by Brandon Vogel

The two marquee games against Nebraska were nice showcases, but Creighton baseball’s biggest series yet at TD Ameritrade Park is on tap this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The Jays took two of three from Evansville over the weekend, leaving them at 12-6 in the Missouri Valley Conference and 35-13 overall. Meanwhile, Missouri State swept Bradley to move into a tie for first place in the conference, setting up a winner-take-all series this week in Omaha for the regular season conference crown. Creighton has an outside chance at earning an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament — their RPI was 49 heading into last weekend — and winning the MVC season title would make that a more realistic possibility should the Jays fall in the conference tourney. There are no magic numbers for getting in, but Creighton would look a lot more appealing if they could somehow get to 40 wins. The Jays only have half of a season under their belts on their new home turf, but it’s still the home turf and Creighton gets to play host from here on out. At this time in the season all you can ask for is to control your fate. Creighton has that advantage. The rest is up to them. * Veterans, reservists, military personnel and their families are invited to pick up passes good for up to six tickets to Creighton’s May 20 match-up with Missouri State as part of the university’s Salute to Military Personnel. The first 10,000 fans in the gates will receive free U.S. flags. The game will feature a military flyover, paratroopers delivering the American flag for the national anthem and post-game fireworks. Passes for military personnel are available at any area VFW or American Legion and at the VA Medical Center at 42nd and Woolworth. * Preseason football rankings savant Phil Steele has Nebraska listed as an 18-1 shot to win the BCS national championship this year. Those are the lowest odds in the Big 10, meaning the Huskers are totally going to run this conference from day one, right? I wouldn’t count on it. It actually looks like Steele isn’t sure who’s coming out of the conference. Right behind Nebraska are Penn State and Ohio State at 20-1, followed by Wisconsin (28-1), Michigan State (40-1), Iowa (60-1), and Michigan (75-1). Of course this is all “for entertainment purposes only,” but if you’d like to play the field you can do that at 10-1.

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