Washburn Ichabods Week 2 Game Notes • Tuesday, February 28
Record: 2-2 (0-0 MIAA)

Game Notes (pdf)

vs Rockhurst Hawks (1-1)
Topeka, Kan. • Falley Field • RU leads series 31-30

Wednesday

02/29

vs

Rockhurst

9 inn.

3:00 p.m.

Live Stats

Leading Off
The Ichabods will play their home opener Wednesday at 3 p.m. when they host Rockhurst at Falley Field.

Washburn went 2-2 last weekend at Drury as both schools opened their season. Pitchers Kerry Schachenmeyer and Tyler Bean picked up wins and Bean led the Ichabods at the plate with a .467 batting average.

Rockhurst has gone 1-1 in a pair of games against Emporia State. The Hawks are coming off a 23-26 season last year where they went 17-14 to finish fourth in the Great Lakes Valley Conference West Division.

The Series
Rockhurst leads the all-time series against Washburn 31-30 after the Ichabods swept Rockhurst in a home-and-away series last year. Washburn has won three straight in the series. The Ichabods are 12-9 at Falley Field against the Hawks.

Last Time Out For Washburn
The Ichabods split a four-game series at Drury last weekend to open the season with a 2-2 record. Every game in the series was decided by five runs or more.

The Panthers took the opener on Friday 9-2, spoiling a solid start from all-MIAA returning starter Brett Ash. Drury scored eight runs on him, but just two of them were earned after Washburn had three errors in the second inning and the Panthers took advantage with six runs.

Saturday the Ichabods opened the doubleheader with a 6-1 win, getting Kerry Schachenmeyer a victory in his first career start. The Panthers took the second game 11-4. In the fourth game Sunday Washburn won 9-3 as Tyler Bean got the win on the mound and hit a two-run home run in the ninth inning.
Bean hit .467 during the four games. He went 7 for 15 from the plate and hit two home runs. He had three hits in each of the final two games of the series. Sunday in the finale he started as pitcher and went 3 for 5 from the plate. He earned the win on the mound that game, allowing one run through seven innings.

Head Coach Steve Anson
Washburn head coach Steve Anson coached his 1500th game at Washburn in the season finale last year and now in 2012, his 33rd season at Washburn, he's 18 wins shy of 800 wins. Anson, the winningest coach in the MIAA, is 782-719-3 (.521) in 33 seasons at Washburn and 805-741-3 (.521) in 34 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.

Ichabods picked sixth in MIAA preseason poll
The Ichabods were picked to finish sixth in the MIAA preseason coaches poll released Thursday by the conference office. Washburn finished sixth in last year's conference standings to earn a trip to the postseason tournament.

The Ichabods went 22-28 last year and 20-23 in the conference. Central Missouri and Emporia State shared the MIAA regular season title with 37-7 records and UCM was picked first this year with 99 points and nine first-place votes. ESU got two first-place votes and 92 points. The Ichabods earned 56 points and trailed No. 5 Missouri Southern (63 points), No. 4 Fort Hays State (73 points) and No. 3 Missouri Western (74 points).

About the Rockhurst Hawks
The Hawks are 1-1 after splitting two games with Emporia State to start the year. February 22 Rockhurst beat ESU 13-3 in Kansas City and on Sunday the Hornets evened the series 11-3 in Emporia.

Mark Sappington went 6 innings in the opener and struck out seven Hornets. He allowed five hits and no runs. The Hawks are led at the plate by Patrick Chandler with a .778 batting average (7 for 9) and the club's only home run.

The Hawks are coached by Gary Burns. He's gone 572-395 (.592) in his 19th year. He's a 1981 graduate of Vanderbilt where he helped lead his team to the 1980 SEC championship.

Up Next For The Ichabods
On March 6 Washburn will host Newman at 3 p.m.  and then jump into MIAA play that weekend with a four-game series at Pittsburg State, March 10-11.