Washburn Ichabods Week 1 Game Notes • Thursday, February 23
Record: 0-0 (0-0 MIAA)

Game Notes (pdf)

at Drury University Panthers (0-0)
Springfield, Mo.  •  Meador Park  •  DU leads all-time series 7-2

Friday	02/24	at	Drury	9 inn.	4:00 p.m.	Live Stats
Saturday	02/25	at	Drury	7 inn.	12:00 p.m.	Live Stats
Saturday	02/25	at	Drury	9 inn.	2:00 p.m.	Live Stats
Sunday	02/26	at	Drury	9 inn.	12:00 p.m.	Live Stats

Leading Off
For the second straight year the Ichabods will open their season at Drury as they take on the Panthers in a four-game series this weekend. Friday they'll play at 4 p.m. and Saturday they'll play a doubleheader starting at noon. Sunday they'll wrap up the series with a single game at noon.

Washburn went 22-28 last year and finished sixth in the MIAA with a 20-23 mark. Drury, also opening its season this weekend, went 35-19 last year and finished third in the Great Lakes Valley Conference West Division.

The Series
Drury leads the all-time series against Washburn 7-2 with the two teams meeting nine times since 2008. The Ichabods were swept in three games last year in Springfield, Mo. Washburn took one game out of two in 2010 in Topeka, the only two games home games for Washburn in the series.

Washburn
The Ichabods went 22-28 overall in 2011 and finished sixth in the MIAA at 20-23 to earn their first trip to the MIAA postseason tournament since 2006. Two Ichabods earned all-MIAA second team honors and four earned honorable mention.

The Ichabods made their eighth trip to the MIAA tournament and first since it moved to CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas City, Kan. The Ichabods were the No. 6 seed and UNO was the No. 3 seed in the single-elimination play-in round. The Mavericks won 11-1 but top-seeded Central Missouri went on to beat UNO in the championship to claim the crown.

Washburn was led at the plate by junior third baseman Tyler Bean with a .331 batting average as he earned all-MIAA honorable mention.
Senior shortstop Dane Simoneau finished his career with an all-MIAA honorable mention nod after batting .320 with 40 RBI. The two-sport standout held nearly every Washburn passing record after he finished his senior season in fall of 2011 as a quarterback on the football team. On the diamond he finished his career first in school history with 53 doubles and eighth with 185 hits. Simoneau finished fourth with 132 RBI and second with 612 at-bats.

Junior Marcus Peavler earned honorable mention as an outfielder and he was third on the team batting .310 and senior Andy Petz was an all-MIAA second team selection as a utility player after hitting .307 and leading the Ichabods with 42 RBI.

On the mound sophomore Brett Ash earned all-MIAA second team after going 7-5 with a 3.99 ERA. All seven of those wins were in conference play, including one each against league-leaders Emporia State and Central Missouri. He went 7-3 in league play overall with a 3.88 ERA.

David Wade also earned all-MIAA honorable mention for Washburn as a designated hitter.

Head Coach Steve Anson
Washburn head coach Steve Anson coached his 1500th game at Washburn in the season finale last year and he'll begin 2012, his 33rd season at Washburn, 20 wins shy of 800 wins. Anson, the winningest coach in the MIAA, is 780-717-3 (.521) in 32 seasons at Washburn and 803-739-3 (.521) in 33 seasons overall as a head coach.

Anson entered 2012 with the 10th highest win total among active NCAA Division II coaches with 803. That's the highest among MIAA coaches. Among coaches all-time, he's 27th in career wins.

About the Drury Panthers
Drury started last year 7-1 after playing Truman and Washburn in its opening series. The Panthers went on to finish 35-19 and 21-11 in the GLVC. The Panthers went 25-7 at home.

Emilio Villanueva led Drury as a freshman last year with a .389 batting average to earn first team all-GLVC. Caleb Cole earned GLVC freshman of the year and second team honors after batting .346 with 46 RBI.  The Panthers lost two eight-game winners from last year's pitching rotation.

Drury head coach Mark Stratton is 147-112 in five seasons with the Panthers. He helped revive the team after three decades of dormancy.

Up Next For The Ichabods
Washburn will return home to host Rockhurst Wednesday at 3 p.m. in a single game at Falley Field. The following week on March 6 Washburn will host Newman at 3 p.m. marking the Ichabods only two non-conference home games.