Bluejays overpower Huskers at the 'Blatt

OMAHA - So much for thinking his team would need time to adjust to the spotlight of a huge crowd in Rosenblatt Stadium.

On Monday, Creighton baseball coach Ed Servais was wishing his club could merely survive the first two innings of Tuesday's game against Nebraska, which in its April 3 meeting against the Bluejays here broke to a 9-0 lead over that span en route to posting a 12-10 win.

As it turned out, Servais may have underestimated the readiness of his bunch. Creighton, buoyed by a three-run second, broke to a 4-1 lead and went on to dominate the Huskers 9-2 to win for the 19th time in 20 games.

Tuesday's outcome - witnessed by the second-largest crowd to watch a college game this season (18,316) - gave the Bluejays a 2-1 edge in three games against NU this season and left little doubt about where they belong a couple of weeks from now.

“Hopefully, it locks it up for us,” senior catcher Chris Gradoville said of an NCAA regional berth.

Creighton will enter its final regular-season series against Missouri State this weekend tied for first place in the Missouri Valley Conference. But with an RPI of 44, the Bluejays can't bank on getting into the NCAA Tournament if they don't get an automatic bid that comes with winning their conference tourney.

That's why beating the Huskers, who despite a 27-22 record have an RPI of 22, was considered crucial. The last time Creighton had won two of three from Nebraska, in 2005, they also received an at-large bid into the NCAA field.

Naturally, then, the Bluejays were stoked about Tuesday's result.

“No errors, great play in the outfield, our bullpen was amazing - I honestly don't think we could've played better,” said right-handed freshman Casey Schmidt, who pitched five innings to earn the win.

Schmidt received a huge defensive lift from first baseman Darin Ruf to escape the fourth inning having given up just one run.

Before that, though, his teammates rattled four hits off NU right-handed junior Matt Foust while producing their outburst in the second after the Huskers had tied the game in the bottom of the first.

Foust, pitching on two-days' rest, allowed consecutive singles to Chad Ogden, Michael Lam and Robbie Knight, the last of which made it 2-1. After a sacrifice moved the runners to second and third, Gradoville lined a two-run single up the middle.

“We talked about (how) we've got to start out early on these guys, because they're a hot-starting team,” Gradoville said. “I don't want to say (it made us) relax, because that's a bad word to say in baseball, but it gives us a little more room for error if we're going to go out and get two or three runs at the start.”

Creighton added to its lead in the fourth, when Lam doubled off Charlie Shirek with one out and Knight drove him in with a single past first.

Nebraska threatened to answer with a big bottom half. Jeff Tezak doubled to right and Jake Opitz drove him in with a double to left before Andy Gerch singled to leave runners at the corners. But Bryce Nimmo hit a smash to Ruf, who stepped on the bag and threw to second in time to get a sliding Gerch for a double play, and with Opitz unable to advance, Schmidt escaped with the bare minimum by retiring Nick Sullivan on another grounder to Ruf.

“I think the game turned in the second and fourth,” Nebraska coach Mike Anderson said. “We had just scored in the first, and when we score we've got to go out and put up a zero. You look up and 11 pitches later they've scored three runs. I think that second inning was crucial in terms of momentum.”

Shirek, pitching for the first time since April 11, would go on to retire 10 straight before giving up a solo homer to Gradoville with two outs in the seventh that made it 6-2.

But the Huskers had no answer for a team that improved to 30-0 this season when leading after six innings.

“They come out and they're ready to play,” Husker first baseman Andrew Brown said of the Bluejays. “They make plays. They score runs. That's what they're supposed to do.”

Even so, the outcome left Gradoville a bit surprised.

“I thought it would come down to a close game, because they're on a mission as well as we are,” he said. “But it was great to come out that way.”

While Creighton will be at home this weekend hoping to clinch at least a share of the Missouri Valley, the Huskers will be at Kansas looking to win their fifth Big 12 series in the last six. If so, they'll finish no lower than fifth place and be above .500 in the league for the first time this season.

n NU junior shortstop Craig Corriston missed Tuesday's game after injuring his right shoulder lifting weights on Monday. As a precaution, he's scheduled to have an MRI exam today.