Tom Lipari grew up wanting to pitch for Creighton.

His father, Ted, played for the Bluejays in the mid-1970s and later was an assistant coach at the school. Tom Lipari remembers attending Creighton games when the school played its home contests at Booth Field in east Omaha.

"I was a big Creighton fan," Lipari said, "but when I graduated from Benson in 1997, I was 6-3 and 155 pounds. I wasn't ready to play at that level."

Lipari headed off to junior college in Iowa, beginning a baseball odyssey that included stops as a player at the University of New Orleans and five professional outposts as well as coaching assignments at four schools.

After spending the past two seasons at Pittsburgh, the 33-year-old Lipari is coming home to serve as Creighton's new pitching coach.

"In the back of my mind, I always knew that if there was an opportunity at Creighton, I'd have to look at it," Lipari said.