April 6, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. -
Even though they are the No. 21 ranked baseball team in the country according to Baseball America, the Creighton Bluejays (18-7) are no better in conference play than the Illinois State Redbirds (9-17), as both teams bring a 3-3 Missouri Valley Conference record into this weekend's three-game series in Omaha, Neb., at the CU Sports Complex.
The Redbirds travel to Creighton with some momentum after defeating the Iowa Hawkeyes, 5-2, on Wednesday at Redbird Field. Head coach Jim Brownlee hopes that the momentum and confidence gained by his team after the Iowa win will carry over against Creighton.
"The win against Iowa was great for the team and the confidence they picked up could really benefit our play over the weekend," said Brownlee. "Momentum and confidence will prove to be key ingredients for this team's success and some wins this weekend could certainly help in both categories."
Senior outfielder Kris Jenkins has been an integral part of building that momentum of late, tallying eight hits and four RBI in the last four games along with raising his batting average 55 points from .186 to .241 over that span. Brownlee believes that his senior is bringing a competitive streak to the park that will rub off on his teammates.
"Kris is the type of player that can really make us go and his competition level has grown tremendously in the past week or so," said Brownlee. "He has been getting clutch hits and making things happen on the bases with steals. I believe that will start to rub off on some of the other players who are not playing as well as they should be."
However, the Bluejays will certainly do everything in their power to squash the momentum that the Redbirds are trying to build. Last year's MVC regular season champions have already won a series from Valley foe Wichita State and are hitting .294 as team on the season. But, Brownlee is trying not to focus on the national attention the Bluejays are getting and instead focus on his team doing the right thing.
"Creighton is playing well this season and coach (Ed) Servais has done a great job with the program there, as evidence by their current ranking and last year's regular season title," said Brownlee. "But, I know if we play the type of baseball we are capable of this weekend then we'll have a good weekend."
ISU will feature its usual weekend rotation against CU, but with a small change. Junior Kitt Kopach (1-4, 2.70 ERA) will take the mound in the 3 p.m. opener on Friday as usual. However, freshman starters Ian Berger and Jim Sajewich will flip their usual spots in the rotation with Sajewich (1-2, 5.65 ERA) scheduled to start in Saturday's 1 p.m. contest and Berger (2-4, 6.43 ERA) pitching in Sunday's 1 p.m. finale, instead of his normal Saturday start.
