Preview: No. 11 UConn baseball vs. Creighton | 7 p.m., FS1

When: Game 1: Thursday, May 18, 7 p.m.

Game 2: Friday, May 19, 7 p.m.

Game 3: Saturday, May 20, 1 p.m.

Where: Charles Schwab Field, Omaha, NE

How to listen: Mixlr

How to watch: Thursday Friday Saturday

Weather Report

Game 1: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 53. Wind left field to right field 6 to 11 mph.

Game 2: Mostly clear, with a low around 46. Wind blowing out to right field 7 to 15 mph.

Game 3: Sunny, with a high near 75. Wind blowing in to left field around 5 o 8 mph.

Courtesy of weather.gov

Projected Starters

LHP Andrew Sears (2-0, 6.62 ERA) vs. RHP Ryan Windham (5-3, 3.76 ERA)

RHP Stephen Quigley (4-1, 4.29 ERA) vs. RHP Dominic Cancellieri (2-3, 5.68 ERA)

RHP Ian Cooke (3-3, 5.96 ERA) vs. RHP Justin Kleinsorge (1-3, 5.76 ERA)

What to watch for

No. 11 UConn baseball is coming off a rough weekend, as the Huskies’ 2-1 series win over Butler required a pair of walk-off wins in the first two games before losing the finale. They looked primed to escape with a sweep, holding an 8-7 lead through seven innings, but an error in each of the final two innings led to four unearned runs and an 11-8 loss on Mother’s Day.

While UConn may play up to seven more games, including the Big East Tournament, it seems as though the Huskies may have been knocked out of the hosting discussion. Sunday’s defeat knocked UConn from No. 16 to No. 25 in the RPI.

While a North Carolina loss pushed Jim Penders’ squad back up to No. 24, Boyd’s World’s RPI Needs Report, which measures how high a team can reach in the RPI in a vacuum, says that the team can’t get back into the top 16 of the RPI before the end of the regular season.

Despite that, a Big East regular season title can help in that quest if UConn can catch fire and other teams stumble. The Huskies have a half-game lead over Xavier, which will travel to Georgetown this weekend. If UConn outperforms the Musketeers, it will earn the title for the third straight year since re-joining the conference. The Storrs nine can clinch first place before they play on Friday, as each of Xavier’s battles with the Hoyas are in the afternoon.

UConn hopes that this isn’t its first trip to this weekend’s venue, as Creighton plays its home games at Charles Schwab Field, which is the home of the College World Series. The Bluejays had climbed as high as No. 93 in the RPI a few weeks ago after a sweep of Butler, but lost their next seven in a row before defeating crosstown rival Omaha on Tuesday.

They will also be watching the Georgetown/Xavier series closely, as Creighton currently occupies fourth place in the Big East and the final spot in the conference tournament. The Hoyas are right on its heels, just a half-game back.

Hogan Helligso (.322/.409/.470) is Creighton’s best hitter and the only regular above .300. Despite the increased offense nationwide this year, the Bluejays didn’t get the memo, slashing .257/.361/.396 as a team, each of which are in the bottom quartile in the country. Andrew Meggs, who had some national hype to begin the year, has floundered at the plate with just six extra-base hits in 177 at-bats.