Pages 1-92 - Creighton University Bluejays

More documents

Recommendations

Info

2010 Bl u e j a y Ba s e b a l l 2009 Season Recap Creighton celebrates a Darin Ruf home run. The 2009 Creighton baseball team enjoyed its sixth straight winning season under head coach Ed Servais, but fell one win short of the ultimate goal of a spot in the NCAA Tournament. The Jays finished with a 31-25 overall record, and a 14-9 mark in the MVC, good for fourth place. The Jays rallied for three straight wins to start the Valley Tournament, but fell in the title game, 4-2 to Wichita State. Creighton, led by a strong nucleus of returners, was selected second in The Valley’s preseason coaches’ poll. Shortstop Elliot Soto, first baseman Darin Ruf and outfielder Robbie Knight all landed on the MVC Preseason All- Conference Team, tying Creighton for most selections. Creighton played one of its most challenging schedules to date, hooking up with six teams that eventually reached NCAA Regionals. The strength of schedule showed early on in the campaign, as the Jays started by losing their first six, and eventually sitting at 3-11 in early March. Those first 14 were played on the road, as the Jays opened up in Huntsville, Texas, losing all four games to Sam Houston State. The four losses to the eventual Southland Conference champions were by a combined seven runs, two of which were in extra innings. Phoenix, Ariz., was the next stop on Creighton’s season-opening road trip. The squad played three games at the Phoenix Classic, going 1-2. Creighton dropped a close, 3-1 game to Dayton, before falling 11-3 to West Coast Conference champion Gonzaga. The Jays picked up their elusive first win of the season over Notre Dame, with a 6-3 victory. After a midweek loss at Kansas State, the Jays boarded the plane for a six-game spring break run in the Carolinas. First up was the Caravelle Resort Classic at Conway, S.C. The Jays split four games, with wins over Albany (20-5) and IPFW (7-2), and losses to Stony Brook (8-2) and 16thranked Coastal Carolina (8-7). The Jays would then get a rematch with Coastal, which produced one of the best pitcher’s duels of the year. Jonas Dufek allowed just one run on four hits, but was saddled with the loss, as the Jays fell, 1-0. After a 6-2 loss at UNC-Wilmington, the Jays returned home for their first home games of the 2009 campaign. It seemed all the Jays needed was a dose of the Midwest as they rattled off a 13-4 mark over their next 17 games. That run started with a series victory over South Dakota State. Greg Hellhake earned his first win of the season with seven strong innings in an 8-2 Bluejay win in game one. After falling 4-2 in game two, the Jays came out swinging, using a 17-hit barrage to send SDSU back to Brookings with a 12-3 loss. The Jays headed into its first conference series at Indiana State with 5-12 mark, but left Terre Haute 2-1 on the weekend. The Jays took the first two games of the series behind four hits apiece from Knight, Soto and T.J. Roemmich, before the Sycamores took the finale. After splitting a pair of midweek games with North Dakota, the Jays got back to work in conference play, sweeping Southern Illinois in Carbondale. Two, 4-3, comefrom-behind victories in the first two games preceded a 10-0 thumping in the finale to put the Jays at 5-1 in league play. The red-hot Jays continued their streak of fine play, by topping Kansas State, 5-1 at Rosenblatt Stadium, avenging an earlier loss to the Wildcats. Four Creighton pitchers combined to hold KSU to just one run on five hits. It was on to Evansville next, as the Jays earned their second series victory by taking two of three from the Purple Aces. After a 7-4 win in game one, and a 4-3 loss in game two, Creighton used a five-run, 10th inning rally earn a 10-5 win. Two days later the Jays played local rival Nebraska. In what was perhaps the most satisfying win of the year, the Jays scored eight runs in the eighth inning, rallying behind a 5-for-5 effort from Vicente Cafaro and four RBIs from Roemmich to pummel the Huskers 15-0 at Haymarket Park in Lincoln. The momentum carried over to the weekend, as Creighton earned yet another series victory, taking two of three from Northern Iowa. The two squads split two close games to open the series, before the Jays exploded for a one-sided, 14-1 win. Knight, Ruf and Scott Thornburg all homered for CU, as Ruf drove in five and Thornburg added four. The Jays stepped out of conference play for 12 days, going 4-2 over that time. After a 7-6 loss at Kansas, the Jays swept a doubleheader from Air Force and took both games from Illinois-Chicago. The Jays then looked to take their second straight from Nebraska, but fell 4-3 in 12 innings. Starting shortstop Elliot Soto earned first team all-MVC honors last season. [50] 2010 Cr e i g h t o n Ba s e b a l l
The loss seemed to light a fire under the Jays, as they responded by rattling off a season-best, seven straight victories. The streak started at Bradley, where CU swept the two-game set (game three was rained out) from the Braves. The squad followed that with two, non-conference road wins. The first came with a 5-2 win at South Dakota State and the next at Iowa with a 12-3 romp. The Jays capped off their win streak with their second straight MVC series sweep; this time taking three games at Illinois State. Two late comebacks fueled the sweep, as the Jays put up five runs in the eighth inning of game one for an 8-3 victory. Game three saw the Jays trailing 6-0 in the third inning, but a seven-spot in the seventh innng rallied the Jays to a 10-6 win. The Jays were 24-6 in their last 30 games, and 14-3 in the league. The squad was flying high, and it looked as if a regular season title was on the horizon. Unfortunately, the squad would not win another game the rest of the regular season. Six straight losses in the form of three-game sweeps at the hands of MVC foes Missouri State and Wichita State dropped the Jays to fourth in the league heading into the conference tournament. The Jays turned things around though, as they rattled off three victories in a row. The second was arguably the highlight of the 2009 season, as freshman Brandon Koenigstein threw the fourth no-hitter in school history, blanking Wichita State on the strength of seven strikeouts. Koenigstein was just one hit-batter away from a perfect game. Creighton then recorded another dramatic victory, this time a 7-6, 10-inning win over Missouri State. Knight’s two-out, two-RBI single in the 10th inning propelled the Jays into a championship game rematch with Wichita. The Bluejay magic had run its course, as Wichita took home the MVC Championship with a 4-2 victory in the title game. The Jays landed five players on the All-Tournament Team. Cafaro, Soto, Knight, Koenigstein and Jimmy Swift all earned spots on the team. Two more awards followed for Koenigstein after his no-hitter. He earned Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week honors and a spot on the College Baseball Foundation National All-Star Lineup. The postseason awards piled up for the Jays as well, as seven players were selected to the All-MVC team, the most under Servais. Garnering first team nods were Soto and Jack VanLeur. Ruf, Knight and Cafaro were second-team selections while Roemmich and Bobby Lackovic earned honorable mentions. Three Jays earned spots on the MVC Scholar-Athlete Team, as Knight and Ruf were named to the first team, while Roemmich was an honorable mention. This came on the heels of Ruf earning third-team Academic All-American honors from CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine. Two weeks later, several Jays received the opportunity to play professional baseball. Ruf was the lone Bluejay to be selected in the MLB Amateur Draft, as he went to the Philadelphia Phillies in the 20th Round. Joining Ruf in the professional ranks were Cafaro and Kirk Clark. Both players signed free agent contracts with the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros respectively, while senior Jeremy Hauer signed with the independent Fargo- Moorhead Redhawks. As a team, the Jays defense was stellar as usual. They ended the season with a .984 fielding percentage, good for the best in the NCAA’s aluminum bat era. The Jays also have the third best mark, with a .981 percentage in 2010 Bl u e j a y Ba s e b a l l 2009 Season Recap 2004. Servais also earned a milestone win, as he earned his 400th career victory with a 7-2 win against Bradley. This year will be Servais’ seventh with the Jays, as he is yet to have a losing season. The Creighton bullpen was busy, as VanLeur made 36 appearances. That mark was good for fourth in Creighton history and fifth in MVC history. Lackovic was right behind VanLeur, as he made 34 appearances, good for fifth in CU and seventh in Valley history. Knight will be looking to move up in the NCAA record books in 2010. After just three years, Knight is Creighton’s all-time leader in hit by pitches with 72. He is currently seventh on the NCAA all-time list, 37 behind leader Brett Lilley (2005-08) of Notre Dame. The 2010 season holds plenty of promise for the Jays as they return six starters, all but one starting pitcher, and a plethora of bullpen arms. The Brandon Koenigstein hurled a no-hitter against Wichita State on May 22. He was just one hit batsmen away from a perfect game. NCAA Tournament will be the goal, as always, as the Jays will open the season on Feb. 20 at Central Arkansas. 2010 Cr e i g h t o n Ba s e b a l l [51]
Page 1 and 2: 2010 Bluejay B aseBall Table of Con
Page 3 and 4: 2010 Bl u e j a y Ba s e b a l l Cr
Page 5 and 6: 2010 Bl u e j a y Ba s e b a l l Ro
Page 7 and 8: 2010 Bl u e j a y Ba s e b a l l 20
Page 9 and 10: The 2010 edition of Creighton Bluej
Page 11 and 12: Co a c h e s a n d Pl a y e r Bi o
Page 13 and 14: staff. As an assistant, Servais was
Page 15 and 16: 2010 Bl u e j a y Ba s e b a l l As
Page 17 and 18: Robbie KNIGHT Senior • #2 oF •
Page 19 and 20: Mike NIHSEN Senior • #24 RHP •
Page 21 and 22: T.J. RoEMMICH Senior • #18 oF/LHP
Page 23 and 24: Vince BELLINO Junior • #6 INF •
Page 25 and 26: Elliot SOTO Junior • #5 INF • 5
Page 27 and 28: 2009 (Sophomore) • Tied for ninth
Page 29 and 30: Kurt SPoMER Sophomore • #20 RHP
Page 31 and 32: 2010 Bluejay B aseBall Player Profi
Page 33 and 34: 2010 Bluejay B aseBall Player Profi
Page 35 and 36: oPPonent Profiles
Page 37 and 38: 2010 Bl u e j a y Ba s e b a l l Op
Page 49: 2009 Ye a r In Re v i e w
Page 53 and 54: Fielding 2010 Bl u e j a y Ba s e b
Page 55 and 56: 2009 MVC In Review 2010 Bl u e j a
Page 57 and 58: Re c o r d s, Po s t s e a s o n &
Page 59 and 60: Batting Average - Season Avg. Name,
Page 61 and 62: 2010 Bl u e j a y Ba s e b a l l Pi
Page 63 and 64: The shining moment for the Creighto
Page 65 and 66: 2010 Bl u e j a y Ba s e b a l l Bl
Page 67 and 68: The Creighton baseball program has
Page 69 and 70: ALl-Ti m e Re s u l t s
Page 71 and 72: A Creighton Hitter Had... 7 at-bats
Page 73 and 74: 2010 Bl u e j a y Ba s e b a l l 19
Page 75 and 76: 2010 Bl u e j a y Ba s e b a l l vs
Page 77 and 78: 2010 Bl u e j a y Ba s e b a l l 3/
Page 79 and 80: 2008-09 Athletics Highlights • Cr
Page 81 and 82: Under the leadership of Creighton P
Page 83 and 84: 2010 Bl u e j a y Ba s e b a l l Th
Page 85 and 86: Academic and Athletic Success • C
Page 87 and 88: College World Series The NCAA Divis
Page 89 and 90: TIM GRADOVILLE Did not see any game
Page 91 and 92: Radio Broadcast Information KOZN (1

Pages 1-92 - Creighton University Bluejays

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?