Starting 0-6 was not the way the Creighton baseball team wanted to start the 2009 campaign.
“It was hard on the guys,” admitted head coach Ed Servais. “We just keep telling them to be aggressive and don’t stop fighting.”
The Jays are sitting at 8-14 overall, 2-1 Missouri Valley Conference, after losing to North Dakota on Wednesday by a score of 7-6. The one-run loss was the fifth of the season, including two the Jays dropped to No. 15 Coastal Carolina earlier this month. Creighton has also lost four games by two runs.
“We are in most of the games we are losing,” Servais said. “We’re just not getting the big hits with runners in scoring position.”
Despite that, the Jays’ offense has been the team’s strength thus far, along with stellar defense. The team leads the Missouri Valley Conference in team batting average and overall defense.
The Jays have had 10 or more hits in six of their last seven games, outscoring opponents 52-35 in the past seven games.
Junior centerfielder Robbie Knight has continued to improve upon his stellar performance from last year. Knight is second on the team in batting average, .391, and hits with 36. He also tops the team with
eight doubles.
“Robbie is off to another good start,” Servais said. “He is a great presence at the top of our order.”
Two new starters, junior outfielder T.J. Roemmich and sophomore infielder Jimmy Swift, have proved to be solid hitters in the middle of the lineup.
Roemmich leads the team with a .393 batting average and five home runs. He’s second on the team with 18 RBIs and tied for second with 33 hits and 18 runs scored as well. Swift is hitting .320 with 17 RBIs and two home runs.
“Those two [Roemmich and Swift] have come up with some big hits and have really helped us solidify the middle part of the order,” Servais said.
Senior first baseman and preseason all-MVC selection Darin Ruf has been consistent for the Jays as well. He’s hitting .356, tied for tops on the team with five home runs and leads the club with 22 RBIs.
Starting pitching has been the major question mark thus far, Servais said. The Jays are fourth in the Valley with a 4.99 ERA.
“We’re trying to move people around and get them comfortable,” Servais said.
Of the five pitchers who have started, Otto Roberts leads with 3.60 ERA while the other four have ERAs over 5.00.
However, the bullpen has been able to pick up some of the slack. Juniors Matt Patterson, Bob Lackovic and Kirk Clark have all seen significant time out of the pen. They’ve combined to pitch 42 innings, giving up 14 runs, good for a combined average ERA of 2.27.
“We need our bullpen to be good,” Servais said. “So far they have all done a heck of a job for us.”
Patterson has an ERA of 0.66 with two walks and six strikeouts. Opponents are only hitting .229
against him.
“Matt has been a lot more confident this year,” Servais said. “It’s good to see him producing for us everyday.”
This weekend the Jays will host Southern Illinois for a three-game series. Servais hopes the team can get over the hump and start winning close ball games.
“We’re getting hits, just not [big] hits.”