Washburn (14-20, 13-16 MIAA) vs NW Missouri State (16-22, 15-17 MIAA)
Date: April 22-23
Time: Friday - 4 p.m. / Saturday - 12 p.m.
Rankings: Washburn (none); NW Missouri State (none)
Location: Topeka, Kan.
Field: Falley Field (800)
Live Stats: www.wusports.com

Complete weekly notes

Leading Off
Washburn (14-20, 13-16 MIAA) hosts Northwest Missouri State in a key four game MIAA series. The Ichabods and Bearcats are battling for the sixth and final spot in the MIAA postseason tournament with NWMSU holding a half game lead in the standings.

The Series
Washburn and NW Missouri State have met 91 times on the diamond with the Bearcats holding a 47-44 advantage in the series. NWMSU took three out of four games from Washburn in Maryville last season, knocking the Ichabods out of the sixth and final spot for the MIAA postseason tournament. Washburn is 42-47 against NW Missouri State under Steve Anson.

Washburn
The Ichabods lost three out of four to Central Missouri over the weekend before beating Rockhurst 3-0 on Wednesday night to bring WU's record to 13-20 overall and 13-16 in MIAA play. WU won the opener against UCM 3-2 behind a solid pitching performance from Brett Ash then fell in the next three games by scores of 6-2, 8-3 and 7-5. The 'Bods beat Rockhurst 3-0 on Wednesday night in Kansas City. Xavier Lewis tossed 6.1 innings of two-hit ball and Dane Simoneau drove in a pair to spark WU. Tyler Bean smacked his seventh home run of the season as well.

NW Missouri State
The Bearcats enter the weekend at 16-22 overall and 15-17 in MIAA play after splitting a mid-week doubleheader at Nebraska Omaha on Wednesday. NWMSU is one half game in front of Washburn for the sixth and final spot in the MIAA postseason tournament.
The Bearcats are led offensively by Alec Rosales and his .344 average. He also leads the squad with 23 RBIs. Geno DeAngelis is the only other NWMSU player hitting above .300 at .319. Evan Connell leads the team with four home runs. The Bearcats are hitting .261 as a team.
Jayson Huett has a team-low 3.08 ERA and is tied with Kenny Brengle for the team lead with four wins on the mound. Huett has struck out 56 batters in 49.2 innings over 20 appearances (two starts). The staff ERA is 4.63 and opponents bat .291 against the Bearcat pitchers.

NW Missouri State head coach Darin Loe
NWMSU head coach Darin Loe is in his 12th season leading the Bearcat program. His record at Northwest Missouri State stands at 322-305, while his career record in his 18th season as a head coach sits at 478-439. Last season, he led the Bearcats to a 20-34 overall record, including 18-20 in MIAA play and a spot in the MIAA postseason tournament. NWMSU took three out of four games from WU in the final season of the series to knock the Ichabods out of the MIAA tournament and propel the Bearcats in to the tourney.

Anson 10th on All-time wins list
Steve Anson has 795 career wins in his 33rd season as a head coach, including 772 wins in his 32 seasons at Washburn. That victory total places him 10th on the all-time NCAA-II list. Anson has the most wins among active MIAA coaches.

ALS Awareness game against Rockhurst
Washburn's April 27th home game against Rockhurst will be the ALS awareness game. Join the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity in their support for ALS Awareness Week. The first 200 fans will receive a free Ichadog and one lucky fan will win a $50 gift card. Members of Phi Delta Theta will be on hand to distribute information on ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease.

Last Time out for Washburn
April 20, 2011 - KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Washburn Ichabods shutout Rockhurst 3-0 in a single non-conference game on Wednesday night at Loyola Park. Washburn held the Hawks to just two hits on the night.
Washburn (14-20) got on the board with a single run in the top of the second inning when Tyler Bean led off with a home run, his seventh of the season.
The Ichabods extended the lead to 3-0 with a pair of runs in the fifth on a two-run double by Dane Simoneau. The hit scored Blake Boling and Marcus Peavler to give Washburn all the cushion it would need.
Xavier Lewis (1-0) tossed 6.1 solid innings giving up a pair of hits, while walking two and fanning three to earn his first win of the season. Drew Mikkelson picked up his first career save tossing 2.2 perfect innings in relief.
Joey Greco (0-1) suffered the loss for Rockhurst (15-19). He gave up three runs on four hits in 4.2 innings of work. Alex Seier allowed one hit and walked two over 4.1 innings of relief.
The Ichabods are back in action this weekend hosting NW Missouri State on Friday at 4 p.m. and Saturday at 12 p.m. in a key four-game MIAA series. The Bearcats currently lead Washburn by half a game for the sixth and final spot in the MIAA postseason tournament.

Last Time out for NWMSU
NWMSU Sports Info. - April 20, 2011 - OMAHA, Neb.-The Northwest Missouri State baseball team split an afternoon MIAA doubleheader with Nebraska Omaha on Wednesday. The Bearcats fell in game one 7-0 but responded with a 4-3 victory in the second game.
Nebraska Omaha's Brandon Winkelmann pitched a complete game two-hit shutout in the first game while striking out eight Northwest (16-22, 15-17 MIAA) batters. The Mavericks also got a four-run sixth inning to blow the door open and take a commanding 7-0 lead in the game. Alec Rosales and Nathanial Horton collected Northwest's two hits.
Game two was a different story as the Bearcats jumped out to an early lead with four runs in the first three innings and hung on from there on out for the win. In the top of the first Cameron Bedard got Northwest going with an RBI single that brought home Jake Kretzer.
In the second inning Rosales and Kretzer hit back-to-back doubles to plate two in the inning. Rosales was 2-for-4 with a run in game two with Kretzer going 1-of-2 with a run. An Evan Connell single to center in the third inning plated Bedard and proved to be the game-deciding run in the game.
After getting a solid start from Josh Parrish, who went four and 2/3 innings and allowed one earned run off of four hits and struck out five, Jayson Huett came on in an extended appearance to pick up his seventh save of the year. Huett pitched four innings and gave up one run off of three hits.
UNO made it interesting in the ninth when a Beau Suponchick triple scored Tyler Davies and cut the Northwest lead to one with just one out in the inning. But Huett got Brady Hohl to groundout to him and then induced Caleb Palensky to fly out to center to preserve the win.
Geno DeAngelis and Bedard also collected two-hit games in the win for the Bearcats who win the season series with Nebraska Omaha.
Northwest returns to action this weekend for a four-game series in Topeka, Kan., with Washburn in a pivotal matchup for positioning to make the MIAA Tournament. The Bearcats won three-of-four over the Ichabods in Maryville in the last series of the season last year to advance to the conference tournament.

Ichabod Player Notes
#1 • Eric Schmid • RHP • R-Fr. • Has allowed three runs in 0.2 innings of relief
#2 • Blake Boling • OF • Sr. • Scored five runs and drove in five during the Lincoln series
#4 • Daren Parker • LHP • Jr. • Picked up his first career complete game in a 7-0 win over Truman State
#5 • Boone Plager • IF • Jr. • Scored the winning run in 1-0 win over Fort Hays State
#7 • Dane Simoneau • IF • Sr. • 1-for-4 with a double and two RBI in 3-0 win over Rockhurst
#8 • Cameron Kasel • C • Sr. • Is 4-for-47 in his last 15 games
#9 • Alex Coons • RHP • Sr. • Picked up his first win of the season and his first career complete-game in win over Lincoln
#12 • Shawn Moore • RHP • Sr. • Has given up nine runs in 1.2 innings of work
#14 • Jeremy Heeke • RHP • Sr. • Has given up three runs on six hits in one inning of relief
#15 • Drew Mikkelson • RHP • Sr. • Has allowed nine runs on 12 hits in 4.2 innings of relief
#16 • Raul Guevara • RHP • Sr. • Tossed a complete game in win over Southwest Baptist
#18 • Derek Fogel • LHP • Fr. • Tossed a complete game two-hitter in 1-0 win over Fort Hays State
#20 • Blake Hageman • IF • Jr. • Batting .215 with a pair of doubles and five RBI
#21 • Matt Raabe • IF • Sr. • Was 2-for-9 at the plate during the Lincoln series
#22 • Travis Cruz • OF • Sr. • 16-for-38 during current nine game hitting streak
#23 • Tyler Bean • IF • Jr. • Hit his seventh home run of the season in win over Rockhurst
#25 • Brian Gomez • IF • Sr. • Batting .273 with one double and two RBI in 15 games played
#26 • Seth Huninghake • RHP • Jr. • Has allowed one run on two hits in three innings of relief work
#27 • Joey Hinckley • RHP • Jr. • Has allowed eight runs on 18 hits in 13.1 innings pitched
#28 • Kerry Schachenmeyer • RHP • Jr. • Tossed three scoreless innings of relief against Fort Hays State
#29 • Vince Liberatore • C • So. • Is 0-for-1 at the plate so far this season
#30 • Marcus Peavler • OF • Jr. • Has three game-winning RBIs on the season
#32 • Xavier Lewis • LHP • Jr. • Tossed 6.1 innings of two-hit ball in 3-0 win over Rockhurst
#33 • Mitchell List • LHP • Sr. • Is 2-1 with a 6.23 ERA in seven relief appearances
#34 • TJ Lorson • C/1B • Jr. • Junior from Topeka has appeared seven games with five plate appearances
#35 • Alex Mitts • IF • R-Fr. • Has scored two runs in 17 plate appearances so far this season
#36 • Andy Petz • C/1B • Sr. • Leads team and fourth in the MIAA with 34 RBIs
#37 • Brett Ash • RHP • So. • Is 3-4 with a 5.13 ERA in six starts this season
#39 • Brent Matile • C • R-Fr. • Redshirt Freshman from Yates Center, Kan. has yet to see action this season
#40 • David Wade • IF • Sr. • Is second on the team with four home runs
#41 • Ben Wilson • IF • Jr. • Hit his first career home run against Southwest Baptist
#42 • Wyatt Hall • IF/OF • Jr. • Was 1-for-7 with two RBI and a run scored in the Lincoln series

Up Next
The Ichabods travel to Fort Hays State on April 26 for a make-up doubleheader with the Tigers before returning home the following day to host Rockhurst in a single nine-inning non-conference game.
The first 200 fans to the Rockhurst game will receive a free Ichadog compliments of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity and ALS Awareness Week.