Creighton Baseball Falls Short in Big East Tourney
Creighton's baseball season came to an unceremonious end over the weekend as the Jays were bounced from the Big East Tournament on their home field. After winning their opening game on Thursday night against Seton Hall, CU dropped Friday's game against Xavier to move to an elimination game on Saturday versus St. John's. Creighton fell behind St. John's early and never recovered in their 10-2 season ending loss.
The loss marks the first time since joining the Big East that Creighton failed to make the championship game of the Big East Tournament and the first time since 2012 that the Jays have finished below .500 for a season.
The 2017 season will be remembered as a bit of a roller coaster for the Bluejays. CU started the season 1-11 and limped to a 12-19 non conference record. The slow start was not entirely unexpected though as the Jays were replacing essentially their entire lineup from the 2016 season. Creighton was able to turn things around when conference play began as they went on an 11 game winning streak after dropping their conference season opener to St. John's.
Unfortunately, the Bluejays began slumping again toward the end of the year, losing six of their last eight games to end the regular season. After clawing their way back over .500, the late season swoon left the Jays record even at 23-23 entering the conference tournament. The Jays then went 1-2 in the conference tournament to bring their final record to 24-25.
Creighton has not made the NCAA regional field since 2011 and it might be difficult for that to change next year with much of the Jays established pitching likely to depart. Whether through graduation or anticipated MLB draft prospects, CU will be without Jeff Albrecht, David Gerber, Ethan DeCaster, Rollie Lacey and Keith Rogalla.
The good news is, they do have some reinforcements coming in. For pitchers, they will add Jacob Voss, Mitchell Ragan, Ryan Byrd, Max Clark, and Ian Evans. However, the more intriguing newcomers might be the position players expected to provide some much needed punch to the Jays lineup. Those players include shortstops Jack Strunc and Jordan Hovey, third baseman Ryan Mantle and catcher Garret Gilbert. Unlike 2017, next season may see the offense carry the weight while the pitching finds its footing.