2011 Baseball - Creighton University Bluejays

Records and History 2010 in Review Opponents Meet the Players Meet the Staff Creighton BaseballThis is Creighton74Creighton BluejaysBluejay NCAA Tournament Teams1973 District Five PlayoffsPostseason ResultsMay 28, 1973 Oklahoma 8, Creighton 1 Tulsa, Okla.May 29, 1973 Oral Roberts 11, Creighton 4 Tulsa, Okla.Final Record: 25-161973 Major League Baseball June Draft39th Rd. (715) Jim Lemon, 2B Kansas City RoyalsMay 29, 1973 Oral Roberts 11, Creighton 4 Tulsa, Okla.1990 NCAA Central RegionalPostseason ResultsMay 25, 1990 Creighton 9, Clemson 6 Austin, TexasMay 26, 1990 Cal State Fullerton 6, Creighton 3 Austin, TexasMay 27, 1990 Creighton 4, Clemson 3 Austin, TexasMay 27, 1990 Texas 11, Creighton 9 Austin, TexasFinal Record: 48-221990 Major League Baseball Draft1st Rd. (16) Dan Smith, LHP Texas Rangers39th Rd. (1015) Mike Heathcott, RHP New York Yankees46th Rd. (1172) Ryan Martindale, OF St. Louis CardinalsThe 1973 Bluejays became the first team in school history to qualify forpostseason play, as they received an at-large bid to the District Five Playoffsheld in Tulsa, Okla. With a total of eight four-team districts, the 1973 NCAATournament consisted of 32 teams. There were a total of 216 Division Iteams at that time.Led by coach Dave Baker, the Jays picked up regular season wins overKansas State, Nebraska, Arkansas and Iowa State. In the District Five Playoffs,Creighton lost its opening game to Oklahoma, who would advance to theCollege World Series, and was eliminated by Oral Roberts.Sophomore pitcher Ernie Rongish led Creighton with a 6-3 record as astarter, earning second-team Academic All-America honors. Freshman GaryMcCabe led the team with a 1.38 ERA and 64 strikeouts. Junior left-handerJim Roach appeared in a team-high 13 games.Offensively, senior co-captain Jim Lemon was the team’s most productiveplayer, compiling 42 hits in 142 at-bats for a .296 batting average. Thecenterfielder also tied for the team-lead with nine stolen bases and would bedrafted in the 39th round of the June 1973, MLB Draft by the Kansas CityRoyals. Senior shortstop Steve Naval, also a co-captain on the 1973 squad, ledthe team with five home runs and 10 doubles. Sophomore first baseman RonThornam paced Creighton with 23 RBIs.After a 17-year absence from postseason play, the 1990 squad ended the drought and began a streak ofthree consecutive NCAA Regional appearances for the Jays. Creighton earned an at-large bid to the NCAATournament after finishing third in the MVC with a 13-7 league mark.At the NCAA Central Regional in Austin, Texas, the Jays picked up their first-ever NCAA Tournamentwin over Clemson in the opener. After a 6-3 loss to eventual CWS qualifier Cal State Fullerton, Creightoncame back to defeat Clemson for the second time the next day. The dream of reaching the CWS ended,however, with an 11-9 loss to the host Texas Longhorns.The team’s 48 wins were a school-record at that time, as head coach Jim Hendry directed the squad tothe NCAA Tournament in his sixth full season. Hendry would go on to coach only one more season, beforemaking the jump to professional baseball where he currently serves as the general manager for the ChicagoCubs.Individual accolades went hand-in-hand with the team’s success. Junior left-handed pitcher Dan Smith wasnamed the MVC Pitcher of the Year after leading the league with a 14-3 record and a then-school-record1.96 ERA. Smith recorded 12 complete games, five shutouts and 134 strikeouts as a junior before beingselected in the first round (16th pick) of the 1990 MLB Draft by the Texas Rangers. He received first-teamAll-America honors from both Baseball America and the ABCA following the season, as well as first-teamall-MVC laurels.Joining Smith on the all-MVC first team were junior outfielder John Pivovar and sophomore infielder ScottStahoviak. Pivovar hit .339 in 61 starts, tallying 11 doubles, four triples, five home runs and 35 RBIs, to goalong with a .988 fielding percentage. Stahoviak led the team in nearly every offensive category, includingMVC-best totals with a .417 batting average, 95 hits and 25 doubles. His .561 on-basepercentage would be a school record until he bettered the mark the following seasonand his batting average and doubles total still rank among the top-five at Creighton.Stahoviak was also voted onto the All-Regional Team at first base, after batting9-for-16 in Creighton’s four postseason games. Joining Stahoviak on the team wasfellow sophomore Steve Hinton, who was selected for his play in left field. Hintonpicked up six hits, scored five runs and drove in four during Regional play.