1 5 11 1 14 13 0 4 11 0 7 11 0 5 6 2 10 11 0 9 13 0 0 7 0 4 9 3 9 13 2 4 9 0 13 13 1 10 12 1 8 5 0 10 14 3 3 8 1 1 3 0 1 6 2 3 4 0 4 8 0 4 6 1 3 7 1 2 5 1 15 12 4 3 10 3 16 14 0 8 13 0 9 10 0 17 20 0 3 14 2 5 7 2 7 15 0 12 11 1 13 14 3 10 11 1 5 11 2 7 13 1 9 9 0 1 3 0 3 4 0 3 6 1 8 12 2 2 5 2 17 15 1 1 6 1 10 15 1 4 9 0 21 21 3 0 4 4
* = Missouri Valley Conference Game # = Played at Rosenblatt Stadium
Opponent R H E 3 9 1 4 15 2 10 16 2 3 7 4 12 18 1 4 7 4 6 9 2 2 6 2 4 6 0 4 8 0 8 11 1 1 6 2 4 12 1 0 7 3 13 16 1 4 8 1 3 4 2 6 9 3 8 9 2 6 6 0 3 8 0 1 9 1 3 8 0 3 6 1 5 7 1 1 6 2 12 14 6 2 8 2 2 8 0 7 13 1 1 5 1 2 7 0 2 5 2 2 5 1 1 6 0 5 14 3 2 11 0 0 5 1 4 9 1 4 7 1 6 15 2 4 13 1 2 6 0 0 4 2 2 7 2 5 8 4 3 8 4 3 7 2 3 6 1 2 10 3 0 4 1 2 8 0 4 11 1 5 10 3 0 2 2 2 7 3 2 5 0 9 14 1 6 10 2 11 13 5 6 11 0
Overall Record 1-0 1-1 1-2 2-2 2-3 2-4 3-4 4-4 5-4 5-5 5-6 6-6 7-6 8-6 8-7 9-7 10-7 11-7 12-7 12-8 13-8 14-8 15-8 16-8 17-8 18-8 18-9 19-9 19-10 19-11 20-11 21-11 22-11 23-11 24-11 25-11 26-11 27-11 28-11 29-11 30-11 30-12 31-12 32-12 33-12 34-12 35-12 36-12 37-12 38-12 39-12 40-12 40-13 41-13 42-13 43-13 43-14 44-14 44-15 45-15 45-16
@ = MVC Tournament (Springfield, Mo.) $ = NCAA Regionals (Fayetteville, Ark.)
2008 Creighton Baseball
MVC Record 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 1-1 2-1 2-1 3-1 4-1 5-1 5-1 6-1 6-2 6-3 6-3 7-3 8-3 9-3 9-3 10-3 11-3 12-3 12-3 12-3 12-3 12-4 13-4 14-4 14-4 14-4 15-4 16-4 17-4 17-4 18-4 19-4 19-5 19-5 19-5 19-5 19-5 19-5 19-5 19-5 19-5
Pitcher of Record Lewis (W, 1-0) Masten (L, 0-1) Johnston (L, 0-1) Lewis (W, 2-0) Moore (L, 0-1) Johnston (L, 0-2) Venditte (W, 1-0) Masten (W, 1-1) Stanley (W, 1-0) Venditte (L, 1-1) Merchant (L, 0-1) Lewis (W, 3-0) Masten (W, 2-1) Mancuso (W, 1-0) Schmidt (L, 0-1) Lewis (W, 4-0) Moore (W, 1-1) Mancuso (W, 2-0) Masten (W, 3-1) Lewis (L, 4-1) Venditte (W, 2-1) Mancuso (W, 3-0) Masten (W, 4-1) Venditte (W, 3-1) Schmidt (W, 1-1) Mancuso (W, 4-0) Masten (L, 4-2) Reese (W, 1-0) Venditte (L, 3-2) Mancuso (L, 4-1) Schmidt (W, 2-1) Lewis (W, 5-1) Moore (W, 2-1) Mancuso (W, 5-1) Venditte (W, 4-2) Lewis (W, 6-1) Venditte (W, 5-2) Mancuso (W, 6-1) Venditte (W, 6-2) Moore (W, 3-1) Mancuso (W, 7-1) Masten (L, 4-3) Moore (W, 4-1) Mancuso (W, 8-1) Schmidt (W, 3-1) Venditte (W, 7-2) Lewis (W, 7-1) Reese (W, 2-0) Mancuso (W, 9-1) Schmidt (W, 4-1) Lewis (W, 8-1) Reese (W, 3-0) Mancuso (L, 9-2) Venditte (W, 8-2) Moore (W, 5-1) Mancuso (W, 10-2) Lewis (L, 8-2) Schmidt (W, 5-1) Lewis (L, 8-3) Schmidt (W, 6-1) Mancuso (L, 10-3)
% = Played at Beaumont, Texas
Att. 100 648 242 113 312 154 311 241 252 635 534 256 369 521 477 215 318 310 310 569 601 587 347 303 683 6,524 3,020 3,288 2,806 387 335 557 657 6,841 260 148 217 403 509 618 2,316 1,031 620 283 317 423 415 18,316 322 427 837 1,051 1,077 1,077 1,312 1,274 3,109 2,681 6,848
Time 2:45 3:35 2:34 2:20 2:33 2:36 2:50 3:05 2:25 2:23 2:34 2:14 2:51 2:23 2:40 2:27 2:10 2:13 2:35 2:12 2:14 2:42 2:10 2:44 2:37 2:28 3:41 2:10 2:17 2:04 2:51 1:51 2:13 1:54 2:15 3:22 2:41 1:56 2:12 2:21 2:39 3:04 2:11 2:17 2:02 2:29 2:23 2:22 2:08 2:39 2:02 2:15 2:14 2:32 1:56 2:05 1:53 3:27 2:34 4:06 2:35
Overall: 45-16 • Home: 22-4 • Away: 16-8 • Neutral: 7-4 • MVC: 19-5
Hitting Player
AVG
GP-GS
AB
R
H
2B
3B
HR
RBI
TB
SLG
BB
HBP
SO
OBP
SF-SH
SB-Att
PO
A
E
FLD
15 Darin Ruf
.374
61-61
230
53
86
19
3
8
57
135
.587
35
9
36
.463
7-2
1-2
587
22
2
.997 .986
20 Chris Gradoville
45
81
15
2
5
56
115
.481
29
10
33
.424
5-4
2-6
354
59
6
128
23
41
11
0
0
16
52
.406
18
4
25
.420
0-8
1-3
76
104
5
.973
31 Ross Sinclair
.310
55-42
168
37
52
4
1
0
16
58
.345
12
11
28
.393
0-17
8-11
113
5
2
.983
5 Andrew Small
.292
61-54
209
43
61
12
5
3
39
92
.440
18
9
41
.368
3-7
9-11
91
1
2
.979
7 Chad Ogden
.280
60-59
211
36
59
14
2
8
39
101
.479
22
13
25
.376
4-15
3-4
89
188
10
.965
8 Steve Winkelmann
.277
58-57
184
37
51
4
1
5
45
72
.391
33
9
32
.397
8-15
3-3
44
121
14
.922
2 Robbie Knight
.270
60-58
215
51
58
7
2
0
26
69
.321
20
35
33
.417
1-10
12-18
111
6
2
.983
16 Brett Mieras
.261
39-27
92
14
24
8
0
1
13
35
.380
8
2
11
.330
1-6
1-1
42
2
0
1.000
24 Andy Masten
.241
46-35
137
23
33
2
0
5
22
50
.365
15
5
33
.329
4-6
1-2
17
6
0
1.000
4 Ryan Urzendowski --------------
.217
31-30
92
11
20
2
0
0
9
22
.239
8
4
25
.308
0-3
1-2
58
96
11
.933
33 Dan Blair
.667
3-0
3
1
2
0
0
0
1
2
.667
1
0
1
.750
0-0
0-0
1
0
0
1.000
.333
24-9
33
10
11
0
0
1
10
14
.424
4
2
13
.436
0-0
0-0
11
2
1
.929
30 Matt Bowers
.250
8-1
8
2
2
0
0
0
0
2
.250
4
0
2
.500
0-0
0-0
0
0
0
.000
37 Brett Clark
.250
2-1
4
2
1
0
0
0
0
1
.250
1
0
1
.400
0-0
0-0
0
0
0
.000
18 T.J. Roemmich
.216
23-10
37
7
8
3
0
1
4
14
.378
6
0
9
.326
0-0
0-0
1
1
0
1.000
11 Tyson Parks
.091
8-4
11
1
1
0
0
0
1
1
.091
1
3
4
.333
0-0
0-0
2
0
0
1.000
39 Jimmy Baker
.077
5-4
13
0
1
0
0
0
1
1
.077
1
0
5
.143
0-0
0-0
0
2
0
1.000
23 Ian Dike
.000
2-1
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
.000
0
0
3
.000
0-0
0-0
0
0
0
.000
32 Bob Lackovic
.000
1-0
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
.000
0
0
0
.000
0-0
0-0
0
0
0
.000
34 Teddy Ogilvie
.000
1-0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
.000
0
0
1
.000
0-0
0-0
0
0
0
.000
27 Pat Venditte
.000
1-0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
.000
0
0
1
.000
0-0
0-0
3
20
0
1.000
6 Brandon Knox
Creighton Totals
.293
61-61
2021
397
592
101
16
37
355
836
.414
236
116
362
.392
33-93
42-63 1621
706
60
.975
Opponents
.264
61-61
2005
244
529
82
10
29
228
718
.358
155
33
411
.324
17-52
41-64 1573
698
97
.959
2007 Review
239
45-35
2008 Bluejays
61-61
.320
Coaches
.339
1 Michael Lam
Introduction
2007 Season Statistics
LEFT ON BASE - CU (529), Opp. (397). DOUBLE PLAYS TURNED - CU (77), Opp. (49). INTENTIONAL WALKS - CU (13) - Ruf 4, Gradoville 4, Winkelmann 3, Small 2; Opp. (9). PICKED
Pitching ERA
W-L
APP
GS
CG
SHO/CBO
SV
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
2B
3B
HR
AB
AVG
WP
27 Pat Venditte
1.88
8-2
38
1
0
0/2
4
95.2
62
21
20
22
99
8
1
4
328
.189
8
13
0
24 Andy Masten
2.02
4-3
34
0
0
0/2
16
49.0
39
14
11
7
47
5
0
2
184
.212
2
0
0
14 Ben Mancuso
2.34
10-3
14
13
2
1/2
0
77.0
77
22
20
20
60
14
1
3
283
.272
1
3
1
38 Casey Schmidt
3.12
6-1
16
7
0
0/0
0
43.1
41
16
15
11
27
7
1
4
158
.259
1
2
1
10 Zak Moore
3.63
5-1
17
17
0
0/1
0
86.2
94
43
35
24
65
13
2
1
331
.284
4
7
1
19 Marc Lewis
3.96
8-3
17
17
0
0/1
0
88.2
95
47
39
26
56
16
1
6
335
.284
4
4
1
40 Scott Reese --------------
4.44
3-0
28
0
0
0/1
1
48.2
46
27
24
17
22
7
1
2
173
.266
1
0
3
34 Teddy Ogilvie
1.59
0-0
5
3
0
0/0
0
5.2
7
2
1
1
1
1
0
0
24
.292
0
0
1
32 Bob Lackovic
5.68
0-0
6
0
0
0/1
0
6.1
7
5
4
2
4
3
0
2
26
.269
1
0
0
35 Dan Stanley
6.23
1-0
9
0
0
0/1
0
8.2
10
6
6
5
6
2
2
0
32
.313
0
0
0
28 David Merchant
7.20
0-1
6
0
0
0/1
0
5.0
8
4
4
3
5
1
0
0
22
.364
0
0
0
12 Ty Johnston
10.00
0-2
11
3
0
0/1
0
18.0
25
20
20
12
15
3
0
5
73
.342
2
2
0
22 Chris Marchildon
12.79
0-0
10
0
0
0/1
0
6.1
10
9
9
3
3
1
0
0
25
.400
1
2
0
30 Matt Bowers
47.25
0-0
3
0
0
0/0
0
1.1
8
8
7
2
1
1
1
0
11
.727
0
0
0
Creighton Totals
3.56
45-16
61
61
2
5/4
21 540.1 529
244
214
155
411
82
10
29
2005
.264
25
33
8
Opponents
5.49
16-45
61
61
3
2/2
5
397
320
236
362 101
16
37
2021
.293
52
116
9
524.1 592
HBP
PASSED BALLS - CU (10) - Gradoville 8, Blair 1, Mieras 1; Opp. (24). PICKOFFS - CU (8) - Gradoville 3, Mieras 1, Mancuso 1, Moore 1, Lewis 1, Johnston 1; Opp. (7).
BK
Media Info
Pitcher
Records/History About Creighton
OFF - Ruf 2, Ogden 1, Masten 1, Roemmich 1, Lam 1, Sinclair 1; Opp. (8).
STOLEN BASES ALLOWED/ATTEMPTED - Gradoville (36-59), Venditte (7-11), Lewis (7-11), Moore (4-9), Masten (7-9), Reese (5-7), Schmidt (6-7), Mieras (5-5), Mancuso (2-5), Stanley (0-2), Lackovic (1-1), Johnston (1-1), Ogilvie (1-1).
2008 Creighton Baseball
39
Introduction Coaches 2008 Bluejays 2007 Review About Creighton Records/History Media Info 40
2007 Games Summary Record Breakdown Overall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45-16 Conference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19-5 Non-Conference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26-11 Home games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22-4 Away games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16-8 Neutral site. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-4 Day games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35-13 Night games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10-3 vs. Left starter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10-7 vs. Right starter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35-9 1-Run games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-6 2-Run games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-3 5+Run games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17-7 Extra innings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2 Shutouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-2 When CU scored 0-2 runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-7 3-5 runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15-8 6-9 runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13-0 10+ runs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14-1
Inning-By-Inning Creighton Opponents
1 56 32
Opponent scored
0-2 runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21-2 3-5 runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18-5 6-9 runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-5 10+ runs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-4
CU scored in 1st inning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22-4 Opponent scored in 1st inning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-6 CU scored first. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31-3 Opponent scored first . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-13 After 6 leading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35-0 trailing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-13 tied. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-3 After 7 leading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33-0 trailing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-13 tied. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-3 After 8 leading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36-0 trailing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2-13 tied. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3
2 50 23
3 48 34
2007 Team Game Highs
4 30 33
5 24 20
6 69 27
7 47 40
Hit
0 home runs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20-12 1 home run. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21-4 2+ home runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-0
Opponent hits
0 home runs. . . . . . . . . . . .36-6 1 home run. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-6 2+ home runs . . . . . . . . . . . 3-4
CU committed
0 errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18-8 1 error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15-4 2+ errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-4
Opponent made
0 errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-5 1 error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14-6 2+ errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23-5
Out-hit opponent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35-3 Out-hit by opponent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9-11 Hits are tied . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2
8 37 21
9 29 9
EX 7 5
Total 397 244
2007 Individual Game Highs
At bats ......................................47 ................ vs. Wichita State (5/26) Runs scored ............................21 ................ vs. Albany (6/2) Hits .............................................21 ................ vs. Albany (6/2) RBIs ............................................18 ................ vs. Albany (6/2) Doubles .......................................6 ................ vs. Northern Colorado (4/29) Triples ..........................................2 ................ vs. Saint Louis (3/10) & UNI (4/1) Home runs .................................5 ................ vs. Indiana State (4/22) Total bases ..............................34 ................ vs. Albany (6/2) Walks .........................................11 ................ vs. Albany (6/2) Strikeouts ................................14 ................ vs. Evansville (3/23) Sac hits ........................................6 ................ vs. Illinois State (5/12) Sac flies........................................4 ................ vs. Albany (6/2) Stolen bases ..............................5 ................ vs. Nebraska (4/3) Runners LOB...........................18 ................ vs. Albany (6/2) Hit into DP..................................3 ................ On three occasions
At bats ...................................7 .............Ross Sinclair vs. Albany (6/2) Runs scored .........................4 .............On four occasions Hits ..........................................4 .............On eight occasions RBIs .........................................6 .............Steve Winkelmann vs. Albany (6/2) Doubles .................................2 .............On 11 occasions Triples ....................................1 .............On 16 occasions Home runs ...........................2 .............Chad Ogden vs. Indiana State (4/22) 2 .............Andy Masten vs. Indiana State (4/22) Walks ......................................4 .............Darin Ruf vs. Albany (6/2) Strikeouts .............................3 .............On eight occasions Sac hits ..................................3 .............Michael Lam vs. N. Dakota St. (3/16) Sac flies..................................2 .............On three occasions Stolen bases ........................2 .............Andrew Small vs. Nebraska (4/3) 2 .............Ross Sinclair vs. Indiana State (4/20) Hit by pitch ..........................4 .............Robbie Knight vs. Oklahoma (3/7)
Putouts .....................................36 ................ vs. Wichita State (5/26) Assists .......................................18 ................ vs. Wichita State (4/8) Errors ............................................4 ................ vs. Indiana State (4/20) 4 ................ vs. Arkansas (6/3) Double plays .............................4 ................ vs. Northwestern (2/25)
Putouts ...............................18 .............Darin Ruf vs. Southern Illinois (5/6) Assists ....................................9 .............Ryan Urzendowski vs. Wich. St. (4/6) Errors ......................................2 .............On five occasions
Innings pitched ..................12.0 ................ vs. Wichita State (5/26) Runs allowed..........................13 ................ vs. South Dakota State (3/13) Earned runs ............................13 ................ vs. South Dakota State (3/13) Walks allowed ...........................8 ................ vs. Albany (6/2) Strikeouts ................................16 ................ vs. Arkansas-Little Rock (3/3) Hits allowed............................18 ................ vs. Lamar (2/24) Homers allowed .......................4 ................ vs. South Dakota State (3/13)
Innings pitched ..............8.0 .............Zak Moore vs. NDSU (3/17) & Bradley (5/24) 8.0 .............Ben Mancuso vs. Southern Illinois (5/6) Runs allowed.......................9 .............Zak Moore vs. Lamar (2/24) Earned runs .........................9 .............Zak Moore vs. Lamar (2/24) Walks allowed .....................4 .............Ben Mancuso vs. Northern Iowa (4/1) Strikeouts ..........................10 .............Zak Moore vs. North Dakota St. (3/17) 10 .............Pat Venditte vs. UALR (3/3) & Wich. St. (5/26) Hits allowed......................10 .............On four occasions Homers allowed .................2 .............On three occasions
2008 Creighton Baseball
2007 Final Missouri Valley Conference
2007 All-MVC Teams
Record 20-4 19-5 13-11 13-11 13-11 8-16 8-16 7-17 7-17
Pct. .833 .792 .542 .542 .542 .333 .333 .292 .292
Record 53-22 45-16 34-22 32-21 35-23 23-28 20-32 26-26 23-34
Pct. .707 .738 .607 .604 .603 .451 .385 .500 .404
Home 30-14 22-4 22-8 15-5 18-7 8-9 9-11 10-14 14-14
Away Neutral 21-8 2-0 16-8 7-4 10-14 2-0 14-15 3-1 15-15 2-1 6-15 9-4 11-19 0-2 16-10 0-2 8-18 1-2
2007 MVC Specialty Awards Joe Carter MVC Player of the Year ......................................Darin Ruf, Creighton MVC Pitcher of the Year ..........................................................Ben Mancuso, Creighton MVC Newcomer of the Year ..................................................Andy Masten, Creighton MVC Freshman of the Year ....................................................Brad Altbach, Bradley MVC Coach of the Year ...........................................................Ed Servais, Creighton
Ben Mancuso
Andy Masten
Ed Servais
2007 MVC Scholar-Athlete Team Honorable Mention
Eitan Barbalat.......................Bradley Ryan Curry.............................Bradley Ryan Eigsti.............................Bradley Mark Kelly ..............................Southern Illinois Kevin Koski............................Southern Illinois Michael Lam .................. Creighton Ben Mancuso ................. Creighton Ryan Mantle .........................Missouri State Tanner Mattson...................Missouri State Rob Musgrave......................Wichita State Darin Ruf ....................... Creighton Chris Schmidt.......................Indiana State Aaron Shafer ........................Wichita State Kai Tuomi ..............................Evansville Kasey Wahl............................Evansville
Kirk Bacsu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Luke Baughman . . . . . . . . . Ryan Bond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anthony Capra . . . . . . . . . . Joe Goebel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tyler Hill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mike Hlavacek . . . . . . . . . . . Blake Hurlbutt. . . . . . . . . . . Max Hutson . . . . . . . . . . . . . Noah Krol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Colby Luttrell. . . . . . . . . . . . Peter Malinowski . . . . . . . . Robbie Minor. . . . . . . . . . . . Collin Salzenstein. . . . . . . . Taylor Sinclair . . . . . . . . . . . Chris Taylor . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tyler Weber . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2008 Creighton Baseball
Evansville Illinois State Indiana State Wichita State Bradley Wichita State Illinois State Wichita State Wichita State Wichita State Bradley Bradley Evansville Illinois State UNI Missouri State Wichita State
Media Info
First Team
Records/History About Creighton
Darin Ruf
2007 Review
Honorable Mention 1B ........ Jesse Griswold .................Illinois State . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. 2B ........ Matt Lawson.....................Missouri State . . . . . . . . . Jr. SS ......... Robbie Minor ...................Evansville. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. 3B ........ Paul Rice.............................Bradley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. C ........ Ryan Eigsti .........................Bradley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jr. C ........ Tyler Weber ......................Wichita State . . . . . . . . . . Jr. DH ....... Danny Jackson.................Wichita State . . . . . . . . . . Sr. UT ........ Kyle O’Brien ......................Illinois State . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. OF ........ Justin Carr .........................Bradley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. OF ........ Andy Dirks .........................Wichita State . . . . . . . . . . Jr. OF ........ Eric Hoffmann ..................UNI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. OF ........ Nolan Keane .....................Missouri State . . . . . . . . . Jr. SP......... Cody Adams .....................Southern Illinois . . . . . . So. SP......... Rob Musgrave..................Wichita State . . . . . . . . . . Jr. RP ........ Brad Altbach.....................Bradley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fr. RP ........ Bryant George..................Southern Illinois . . . . . . . Fr. RP ........ Noah Krol...........................Wichita State . . . . . . . . . . Sr.
Team Wichita State Creighton Southern Illinois Bradley Evansville Northern Iowa Illinois State Indiana State Missouri State
Overall
2008 Bluejays
Second Team 1B ........ Kasey Wahl ........................Evansville. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. 2B ........ Damon Sublett ................Wichita State . . . . . . . . . . Jr. SS ......... Dan Brewer .......................Bradley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . So. 3B ........ Ryan Anetsberger...........Illinois State . . . . . . . . . . . Jr. C ...... Chris Gradoville .........Creighton . . . . . . . . . . .Sr. DH ....... Chris Schmidt...................Indiana State . . . . . . . . . . Jr. UT ........ Derek Schermerhorn ........Wichita State . . . . . . . . . . Sr. OF ........ David Brumagin ..............Indiana State . . . . . . . . . . Jr. OF ........ Aaron Roberts ..................Southern Illinois . . . . . . . Fr. OF ........ Pat Tumilty ........................Evansville. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. SP......... Ross Detwiler ...................Missouri State . . . . . . . . . Jr. SP......... Ben Norton .......................Evansville. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. SP......... Michael Christl .................Bradley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. SP......... Aaron Jenkins ..................UNI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jr. RP ........ Noah Booth ......................Wichita State . . . . . . . . . . Sr. RP ........ Matt Brinkmann ..............Evansville. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sr.
MVC
Coaches
First Team 1B ...... Darin Ruf.....................Creighton . . . . . . . . . . So. 2B ........ Ryan Curry .........................Bradley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. SS ......... Brandon Douglas............UNI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . So. 3B ........ Conor Gillaspie ................Wichita State . . . . . . . . . So. C ........ Mark Kelly ..........................Southern Illinois . . . . . . So. DH ....... Kevin Dubler.....................Illinois State . . . . . . . . . . So. UT ........ Adam Hills .........................Southern Illinois . . . . . . . Jr. OF ........ Matt Brown .......................Wichita St. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jr. OF ........ Deric Manrique................UNI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . So. OF ........ Jim Viscomi .......................Evansville. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jr. SP......... Travis Banwart .................Wichita State . . . . . . . . . . Jr. SP ...... Ben Mancuso ..............Creighton . . . . . . . . . . . Jr. SP......... Kai Tuomi...........................Evansville. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. RP ...... Andy Masten ..............Creighton . . . . . . . . . . .Sr. RP ...... Pat Venditte ...............Creighton . . . . . . . . . . . Jr.
Introduction
2007 MVC In Review
41
Introduction Coaches
2007 Postseason 2007 MVC Tournament Results (Springfield, Mo.) Wednesday, May 23 Game 1: Missouri State 5, Wichita State 2 Game 2: Creighton 8, Southern Illinois 5 Game 3: Bradley 8, Evansville 4
Friday, May 25 Game 7: Bradley 8, Missouri State 3 Game 8: Wichita State 12, Evansville 1 Game 9: Creighton 17, Bradley 2
Thursday, May 24 Game 4: Wichita State 4, Southern Illinois 2 Game 5: Evansville 11, Missouri State 7 Game 6: Creighton 2, Bradley 0
Saturday, May 26 Game 10: Wichita State 2, Creighton 1 Game 11: Creighton 10, Wichita State 9 (12 inn.)
Friday, June 1 Game 1: Oklahoma State 6, Creighton 4 Game 2: Arkansas 9, Albany 0 Saturday, June 2 Game 3: Creighton 21, Albany 11 Game 4: Oklahoma State 14, Arkansas 3 Sunday, June 3 Game 5: Arkansas 6, Creighton 0 Game 6: Oklahoma State 7, Arkansas 6
2007 All-Regional Team C ......... Brian Walker .......................Arkansas 1B ......... Rebel Ridling ......................Oklahoma State 2B ......... Tyler Mach ...........................Oklahoma State SS ....... Chad Ogden................. Creighton 3B ....... Steve Winkelmann ...... Creighton LF .......... Ty Wright .............................Oklahoma State CF ......... Keanon Simon ...................Oklahoma State RF.......... Corey Brown .......................Oklahoma State DH ...... Brett Mieras ................. Creighton P.......... Nick Schmidt ......................Arkansas P.......... Oliver Odle ..........................Oklahoma State
2B ...... Michael Lam ..................Creighton SS ...... Chad Ogden ..................Creighton 3B ........ Conor Gillaspie ................... Wichita State UT ........ Derek Schermerhorn ........ Wichita State DH ....... Peter Malinowski ............... Bradley OF ...... Ross Sinclair ..................Creighton OF ........ Matt Brown .......................... Wichita State P ...... Pat Venditte ..................Creighton P ...... Zak Moore .....................Creighton MVP: Pat Venditte, Creighton
MVP: Rebel Ridling, Oklahoma State
Brandon Knox scoring the winning run of the MVC Championship game against Wichita State...
Media Info 42
C ........ Kyle Paul ............................... Missouri State 1B ...... Darin Ruf........................Creighton
OF ........ Andy Dirks ............................ Wichita State
About Creighton Records/History
2007 Review
2008 Bluejays
2007 NCAA Regional Results (Fayetteville, Ark.)
2007 MVC All-Tournament Team
2008 Creighton Baseball
Season Review Narrative ................................ 36-37 2007 Season Honors ........................................... 37 2007 Game-By-Game Results .............................. 38 2007 Season Statistics ....................................... 39 2007 Games Summary ........................................ 40 2007 Missouri Valley Conference Review ............ 41 2007 Postseason Summary ................................. 42
Introduction Coaches 2008 Bluejays 2007 Review About Creighton Records/History Media Info 36
The 2007 Creighton baseball season was one for the record books, filled with great success and a number of memorable moments. The Bluejays finished the year with a 45-16 overall record, including a 19-5 mark in Missouri Valley Conference play to give CU its best conference winning percentage in school history. Creighton captured its first-ever MVC Tournament crown with a thrilling 10-9, come-from-behind 12-inning victory over regular-season champ Wichita State in the title game. The Bluejays advanced to their eighth NCAA Tournament in school history, finishing 1-2 at the Fayetteville Regional. The Bluejays’ 45 victories ranked as the fourthmost in recorded school history. Built around sound fundamentals and unselfishness, the 2007 squad set school records for sacrifice bunts (93) and times hit by pitch (116). The team again led the MVC in fielding percentage, at .975, and posted a league-best 77 double plays. CU’s pitching staff recorded the MVC’s second-best earned run average, at 3.56. Three hurlers finished with sub-3.00 ERAs and four earned All-America recognition as Creighton allowed fewer runs than any team in the Valley. Along with the team’s success came plenty of individual accolades. Creighton dominated the MVC specialty awards, claiming four of the five most prestigious awards in the conference. Sophomore first baseman Darin Ruf was named the Joe Carter MVC Player of the Year as he Chris Gradoville led the Bluejays in 10 different offensive categories. Junior starting pitcher Ben Mancuso was selected as the MVC Pitcher of the Year after recording a 10-3 record. Senior transfer Andy Masten was brilliant out of the bullpen, earning the MVC Newcomer of the Year award after recording a school-record 16 saves and posting a 2.02 ERA. The architect of the team’s success, head coach Ed Servais, was named the MVC Coach of the Year for the third time in his four seasons as CU’s head man. One of the nation’s best stories revolved around junior pitcher Pat Venditte. The country’s only known ambidextrous pitcher earned All-America recognition from four media outlets and was selected by InsidePitching.com as the Midwest Region Pitcher of the Year after leading the Bluejays with a school-record 1.88 ERA. Venditte also set a school record with 38 appearances, led the team with 99 strikeouts and pieced together an incredible 43.2-inning scoreless streak during the season. He was named the MVC Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after allowing only one run in 12 innings of work, leading to National Player of the Week laurels from Collegiate Baseball. Joining Venditte in receiving All-America accolades were Mancuso, Masten and rookie Casey Schmidt. Schmidt, who went 6-1 on the mound with victories over Kansas State, Nebraska, Wichita State and Albany, became the first Bluejay since 2002 to earn Freshman AllAmerica status. Mancuso was named a third-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball, while Masten earned NCBWA Second-Team All-America accolades. The 2007 season saw 12 different school records broken, including a new NCAA record along the way. Freshman Robbie Knight became the all-time NCAA single-season record holder as he was hit by 35 pitches. Knight was hit four times in a game against Oklahoma on March 7 to set the single-game CU record. Another of the new school records also set an MVC mark, as senior left-handed pitcher Scott Reese became the all-time CU and MVC career appearances record holder, finishing with 123 career outings after appearing in 28 games in 2007. The team’s eventual success seemed far from reality at the beginning of the season, as the team started with a 2-4 record. After a 4-3 opening day victory over Gardner-Webb in Rock Hill, S.C., Creighton lost four of its next five games in February. The Jays finished the trip to South Carolina with losses to 25thranked Winthrop and Maryland. The Bluejays then traveled to Beaumont, Texas, and lost two of three contests. Following a 6-3 win over Arkansas State on Feb. 23, CU lost to Lamar and Northwestern on consecutive days. March started on a much better note, as the Bluejays won their first three contests of the month by sweeping a three-game series at Arkansas-Little Rock. Following two losses at Big 12 Conference member Oklahoma, the Bluejays returned to Omaha for the home-opener on March 9 against Saint Louis. Creighton won all three meetings with the Billikens on their way to a 7-1 opening homestand. After a loss to South Dakota State on March 13, the Jays swept a four-game series with North Dakota State to enter MVC play with a 12-7 record. After falling in the conference opener to Evansville on March 23, the Bluejays stormed back to win the next two games in the series. The momentum was carried into a midweek meeting with 25th-ranked Missouri, as senior Chad Ogden’s walk-off double propelled CU to an upset victory over the Tigers. Creighton ended March with a series-opening win over Northern Iowa, then proceeded to sweep the three-game series over the Panthers with two victories on the first day of April to push the Jays’ win streak to six games. The first of three meetings with Nebraska on April 3 ended CU’s win streak as the Huskers won 12-10 on a 36-degree night at Rosenblatt Stadium. The Bluejays then took an 18-9 record and 5-1 league mark into a battle of what proved to be the MVC’s top two teams at Wichita State. Creighton rallied from a 2-0 deficit with three ninth-inning runs to defeat the Shockers in the series opener, 3-2. Strong pitching by Wichita State, however, stifled the Creighton offense and the Shockers captured the final two games of the series to take control of the MVC standings. Creighton returned to the state of Kansas just two nights later for a midweek non-conference battle at Kansas State. The game would mark the coming-out party for the right-handed Schmidt, as the freshman allowed only three hits in five scoreless innings in his fourth career start, leading CU to a 3-1 win that marked the start of a season-long 11-game win streak. Creighton closed out the month with three-game series sweeps over Bradley, Indiana State and Northern Colorado, sandwiched in between a 2-1 victory over Nebraska in Lincoln on April 17. The win streak gave the Jays a 14-3 April and a 30-11 overall mark entering the final month of the regular season. Southern Illinois ended Creighton’s 11-game win streak on May 4 with a 4-3, 11-inning victory over the Jays at Rosenblatt. CU responded admirably to take the series with victories over the Salukis the following two days, beginning a new win streak covering 10 games. Two doubles by junior Michael Lam led the Jays to a 5-2 win in game two, and Creighton won the rubber match, 7-0, behind a career-best eight scoreless innings on the mound from Mancuso. After a doubleheader sweep over North Dakota State in Fargo on May 9, Creighton notched its fourth series sweep of MVC play on the road at Illinois State to stay in a first-place tie atop the conference standings. The Jays returned to Omaha for the final non-conference matchup of the regular season, the rubber match against in-state rival Nebraska. Before 18,316 fans at Rosenblatt Stadium, seniors Chris Gradoville Marc Lewis and Andrew Small both drove in three runs as the Jays beat the Huskers by a convincing 9-2 tally. The
2008 Creighton Baseball
MVC Scholar-Athlete Team Michael Lam, Jr., INF ....................................First Team Ben Mancuso, Jr., LHP .................................First Team Darin Ruf, So., 1B ..........................................First Team MVC All-Tournament Team Michael Lam, Jr., 2B Zak Moore, So., RHP Chad Ogden, Sr., SS Darin Ruf, So., 1B Ross Sinclair, Sr., OF Pat Venditte, Jr., RHP/LHP (MVP) NCAA All-Regional Team Brett Mieras, Jr., DH Chad Ogden, Sr., SS Steve Winkelmann, Jr., 3B MVC Players of the Week Darin Ruf ..........................................................April 2 Darin Ruf ..........................................................May 14
MVC Scholar-Athletes of the Week Darin Ruf ..........................................................May 2 Darin Ruf ..........................................................May 16 Michael Lam ...................................................May 23
2007 Review
MVC Pitchers of the Week Pat Venditte....................................................March 5 Ben Mancuso .................................................May 7
2008 Bluejays
Chris Gradoville • Johnny Bench Award Semifinalist Michael Lam • CoSIDA Academic All-District VII Ben Mancuso • MVC Pitcher of the Year • Second-Team ABCA All-Midwest Region Andy Masten • MVC Newcomer of the Year • NCBWA Stopper of the Year Finalist • NCBWA Second-Team All-American • First-Team ABCA All-Midwest Region Darin Ruf • Joe Carter MVC Player of the Year • Second-Team ABCA All-Midwest Region • Rawlings Gold Glove recipient Casey Schmidt • Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American
Pat Venditte • Baseball America Second-Team All-American • Rivals.com Second-Team All-American • SouthernCollegeSports.com Second-Team All-American • Collegiate Baseball Third-Team All-American • Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week (5/28) • InsidePitching.com Midwest Region Pitcher of the Year
Media Info
Ed Servais • MVC Coach of the Year
Records/History About Creighton
2008 Creighton Baseball
All-Missouri Valley Conference Ben Mancuso, Jr., LHP .................................First Team Andy Masten, Sr., RHP ................................First Team Darin Ruf, So., 1B ..........................................First Team Pat Venditte, Jr., RHP/LHP .........................First Team Chris Gradoville, Sr., C .................................Second Team
Coaches
Tournament and NCAA All-Regional team.
2007 Creighton Honors
Introduction
win marked the second time in three years Creighton captured the regular season series against the Huskers. Creighton took its first-place MVC standing into the season’s final series against Missouri State at the CU Sports Complex. Behind a strong pitching effort from senior Marc Lewis, the Jays took the series opener with a 1-0 win against MSU ace Ross Detwiler, the eventual sixth pick in the 2007 MLB Draft. After a 3-2 win in game two, the Jays entered the regular season finale with a chance to claim a share of the MVC regular season title. It wasn’t meant to be for CU, however, as the Bears used a three-run first inning to take a 4-3 victory and hand Mancuso only his second loss of the season. Creighton entered the State Farm MVC Tournament in Springfield, Mo., as the No. 2 seed and faced fifth-seeded Southern Illinois in the tournament opener. The Salukis jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but the Jays rallied furiously behind a two-run homer by Ogden and three RBIs by Small to take an 8-5 victory. Venditte was magnificent in relief of the starter Lewis, pitching 5.2 innings of scoreless relief while allowing only one hit. While earning the victory, Venditte extended his scoreless streak to 38.1 innings and lowered his ERA to 1.87. The Bluejays defeated Bradley 2-0 the following day, May 24, behind a gem from sophomore starter Zak Moore. The right-hander fired eight scoreless innings, allowing only two hits. Second baseman Lam was responsible for both runs at the plate and Masten came in to record his school-record 16th save of the season. The two teams met again the following day, but Creighton took the suspense out of this meeting by scoring early and often on its way to a 17-2 win. The victory sent the Jays to the championship game, against old nemesis and 12th-ranked Wichita State. The Shockers entered the championship having to beat Creighton twice as a result of an earlier loss in the double-elimination tournament, while the Jays were unscathed up to that point. In the first championship game, Wichita State ace right-hander Aaron Shafer combined with two other Shockers to hold the Jays to a single run on six hits in a 2-1 WSU victory. The do-or-die championship game was delayed by rain, making for a late night and early morning that Creighton fans aren’t soon to forget. Without an experienced starting pitcher available, head coach Ed Servais turned to the switch-pitcher Venditte to make his first career start in the team’s most important game of the season. Venditte responded with an outing that will go down as one of the finest in CU baseball history, tossing a career-high 6.1 innings while allowing only one run and striking out a careerbest 10 batters. A Wichita State sacrifice fly in the sixth ended Venditte’s scoreless innings streak at 43.2, but the Jays held a 6-1 lead when the junior exited with one out in the seventh. The Shockers, however, found success against CU’s All-American closer Masten with four runs in the eighth and one in the ninth to send the game to extra innings. WSU scored three runs in the top of the 11th inning to turn the once-promising night into a nightmare scenario. However, the resilient Jays responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the frame as seniors Gradoville and Ross Sinclair both laced two-out RBI doubles to keep CU’s dreams alive. After the freshman Schmidt shut down the powerful Shocker bats in his two innings of relief, the stage was set for a memorable bottom of the 12th. After a leadoff walk, the senior Small drove a ball into deep left-center field that one-hopped the wall. Pinch runner Brandon Knox rounded the bases from first and slid safely into home to send the Bluejays into celebration with a 10-9 victory. The conference tournament title gave Creighton an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, where the Jays were sent to the Fayetteville Regional as the No. 2 seed. The 20th-ranked Jays entered the regional opener against third-seed Oklahoma State as winners of 25 of their last 28 games, but the 22ndranked Cowboys jumped out to a four-run first inning and rode starting pitcher Oliver Odle to a 6-4 win. The Jays battled back for a dominating eliminationgame victory over Albany, routing the Great Danes by a score of 21-11. Junior Steve Winkelmann went 3-for-4 and drove in six runs, the most by a CU player in 2007, and six other Bluejays recorded multi-hit games. The lopsided victory would prove to be the team’s last of the season, as 11th-ranked Arkansas ended Creighton’s season with a 6-0 win behind strong pitching from 2007 first-round MLB draft pick Nick Schmidt and two homers from catcher Brian Walker. The 2007 team consisted of 10 seniors, whose success leaves the 2008 Jays with big shoes to fill. The seniors from the 45-win team leave their mark on the CU record books, picking up 159 victories in four seasons and making two trips to the NCAA Tournament. Despite the loss of many key contributors, the future remains bright as CU returns three of its four regular starters and both corner infield spots in 2008. With the foundation laid by the 2007 team and its predecessors, the longChad Ogden was named to both the MVC Allterm outlook for Creighton baseball is very promising.
37
Introduction Coaches 2008 Bluejays 2007 Review About Creighton Records/History Media Info
2007 Game-By-Game Results (45-16) Date 2/9 2/10 2/11 2/23 2/24 2/25 3/3 3/3 3/4 3/6 3/7 3/9 3/10 3/11 3/13 3/16 3/17 3/18 3/18 3/23 3/24 3/25 3/27 3/30 4/1 4/1 4/3 4/6 4/7 4/8 4/11 4/13 4/14 4/15 4/17 4/20 4/21 4/22 4/27 4/28 4/29 5/4 5/5 5/6 5/9 5/9 5/11 5/12 5/13 5/15 5/17 5/18 5/19 5/23 5/24 5/25 5/26 5/26 6/1 6/2 6/3
Opponent vs. Gardner-Webb & at #25 Winthrop & vs. Maryland & vs. Arkansas State % at Lamar % vs. Northwestern % at Arkansas-Little Rock at Arkansas-Little Rock at Arkansas-Little Rock at Oklahoma at Oklahoma SAINT LOUIS SAINT LOUIS SAINT LOUIS SOUTH DAKOTA STATE NORTH DAKOTA STATE NORTH DAKOTA STATE NORTH DAKOTA STATE NORTH DAKOTA STATE at Evansville* at Evansville* at Evansville* #25 MISSOURI NORTHERN IOWA* NORTHERN IOWA* NORTHERN IOWA* NEBRASKA # at #8 Wichita State* at #8 Wichita State* at #8 Wichita State* at Kansas State BRADLEY* BRADLEY* BRADLEY* at Nebraska at Indiana State* at Indiana State* at Indiana State* NORTHERN COLORADO NORTHERN COLORADO NORTHERN COLORADO SOUTHERN ILLINOIS* # SOUTHERN ILLINOIS* # SOUTHERN ILLINOIS* at North Dakota State at North Dakota State at Illinois State* at Illinois State* at Illinois State* NEBRASKA # MISSOURI STATE* MISSOURI STATE* MISSOURI STATE* vs. Southern Illinois @ vs. Bradley @ vs. Bradley @ vs. #12 Wichita State @ vs. #12 Wichita State @ vs. #22 Oklahoma State $ vs. Albany $ at #11 Arkansas $
Home games in BOLD CAPS & = Played at Rock Hill, S.C.
38
W/L Score W 4-3 L 3-4 (10) L 4-10 W 6-3 L 3-12 L 3-4 W 10-6 W 4-2 (10) W 8-4 L 2-4 L 2-8 W 6-1 W 5-4 (10) W 14-0 L 4-13 W 7-4 W 5-3 W 10-6 W 9-8 L 0-6 W 4-3 W 9-1 W 4-3 W 13-3 W 10-5 W 8-1 L 10-12 W 3-2 L 1-2 L 1-7 W 3-1 W 4-2 W 4-2 W 3-2 W 2-1 W 15-5 W 3-2 W 16-0 W 8-4 W 9-4 W 17-6 L 3-4 (11) W 5-2 W 7-0 W 12-2 W 13-5 W 10-3 W 5-3 W 7-3 W 9-2 W 1-0 W 3-2 L 3-4 W 8-5 W 2-0 W 17-2 L 1-2 W 10-9 (12) L 4-6 W 21-11 L 0-6
Creighton R H E 4 11 0 3 9 0 4 4 1 6 8 1 3 7 0 3 7 0 10 13 0 4 14 2 8 9 1 2 5 1 2 9 0 6 7 1 5 11 1 14 13 0 4 11 0 7 11 0 5 6 2 10 11 0 9 13 0 0 7 0 4 9 3 9 13 2 4 9 0 13 13 1 10 12 1 8 5 0 10 14 3 3 8 1 1 3 0 1 6 2 3 4 0 4 8 0 4 6 1 3 7 1 2 5 1 15 12 4 3 10 3 16 14 0 8 13 0 9 10 0 17 20 0 3 14 2 5 7 2 7 15 0 12 11 1 13 14 3 10 11 1 5 11 2 7 13 1 9 9 0 1 3 0 3 4 0 3 6 1 8 12 2 2 5 2 17 15 1 1 6 1 10 15 1 4 9 0 21 21 3 0 4 4
* = Missouri Valley Conference Game # = Played at Rosenblatt Stadium
Opponent R H E 3 9 1 4 15 2 10 16 2 3 7 4 12 18 1 4 7 4 6 9 2 2 6 2 4 6 0 4 8 0 8 11 1 1 6 2 4 12 1 0 7 3 13 16 1 4 8 1 3 4 2 6 9 3 8 9 2 6 6 0 3 8 0 1 9 1 3 8 0 3 6 1 5 7 1 1 6 2 12 14 6 2 8 2 2 8 0 7 13 1 1 5 1 2 7 0 2 5 2 2 5 1 1 6 0 5 14 3 2 11 0 0 5 1 4 9 1 4 7 1 6 15 2 4 13 1 2 6 0 0 4 2 2 7 2 5 8 4 3 8 4 3 7 2 3 6 1 2 10 3 0 4 1 2 8 0 4 11 1 5 10 3 0 2 2 2 7 3 2 5 0 9 14 1 6 10 2 11 13 5 6 11 0
Overall Record 1-0 1-1 1-2 2-2 2-3 2-4 3-4 4-4 5-4 5-5 5-6 6-6 7-6 8-6 8-7 9-7 10-7 11-7 12-7 12-8 13-8 14-8 15-8 16-8 17-8 18-8 18-9 19-9 19-10 19-11 20-11 21-11 22-11 23-11 24-11 25-11 26-11 27-11 28-11 29-11 30-11 30-12 31-12 32-12 33-12 34-12 35-12 36-12 37-12 38-12 39-12 40-12 40-13 41-13 42-13 43-13 43-14 44-14 44-15 45-15 45-16
@ = MVC Tournament (Springfield, Mo.) $ = NCAA Regionals (Fayetteville, Ark.)
2008 Creighton Baseball
MVC Record 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 1-1 2-1 2-1 3-1 4-1 5-1 5-1 6-1 6-2 6-3 6-3 7-3 8-3 9-3 9-3 10-3 11-3 12-3 12-3 12-3 12-3 12-4 13-4 14-4 14-4 14-4 15-4 16-4 17-4 17-4 18-4 19-4 19-5 19-5 19-5 19-5 19-5 19-5 19-5 19-5 19-5
Pitcher of Record Lewis (W, 1-0) Masten (L, 0-1) Johnston (L, 0-1) Lewis (W, 2-0) Moore (L, 0-1) Johnston (L, 0-2) Venditte (W, 1-0) Masten (W, 1-1) Stanley (W, 1-0) Venditte (L, 1-1) Merchant (L, 0-1) Lewis (W, 3-0) Masten (W, 2-1) Mancuso (W, 1-0) Schmidt (L, 0-1) Lewis (W, 4-0) Moore (W, 1-1) Mancuso (W, 2-0) Masten (W, 3-1) Lewis (L, 4-1) Venditte (W, 2-1) Mancuso (W, 3-0) Masten (W, 4-1) Venditte (W, 3-1) Schmidt (W, 1-1) Mancuso (W, 4-0) Masten (L, 4-2) Reese (W, 1-0) Venditte (L, 3-2) Mancuso (L, 4-1) Schmidt (W, 2-1) Lewis (W, 5-1) Moore (W, 2-1) Mancuso (W, 5-1) Venditte (W, 4-2) Lewis (W, 6-1) Venditte (W, 5-2) Mancuso (W, 6-1) Venditte (W, 6-2) Moore (W, 3-1) Mancuso (W, 7-1) Masten (L, 4-3) Moore (W, 4-1) Mancuso (W, 8-1) Schmidt (W, 3-1) Venditte (W, 7-2) Lewis (W, 7-1) Reese (W, 2-0) Mancuso (W, 9-1) Schmidt (W, 4-1) Lewis (W, 8-1) Reese (W, 3-0) Mancuso (L, 9-2) Venditte (W, 8-2) Moore (W, 5-1) Mancuso (W, 10-2) Lewis (L, 8-2) Schmidt (W, 5-1) Lewis (L, 8-3) Schmidt (W, 6-1) Mancuso (L, 10-3)
% = Played at Beaumont, Texas
Att. 100 648 242 113 312 154 311 241 252 635 534 256 369 521 477 215 318 310 310 569 601 587 347 303 683 6,524 3,020 3,288 2,806 387 335 557 657 6,841 260 148 217 403 509 618 2,316 1,031 620 283 317 423 415 18,316 322 427 837 1,051 1,077 1,077 1,312 1,274 3,109 2,681 6,848
Time 2:45 3:35 2:34 2:20 2:33 2:36 2:50 3:05 2:25 2:23 2:34 2:14 2:51 2:23 2:40 2:27 2:10 2:13 2:35 2:12 2:14 2:42 2:10 2:44 2:37 2:28 3:41 2:10 2:17 2:04 2:51 1:51 2:13 1:54 2:15 3:22 2:41 1:56 2:12 2:21 2:39 3:04 2:11 2:17 2:02 2:29 2:23 2:22 2:08 2:39 2:02 2:15 2:14 2:32 1:56 2:05 1:53 3:27 2:34 4:06 2:35
Overall: 45-16 • Home: 22-4 • Away: 16-8 • Neutral: 7-4 • MVC: 19-5
Hitting Player
AVG
GP-GS
AB
R
H
2B
3B
HR
RBI
TB
SLG
BB
HBP
SO
OBP
SF-SH
SB-Att
PO
A
E
FLD
15 Darin Ruf
.374
61-61
230
53
86
19
3
8
57
135
.587
35
9
36
.463
7-2
1-2
587
22
2
.997 .986
20 Chris Gradoville
45
81
15
2
5
56
115
.481
29
10
33
.424
5-4
2-6
354
59
6
128
23
41
11
0
0
16
52
.406
18
4
25
.420
0-8
1-3
76
104
5
.973
31 Ross Sinclair
.310
55-42
168
37
52
4
1
0
16
58
.345
12
11
28
.393
0-17
8-11
113
5
2
.983
5 Andrew Small
.292
61-54
209
43
61
12
5
3
39
92
.440
18
9
41
.368
3-7
9-11
91
1
2
.979
7 Chad Ogden
.280
60-59
211
36
59
14
2
8
39
101
.479
22
13
25
.376
4-15
3-4
89
188
10
.965
8 Steve Winkelmann
.277
58-57
184
37
51
4
1
5
45
72
.391
33
9
32
.397
8-15
3-3
44
121
14
.922
2 Robbie Knight
.270
60-58
215
51
58
7
2
0
26
69
.321
20
35
33
.417
1-10
12-18
111
6
2
.983
16 Brett Mieras
.261
39-27
92
14
24
8
0
1
13
35
.380
8
2
11
.330
1-6
1-1
42
2
0
1.000
24 Andy Masten
.241
46-35
137
23
33
2
0
5
22
50
.365
15
5
33
.329
4-6
1-2
17
6
0
1.000
4 Ryan Urzendowski --------------
.217
31-30
92
11
20
2
0
0
9
22
.239
8
4
25
.308
0-3
1-2
58
96
11
.933
33 Dan Blair
.667
3-0
3
1
2
0
0
0
1
2
.667
1
0
1
.750
0-0
0-0
1
0
0
1.000
.333
24-9
33
10
11
0
0
1
10
14
.424
4
2
13
.436
0-0
0-0
11
2
1
.929
30 Matt Bowers
.250
8-1
8
2
2
0
0
0
0
2
.250
4
0
2
.500
0-0
0-0
0
0
0
.000
37 Brett Clark
.250
2-1
4
2
1
0
0
0
0
1
.250
1
0
1
.400
0-0
0-0
0
0
0
.000
18 T.J. Roemmich
.216
23-10
37
7
8
3
0
1
4
14
.378
6
0
9
.326
0-0
0-0
1
1
0
1.000
11 Tyson Parks
.091
8-4
11
1
1
0
0
0
1
1
.091
1
3
4
.333
0-0
0-0
2
0
0
1.000
39 Jimmy Baker
.077
5-4
13
0
1
0
0
0
1
1
.077
1
0
5
.143
0-0
0-0
0
2
0
1.000
23 Ian Dike
.000
2-1
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
.000
0
0
3
.000
0-0
0-0
0
0
0
.000
32 Bob Lackovic
.000
1-0
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
.000
0
0
0
.000
0-0
0-0
0
0
0
.000
34 Teddy Ogilvie
.000
1-0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
.000
0
0
1
.000
0-0
0-0
0
0
0
.000
27 Pat Venditte
.000
1-0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
.000
0
0
1
.000
0-0
0-0
3
20
0
1.000
6 Brandon Knox
Creighton Totals
.293
61-61
2021
397
592
101
16
37
355
836
.414
236
116
362
.392
33-93
42-63 1621
706
60
.975
Opponents
.264
61-61
2005
244
529
82
10
29
228
718
.358
155
33
411
.324
17-52
41-64 1573
698
97
.959
2007 Review
239
45-35
2008 Bluejays
61-61
.320
Coaches
.339
1 Michael Lam
Introduction
2007 Season Statistics
LEFT ON BASE - CU (529), Opp. (397). DOUBLE PLAYS TURNED - CU (77), Opp. (49). INTENTIONAL WALKS - CU (13) - Ruf 4, Gradoville 4, Winkelmann 3, Small 2; Opp. (9). PICKED
Pitching ERA
W-L
APP
GS
CG
SHO/CBO
SV
IP
H
R
ER
BB
SO
2B
3B
HR
AB
AVG
WP
27 Pat Venditte
1.88
8-2
38
1
0
0/2
4
95.2
62
21
20
22
99
8
1
4
328
.189
8
13
0
24 Andy Masten
2.02
4-3
34
0
0
0/2
16
49.0
39
14
11
7
47
5
0
2
184
.212
2
0
0
14 Ben Mancuso
2.34
10-3
14
13
2
1/2
0
77.0
77
22
20
20
60
14
1
3
283
.272
1
3
1
38 Casey Schmidt
3.12
6-1
16
7
0
0/0
0
43.1
41
16
15
11
27
7
1
4
158
.259
1
2
1
10 Zak Moore
3.63
5-1
17
17
0
0/1
0
86.2
94
43
35
24
65
13
2
1
331
.284
4
7
1
19 Marc Lewis
3.96
8-3
17
17
0
0/1
0
88.2
95
47
39
26
56
16
1
6
335
.284
4
4
1
40 Scott Reese --------------
4.44
3-0
28
0
0
0/1
1
48.2
46
27
24
17
22
7
1
2
173
.266
1
0
3
34 Teddy Ogilvie
1.59
0-0
5
3
0
0/0
0
5.2
7
2
1
1
1
1
0
0
24
.292
0
0
1
32 Bob Lackovic
5.68
0-0
6
0
0
0/1
0
6.1
7
5
4
2
4
3
0
2
26
.269
1
0
0
35 Dan Stanley
6.23
1-0
9
0
0
0/1
0
8.2
10
6
6
5
6
2
2
0
32
.313
0
0
0
28 David Merchant
7.20
0-1
6
0
0
0/1
0
5.0
8
4
4
3
5
1
0
0
22
.364
0
0
0
12 Ty Johnston
10.00
0-2
11
3
0
0/1
0
18.0
25
20
20
12
15
3
0
5
73
.342
2
2
0
22 Chris Marchildon
12.79
0-0
10
0
0
0/1
0
6.1
10
9
9
3
3
1
0
0
25
.400
1
2
0
30 Matt Bowers
47.25
0-0
3
0
0
0/0
0
1.1
8
8
7
2
1
1
1
0
11
.727
0
0
0
Creighton Totals
3.56
45-16
61
61
2
5/4
21 540.1 529
244
214
155
411
82
10
29
2005
.264
25
33
8
Opponents
5.49
16-45
61
61
3
2/2
5
397
320
236
362 101
16
37
2021
.293
52
116
9
524.1 592
HBP
PASSED BALLS - CU (10) - Gradoville 8, Blair 1, Mieras 1; Opp. (24). PICKOFFS - CU (8) - Gradoville 3, Mieras 1, Mancuso 1, Moore 1, Lewis 1, Johnston 1; Opp. (7).
BK
Media Info
Pitcher
Records/History About Creighton
OFF - Ruf 2, Ogden 1, Masten 1, Roemmich 1, Lam 1, Sinclair 1; Opp. (8).
STOLEN BASES ALLOWED/ATTEMPTED - Gradoville (36-59), Venditte (7-11), Lewis (7-11), Moore (4-9), Masten (7-9), Reese (5-7), Schmidt (6-7), Mieras (5-5), Mancuso (2-5), Stanley (0-2), Lackovic (1-1), Johnston (1-1), Ogilvie (1-1).
2008 Creighton Baseball
39
Introduction Coaches 2008 Bluejays 2007 Review About Creighton Records/History Media Info 40
2007 Games Summary Record Breakdown Overall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45-16 Conference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19-5 Non-Conference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26-11 Home games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22-4 Away games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16-8 Neutral site. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-4 Day games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35-13 Night games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10-3 vs. Left starter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10-7 vs. Right starter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35-9 1-Run games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-6 2-Run games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-3 5+Run games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17-7 Extra innings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-2 Shutouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-2 When CU scored 0-2 runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-7 3-5 runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15-8 6-9 runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13-0 10+ runs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14-1
Inning-By-Inning Creighton Opponents
1 56 32
Opponent scored
0-2 runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21-2 3-5 runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18-5 6-9 runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-5 10+ runs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-4
CU scored in 1st inning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22-4 Opponent scored in 1st inning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-6 CU scored first. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31-3 Opponent scored first . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-13 After 6 leading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35-0 trailing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-13 tied. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-3 After 7 leading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33-0 trailing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3-13 tied. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-3 After 8 leading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36-0 trailing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2-13 tied. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3
2 50 23
3 48 34
2007 Team Game Highs
4 30 33
5 24 20
6 69 27
7 47 40
Hit
0 home runs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20-12 1 home run. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21-4 2+ home runs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-0
Opponent hits
0 home runs. . . . . . . . . . . .36-6 1 home run. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-6 2+ home runs . . . . . . . . . . . 3-4
CU committed
0 errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18-8 1 error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15-4 2+ errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-4
Opponent made
0 errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-5 1 error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14-6 2+ errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23-5
Out-hit opponent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35-3 Out-hit by opponent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9-11 Hits are tied . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2
8 37 21
9 29 9
EX 7 5
Total 397 244
2007 Individual Game Highs
At bats ......................................47 ................ vs. Wichita State (5/26) Runs scored ............................21 ................ vs. Albany (6/2) Hits .............................................21 ................ vs. Albany (6/2) RBIs ............................................18 ................ vs. Albany (6/2) Doubles .......................................6 ................ vs. Northern Colorado (4/29) Triples ..........................................2 ................ vs. Saint Louis (3/10) & UNI (4/1) Home runs .................................5 ................ vs. Indiana State (4/22) Total bases ..............................34 ................ vs. Albany (6/2) Walks .........................................11 ................ vs. Albany (6/2) Strikeouts ................................14 ................ vs. Evansville (3/23) Sac hits ........................................6 ................ vs. Illinois State (5/12) Sac flies........................................4 ................ vs. Albany (6/2) Stolen bases ..............................5 ................ vs. Nebraska (4/3) Runners LOB...........................18 ................ vs. Albany (6/2) Hit into DP..................................3 ................ On three occasions
At bats ...................................7 .............Ross Sinclair vs. Albany (6/2) Runs scored .........................4 .............On four occasions Hits ..........................................4 .............On eight occasions RBIs .........................................6 .............Steve Winkelmann vs. Albany (6/2) Doubles .................................2 .............On 11 occasions Triples ....................................1 .............On 16 occasions Home runs ...........................2 .............Chad Ogden vs. Indiana State (4/22) 2 .............Andy Masten vs. Indiana State (4/22) Walks ......................................4 .............Darin Ruf vs. Albany (6/2) Strikeouts .............................3 .............On eight occasions Sac hits ..................................3 .............Michael Lam vs. N. Dakota St. (3/16) Sac flies..................................2 .............On three occasions Stolen bases ........................2 .............Andrew Small vs. Nebraska (4/3) 2 .............Ross Sinclair vs. Indiana State (4/20) Hit by pitch ..........................4 .............Robbie Knight vs. Oklahoma (3/7)
Putouts .....................................36 ................ vs. Wichita State (5/26) Assists .......................................18 ................ vs. Wichita State (4/8) Errors ............................................4 ................ vs. Indiana State (4/20) 4 ................ vs. Arkansas (6/3) Double plays .............................4 ................ vs. Northwestern (2/25)
Putouts ...............................18 .............Darin Ruf vs. Southern Illinois (5/6) Assists ....................................9 .............Ryan Urzendowski vs. Wich. St. (4/6) Errors ......................................2 .............On five occasions
Innings pitched ..................12.0 ................ vs. Wichita State (5/26) Runs allowed..........................13 ................ vs. South Dakota State (3/13) Earned runs ............................13 ................ vs. South Dakota State (3/13) Walks allowed ...........................8 ................ vs. Albany (6/2) Strikeouts ................................16 ................ vs. Arkansas-Little Rock (3/3) Hits allowed............................18 ................ vs. Lamar (2/24) Homers allowed .......................4 ................ vs. South Dakota State (3/13)
Innings pitched ..............8.0 .............Zak Moore vs. NDSU (3/17) & Bradley (5/24) 8.0 .............Ben Mancuso vs. Southern Illinois (5/6) Runs allowed.......................9 .............Zak Moore vs. Lamar (2/24) Earned runs .........................9 .............Zak Moore vs. Lamar (2/24) Walks allowed .....................4 .............Ben Mancuso vs. Northern Iowa (4/1) Strikeouts ..........................10 .............Zak Moore vs. North Dakota St. (3/17) 10 .............Pat Venditte vs. UALR (3/3) & Wich. St. (5/26) Hits allowed......................10 .............On four occasions Homers allowed .................2 .............On three occasions
2008 Creighton Baseball
2007 Final Missouri Valley Conference
2007 All-MVC Teams
Record 20-4 19-5 13-11 13-11 13-11 8-16 8-16 7-17 7-17
Pct. .833 .792 .542 .542 .542 .333 .333 .292 .292
Record 53-22 45-16 34-22 32-21 35-23 23-28 20-32 26-26 23-34
Pct. .707 .738 .607 .604 .603 .451 .385 .500 .404
Home 30-14 22-4 22-8 15-5 18-7 8-9 9-11 10-14 14-14
Away Neutral 21-8 2-0 16-8 7-4 10-14 2-0 14-15 3-1 15-15 2-1 6-15 9-4 11-19 0-2 16-10 0-2 8-18 1-2
2007 MVC Specialty Awards Joe Carter MVC Player of the Year ......................................Darin Ruf, Creighton MVC Pitcher of the Year ..........................................................Ben Mancuso, Creighton MVC Newcomer of the Year ..................................................Andy Masten, Creighton MVC Freshman of the Year ....................................................Brad Altbach, Bradley MVC Coach of the Year ...........................................................Ed Servais, Creighton
Ben Mancuso
Andy Masten
Ed Servais
2007 MVC Scholar-Athlete Team Honorable Mention
Eitan Barbalat.......................Bradley Ryan Curry.............................Bradley Ryan Eigsti.............................Bradley Mark Kelly ..............................Southern Illinois Kevin Koski............................Southern Illinois Michael Lam .................. Creighton Ben Mancuso ................. Creighton Ryan Mantle .........................Missouri State Tanner Mattson...................Missouri State Rob Musgrave......................Wichita State Darin Ruf ....................... Creighton Chris Schmidt.......................Indiana State Aaron Shafer ........................Wichita State Kai Tuomi ..............................Evansville Kasey Wahl............................Evansville
Kirk Bacsu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Luke Baughman . . . . . . . . . Ryan Bond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anthony Capra . . . . . . . . . . Joe Goebel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tyler Hill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mike Hlavacek . . . . . . . . . . . Blake Hurlbutt. . . . . . . . . . . Max Hutson . . . . . . . . . . . . . Noah Krol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Colby Luttrell. . . . . . . . . . . . Peter Malinowski . . . . . . . . Robbie Minor. . . . . . . . . . . . Collin Salzenstein. . . . . . . . Taylor Sinclair . . . . . . . . . . . Chris Taylor . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tyler Weber . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2008 Creighton Baseball
Evansville Illinois State Indiana State Wichita State Bradley Wichita State Illinois State Wichita State Wichita State Wichita State Bradley Bradley Evansville Illinois State UNI Missouri State Wichita State
Media Info
First Team
Records/History About Creighton
Darin Ruf
2007 Review
Honorable Mention 1B ........ Jesse Griswold .................Illinois State . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. 2B ........ Matt Lawson.....................Missouri State . . . . . . . . . Jr. SS ......... Robbie Minor ...................Evansville. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. 3B ........ Paul Rice.............................Bradley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. C ........ Ryan Eigsti .........................Bradley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jr. C ........ Tyler Weber ......................Wichita State . . . . . . . . . . Jr. DH ....... Danny Jackson.................Wichita State . . . . . . . . . . Sr. UT ........ Kyle O’Brien ......................Illinois State . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. OF ........ Justin Carr .........................Bradley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. OF ........ Andy Dirks .........................Wichita State . . . . . . . . . . Jr. OF ........ Eric Hoffmann ..................UNI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. OF ........ Nolan Keane .....................Missouri State . . . . . . . . . Jr. SP......... Cody Adams .....................Southern Illinois . . . . . . So. SP......... Rob Musgrave..................Wichita State . . . . . . . . . . Jr. RP ........ Brad Altbach.....................Bradley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fr. RP ........ Bryant George..................Southern Illinois . . . . . . . Fr. RP ........ Noah Krol...........................Wichita State . . . . . . . . . . Sr.
Team Wichita State Creighton Southern Illinois Bradley Evansville Northern Iowa Illinois State Indiana State Missouri State
Overall
2008 Bluejays
Second Team 1B ........ Kasey Wahl ........................Evansville. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. 2B ........ Damon Sublett ................Wichita State . . . . . . . . . . Jr. SS ......... Dan Brewer .......................Bradley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . So. 3B ........ Ryan Anetsberger...........Illinois State . . . . . . . . . . . Jr. C ...... Chris Gradoville .........Creighton . . . . . . . . . . .Sr. DH ....... Chris Schmidt...................Indiana State . . . . . . . . . . Jr. UT ........ Derek Schermerhorn ........Wichita State . . . . . . . . . . Sr. OF ........ David Brumagin ..............Indiana State . . . . . . . . . . Jr. OF ........ Aaron Roberts ..................Southern Illinois . . . . . . . Fr. OF ........ Pat Tumilty ........................Evansville. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. SP......... Ross Detwiler ...................Missouri State . . . . . . . . . Jr. SP......... Ben Norton .......................Evansville. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. SP......... Michael Christl .................Bradley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. SP......... Aaron Jenkins ..................UNI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jr. RP ........ Noah Booth ......................Wichita State . . . . . . . . . . Sr. RP ........ Matt Brinkmann ..............Evansville. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sr.
MVC
Coaches
First Team 1B ...... Darin Ruf.....................Creighton . . . . . . . . . . So. 2B ........ Ryan Curry .........................Bradley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. SS ......... Brandon Douglas............UNI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . So. 3B ........ Conor Gillaspie ................Wichita State . . . . . . . . . So. C ........ Mark Kelly ..........................Southern Illinois . . . . . . So. DH ....... Kevin Dubler.....................Illinois State . . . . . . . . . . So. UT ........ Adam Hills .........................Southern Illinois . . . . . . . Jr. OF ........ Matt Brown .......................Wichita St. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jr. OF ........ Deric Manrique................UNI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . So. OF ........ Jim Viscomi .......................Evansville. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jr. SP......... Travis Banwart .................Wichita State . . . . . . . . . . Jr. SP ...... Ben Mancuso ..............Creighton . . . . . . . . . . . Jr. SP......... Kai Tuomi...........................Evansville. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sr. RP ...... Andy Masten ..............Creighton . . . . . . . . . . .Sr. RP ...... Pat Venditte ...............Creighton . . . . . . . . . . . Jr.
Introduction
2007 MVC In Review
41
Introduction Coaches
2007 Postseason 2007 MVC Tournament Results (Springfield, Mo.) Wednesday, May 23 Game 1: Missouri State 5, Wichita State 2 Game 2: Creighton 8, Southern Illinois 5 Game 3: Bradley 8, Evansville 4
Friday, May 25 Game 7: Bradley 8, Missouri State 3 Game 8: Wichita State 12, Evansville 1 Game 9: Creighton 17, Bradley 2
Thursday, May 24 Game 4: Wichita State 4, Southern Illinois 2 Game 5: Evansville 11, Missouri State 7 Game 6: Creighton 2, Bradley 0
Saturday, May 26 Game 10: Wichita State 2, Creighton 1 Game 11: Creighton 10, Wichita State 9 (12 inn.)
Friday, June 1 Game 1: Oklahoma State 6, Creighton 4 Game 2: Arkansas 9, Albany 0 Saturday, June 2 Game 3: Creighton 21, Albany 11 Game 4: Oklahoma State 14, Arkansas 3 Sunday, June 3 Game 5: Arkansas 6, Creighton 0 Game 6: Oklahoma State 7, Arkansas 6
2007 All-Regional Team C ......... Brian Walker .......................Arkansas 1B ......... Rebel Ridling ......................Oklahoma State 2B ......... Tyler Mach ...........................Oklahoma State SS ....... Chad Ogden................. Creighton 3B ....... Steve Winkelmann ...... Creighton LF .......... Ty Wright .............................Oklahoma State CF ......... Keanon Simon ...................Oklahoma State RF.......... Corey Brown .......................Oklahoma State DH ...... Brett Mieras ................. Creighton P.......... Nick Schmidt ......................Arkansas P.......... Oliver Odle ..........................Oklahoma State
2B ...... Michael Lam ..................Creighton SS ...... Chad Ogden ..................Creighton 3B ........ Conor Gillaspie ................... Wichita State UT ........ Derek Schermerhorn ........ Wichita State DH ....... Peter Malinowski ............... Bradley OF ...... Ross Sinclair ..................Creighton OF ........ Matt Brown .......................... Wichita State P ...... Pat Venditte ..................Creighton P ...... Zak Moore .....................Creighton MVP: Pat Venditte, Creighton
MVP: Rebel Ridling, Oklahoma State
Brandon Knox scoring the winning run of the MVC Championship game against Wichita State...
Media Info 42
C ........ Kyle Paul ............................... Missouri State 1B ...... Darin Ruf........................Creighton
OF ........ Andy Dirks ............................ Wichita State
About Creighton Records/History
2007 Review
2008 Bluejays
2007 NCAA Regional Results (Fayetteville, Ark.)
2007 MVC All-Tournament Team
2008 Creighton Baseball
