The Creighton baseball team got off to a rocky start to the 2019 season when senior left fielder Ryan Mantle suffered a minor groin strain during practice the day before the team’s season-opener at Arkansas-Little Rock. Mantle was a revelation last season as he led the team in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage in Big East play.
He was expected to start Friday’s opener in the clean-up spot and offer some protection in the lineup behind Preseason All-American Will Robertson, but as it turned out the Jays were just fine without him for now as they scratched across 10 runs on 10 hits despite leaving 11 men on base in a 10-8 win over UALR.