Washburn Ichabods Week 5 Game Notes
Record: (8-7, 4-4 MIAA)

Game Notes (pdf)

vs Southwest Baptist Bearcats (11-6-1, 6-2 MIAA)
Topeka, Kan. • Falley Field

Saturday	03/24	vs	Southwest Baptist	7 inn.	4:00 p.m.	Live Stats
Saturday	03/24	vs	Southwest Baptist	9 inn.	6:00 p.m.	Live Stats
Sunday	03/25	vs	Southwest Baptist	7 inn.	1:00 p.m.	Live Stats
Sunday	03/25	vs	Southwest Baptist	9 inn.	3:00 p.m.	Live Stats

Leading Off
The Ichabods will look to continue their climb above .500 as they host Southwest Baptist this weekend in a four-game MIAA series. Rain throughout the week has altered the schedule as the two will now move their games from Friday and Saturday to Saturday and Sunday. Saturday they'll play a doubleheader at 4 p.m. and Sunday they'll play two starting at 1 p.m.

Washburn went 4-1 last week to move its record to 8-7 overall and 4-4 in the MIAA. The Ichabods beat St. Mary on Tuesday in non-conference game and then went on the road and won three of four at Truman.

This will be Washburn's first home MIAA series this year. The Ichabods are 3-0 in three single, nine-inning games at Falley Field this year.

The Series Records
Washburn is 37-20 all-time against Southwest Baptist. The Ichabods have taken three of four against SBU in each of the last three seasons

The series goes back to 1984 and has been played every year since 1996.

Last Time Out For Washburn
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. -- Washburn took three of four games at Truman last weekend after a win Sunday in the finals.

Tyler Bean pitched eight innings in a 4-3 win for Washburn Sunday at Truman and he hit the game-winning home run in the seventh inning. The Ichabods took three of four against the Bulldogs and improved to 8-7 overall and 4-4 in the MIAA. Washburn will return home to host Southwest Baptist Friday and Saturday in a pair of doubleheaders at Falley Field.

The two teams were tied at 3-3 when Bean hit a solo shot in the seventh, his fourth of the year. He then pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth and improved his record to 3-0. He gave up just one earned run and lowered his ERA to 0.82 this year. AJ Green pitched the ninth inning to earn his second save this weekend.

Truman scored three runs in the second inning off two hits and an error. John Calhoun got one of them back for Washburn in the third. He singled and stole second and then scored when Boone Plager singled up the middle. Connor Crimmins and Calhoun each had RBI singles in the fourth to tie the score.

Bean let two runners reach in the fifth but pitched out of the jam. He also left one standing in the sixth and then two more in the seventh. The Bulldogs left nine on base all together.

The Ichabods had 12 hits off two Truman pitchers. Calhoun and Blain Matthews each went 3 for 4 and Brad Alberts had two hits.

Shutout leads Ash to MIAA pitcher of the week honor
Junior pitcher Brett Ash threw a complete game shutout Friday in Washburn's series opener at Truman to earn him MIAA pitcher of the week honor as the MIAA Athlete of the Week awards were given out Tuesday.

Ash went nine innings against the Bulldogs and allowed six hits and a walk while striking out eight. He pitched out of a two-hit inning in the second and then in the fourth he allowed the bases to get loaded and got out of the inning with a strikeout. He pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to earn the complete game and shutout.

Washburn won that game 1-0 and went on to take three of four in the series. The Ichabods are now 8-7 overall and 4-4 in the MIAA.
Ash, an all-MIAA pitcher last year, is Washburn's first player to earn an MIAA weekly award this year.

Ichabods have player at top of MIAA batting and pitching statistics
Washburn senior John Calhoun leads the MIAA in batting average and senior pitcher Tyler Bean leads the league in ERA.
Calhoun is batting .475 with 28 hits in 59 at-bats. He also leads the league with an .847 slugging percentage and he's second with six home runs. Calhoun is sixth in the MIAA with 28 hits and sixth with 20 RBI.

Calhoun had game-winning RBI in three of Washburn's four wins last week. Wednesday against St. Mary he had a game-winning two-run single as Washburn overcame a 4-3 deficit. He then had the game-winning RBI grounder in the opener at Truman Friday and hit a game-winning three-run homer Saturday in the second game of the series. He scored Washburn's first run Sunday as they won the finale. He singled, stole second and then scored on a single. Calhoun had had two homers in the first game Saturday.

Bean has made three starts on the mound for Washburn and he has a 0.82 ERA with a 3-0 record. He's only allowed two earned runs in 22 innings and has 12 strikeouts to just three walks. Bean is the only MIAA starting pitcher not to have allowed an extra-base hit.

Ichabods update record books with offensive explosion
The Ichabods scored 17 runs and had 21 hits March 12 in the third game of their series at Pittsburg State. Since single-game records were kept in 1999, that's the sixth-highest hit total and the second-highest in an MIAA game. The Ichabods had 24 hits at Southwest Baptist on April 14, 2000. The six home runs Washburn hit was tied for the highest in school history. Washburn also hit six homers at SBU on April 14, 2006.

John Calhoun had six hits, tied for the second most in school history. He and Richard Swan became the first pair of Ichabods to each hit two homers in the same game since single-game records were kept in 1999.

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 12 wins shy of 800 wins. Anson, the winningest coach in the MIAA, is 788-724-3 (.521) in 33 seasons at Washburn and 811-746-3 (.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.

Bean contributes at the plate and on the mound in senior year
Tyler Bean is hitting .318 in his two-year Washburn career and he's been the Ichabods starting third baseman in nearly every game. This year he's also returning to the mound as a starting pitcher for Washburn. Through three starts, he has a 3-0 record and a 0.82 ERA, first in the MIAA. He's struck out 12 and walked three while allowing just two earned runs in 22 innings. Bean has a .283 batting average this year with four home runs and 10 RBI.
In Bean's 12 at-bats while the starting pitcher, he has six hits (.500) and a two home runs. As the third baseman, he's batting .241 (7 for 29).

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 Southwest Baptist Bearcats
Southwest Baptist is 11-6-1 overall and second in the MIAA with a 6-2 record. The Bearcats lost three straight to Central Oklahoma previously. Before that, they swept four games from Lincoln and split four games with Emporia State. Their tie was a 9-9, 10-inning game with Missouri Valley.

Tyler Christophel earned MIAA hitter of the week honor last week after going .833 at the plate despite his team losing three straight to UCM. He's recorded a hit in 10 straight at-bats spanning his last three games. Overall, he's batting .470, second best in the league behind Washburn's John Calhoun.

Dustin Caplette has a 4.40 ERA through four starts and five appearances with a 3-1 ERA. Cody Holzer has a 0.56 ERA after six relief outings.

Up Next For The Ichabods
The Ichabods will play a doubleheader Tuesday at Fort Hays State starting at 2 p.m. They will then play four games at Missouri Western that weekend, starting with a doubleheader Saturday at 2 p.m. They'll wrap up the series Sunday with two games starting at noon. Washburn will then return home for a 10-game home stand before playing 11 straight on the road.