Washburn Ichabods Week 11 Game Notes
Record: 27-22

MIAA Centennial Baseball Championship
CommunityAmerica Ballpark
Kansas City, Kan.
May 10-13

Game Notes
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Leading Off
The Ichabods will look for another postseason win as they face Missouri Western Friday at 2:30 p.m. in the second round of the MIAA Centennial Baseball Championship at Community America Ballpark.

Fourth-seeded Washburn (27-22) advanced to the second round after a 4-1 win over No. 5 Emporia State Thursday. The Griffons (33-15) earned the No. 2 seed and a first round bye. The winner will play in Saturday's semifinal at 11 a.m. and the loser will play Friday at 6 p.m. in an elimination game.

The Ichabods improved to 6-4 in opening round games thanks to a complete game performance by Brett Ash and a four-run seventh inning highlighted by a two-run double by Marcus Peavler.

The other second round game Friday will feature No. 1 Central Missouri against No. 6 Fort Hays State. That game's winner will face Washburn Saturday and the losers will face each other Friday night.

The Series Record Against MWSU
Washburn leads the all-time series against Missouri Western 57-52. The Griffons swept all four games this year against Washburn and all three last year to give them seven straight wins against the Ichabods. Washburn is 2-0 all-time against MWSU in the MIAA tournament with a win in a 2006 elimination game and the 1996 opening round.

Ichabods vs ESU in MIAA 1st Round
KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Washburn broke a scoreless tie with four runs in the seventh inning and Brett Ash threw his 10th straight complete game in a 4-1 win against Emporia State in the first round of the MIAA Centennial Baseball Championship at CommunityAmerica Ballpark Thursday afternoon.

Fourth-seeded Washburn improved to 27-22 and will play either top-seeded Central Missouri at 11 a.m. or No. 2 Missouri Western at 2:30 p.m. Friday in the second round. The four remaining teams will be re-seeded after No. 3 Missouri Southern plays No. 6 Fort Hays State Thursday afternoon. Emporia State ended its season at 26-22.

Blake Hageman walked and Connor Crimmins singled in the seventh inning. John Calhoun then drove Hageman in with a single and then Marcus Peavler later drove in Calhoun and Crimmins with a double. Brad Alberts completed the scoring with a single that drove in Peavler.

Those runs broke up a pitchers battle between Ash, just announced as a second team all-MIAA selection, and ESU's Shawn Talkington, the MIAA freshman of the year. Talkington was chased after giving up the first three runs and he fell to 2-1.

Ash went the distance for the 10th time to tie for the NCAA lead in complete games. He gave up seven hits without an earned run and he struck out five with one walk. Ash only gave up more than one hit in an inning when he gave up two hits and a run in the eighth. He walked an hit a batter in the ninth but worked around that. He improved to 7-4 and lowered his ERA to 2.81 on the year.

Crimmins went 3 for 3 at the plate and Washburn ended with nine hits.

The Ichabods won their first MIAA tournament opening round game since 2000 and they're now 13-17 all-time in the tournament. The remaining portion of the bracket this weekend will be a double elimination format.

Ichabods making 10th MIAA postseason trip
Washburn's second straight trip to the MIAA Centennial Baseball Championship marks the Ichabods' 10th trip to the MIAA postseason tournament.

Washburn won the MIAA North Division in 1991 to make its first trip and won two games in the tournament. The Ichabods are 13-17 all-time in the tournament and 6-4 in opening games.

Washburn won the first two games in the 2000 tournament including a second round game against Central Missouri. They beat the Mules but UCM came back around and beat Washburn twice in the finals. Washburn has never won an MIAA tournament championship.

Calhoun's first-team selection highlights seven all-MIAA selections for Ichabods
Washburn third baseman John Calhoun was a unanimous first team selection to the all-MIAA team that was announced Thursday morning prior to the first game of the MIAA Centennial Baseball Championship. Overall, the Ichabods had seven selections to the all-conference squads.

Starting pitcher Brett Ash joined first baseman Brad Alberts and utility player Tyler Bean on the second team. Starter Kerry Schachenmeyer, catcher Richard Swan and right fielder Marcus Peavler earned honorable mention.

Calhoun entered the tournament third in the MIAA batting .401 and second with a .674 slugging percentage. He tied for the league lead with 18 doubles and he was in the top eight in every hitting category in the conference except triples. He was sixth with nine home runs.

Ash won his MIAA tournament opener Thursday against Emporia State and has a 7-4 record and 2.81 ERA. He's tied for the NCAA Division II lead with 10 complete games. Alberts is second on the team batting .379 and Tyler Bean is batting .307, mostly as the designated hitter, and he's 4-3 on the mound with a 4.43 ERA.

Schachenmeyer is 7-2 on the mound with a 4.73 ERA. Swan is batting .246 and he's thrown out 18 would-be base stealers. Peavler is a .302 hitter with 28 RBI and five outfield assists.

Calhoun is the first all-MIAA first-teamer at Washburn since Mark Stoltz earned the honor in 2006 as a designated hitter. Calhoun is the 11th Ichabod to earn the honor. Ash is a repeat second team selection and Bean and Peavler earned honorable mention last year.

Head Coach Steve Anson gets his 800th win at Washburn
Washburn head coach Steve Anson reached a career milestone with his 800th win as the Ichabods coach on April 14 against Lincoln in a 2-1, extra inning victory. He coached his 1500th game at Washburn in the season finale last year and now in 2012, his 33rd season at Washburn, he reached the milestone. Anson, the winningest coach in the MIAA, is 807-739-3 (.519) in 33 seasons at Washburn and 830-761-3 (.522) 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.

Washburn gets highest MIAA finish since 2006
The Ichabods entered the final weekend of the regular season tied for fifth with Missouri Southern. The Lions won all four of their games to jump Emporia State and Fort Hays State and finish third. Washburn won three of four over the Hornets to jump them and FHSU and finish fourth.

The Ichabods last finished as high as fourth in 2006. They finished third in 2001. Since joining the MIAA in 1990, Washburn has finished as high as first in the North Division when the conference was divided into two divisions. A second-place finish in 2000 was the highest since dropping the divisional formation in 1997.

Seven straight hits for Alberts
Brad Alberts set a season high with five hits May 4 in game two at Emporia State and then he had hits in his first two at-bats the next day in Topeka to give him hits in seven straight at-bats. He was batting .368 before the series began and went 8 for 15 in the series to push his season average to .382 before he entered the conference tournament.

Ash tied for NCAA lead with 10 complete games
Junior pitcher Brett Ash went the distance for the 10th straight time Thursday in the MIAA tournament opener to tie for the NCAA Division II lead with 10 complete games. He tied Missouri Western State's Brandon Simmons.  Ash, who will likely not start again this weekend, will look to at least hold onto the tie for first. Simmons will likely start a game during the tournament and could get his 11th complete game to retake the lead.

Ash, a second team all-MIAA selection, beat arch-rival Emporia State twice in a seven-day span. He won 6-2 last Friday on Senior Day in Emporia and he won 4-1 Thursday in the MIAA tournament opener to end the Hornets' season. Ash went 16 innings against ESU and gave up 14 hits and just two earned runs for a 1.29 ERA this year against the Hornets. He struck out 11 and walked just one.

Ash has been Washburn's starter in game one of every four-game series this year but one. He's 7-4 overall with two shutouts and 10 complete games in 11 starts. He has a 2.81 ERA and has allowed 25 earned runs off 80 hits in 80 innings. He's struck out 65 while walking just 16.

Ash had gone 4-1 in four straight starts with a 1.50 ERA before facing Central Missouri on April 21. He had struck out 33 and walked just three in those five starts. He was named the MIAA pitcher of the week after he threw a shutout March 16 at Truman. He gave up six hits with eight strikeouts in the nine-inning game.

Calhoun stays near .400, in contention for MIAA batting title
Senior John Calhoun will enter the MIAA tournament second round batting .398, third best in the MIAA. He went 1-4 Thursday against ESU to drop below .400 for the year. Central Missouri's Ben Cox leads the conference with a .406 average and Missouri Western's Spencer Shockley is second with a .405 average. Calhoun is in the top eight in every hitting category in the league accept triples. He entered the week second with a .674 slugging percentage, fourth with a .478 on-base percentage and seventh with 44 runs scored. He was third with 69 hits and eighth with 41 runs batted in. He was tied for the league lead in doubles with 18 and he's sixth with 9 home runs.

Calhoun leads Washburn with 23 multi-hit games and he's third on the team with nine multi-RBI games. He also had a team-high 12-game hitting streak that started the second game of the year and saw his average climb as high as .533 and end at .490.

Journeyman Calhoun makes Washburn last stop on 4-team college career
Kansas City, Mo., native John Calhoun graduated from Rockhurst High School in 2008 and went on the play a year at Central Missouri in 2009. He then went to Johnson County CC and then on to Cleveland State last year as a junior. Cleveland State dropped its baseball program and he transferred to Washburn this year to play his senior year.
Calhoun batted .219 with 16 hits in 73 at-bats as a freshman at UCM. He had 12 RBI and a home run. He hit .368 with seven homers at JCCC and then hit .254 at Cleveland State and finished third in the Horizon League with 20 stolen bases.

Ichabods showing power at the plate
Washburn has 34 home runs through 49 games this year. Last year the Ichabods hit 24 homers in 50 games. Washburn has a .450 slugging percentage this year after slugging .375 last year.

John Calhoun leads Washburn with nine home runs. He's slugging .665 on the year. Tyler Bean and Brad Alberts are second with seven home runs and Alberts is second with a .603 slugging percentage.

Calhoun and Ichabods running wild on the base path
When John Calhoun isn't driving himself in with home runs, he's getting on base and then putting himself into scoring position with stolen bases. He has 22 steals this year and has been caught stealing five times. He has three games this year with two steals. He's second in the MIAA in steals and steal attempts. He already has the most steals as an Ichabod since Kyle Peter stole 27 in 2007.

As a team, Washburn is 66 of 82 stealing bases. The Ichabods stole safely in 24 of their 27 attempts during the month of April. Marcus Peavler and Connor Crimmins are second on the team with nine swipes each.

Washburn catcher Richard Swan has thrown out 18 would-be base stealers in 48 stolen base attempts and the Washburn catchers are allowing opponents just 68 percent success on the base paths while Washburn is 81 percent on the bags.

Season Flashbacks: Don't Forget...
Done in a jiffy: The Ichabods set a school record since single-game statistics were first archived in 1999 by playing a 57-minute game April 6 against Missouri Southern. WU starter Brett Ash threw 58 pitches and gave up three hits and no walks in the 3-0 win. MSSU starter Cody Griebling threw 58 pitches in the loss. Both threw complete games. There were three double plays and only three runners left on base between the two teams.
Ichabods get first four-game sweep since 2009: The Ichabods took all four games March 24-25 against Southwest Baptist for their first four-game sweep since 2009. The Ichabods also went on a six-game winning streak and it was their biggest streak since winning seven straight in 2006. Washburn's last four-game sweep was March 20 and 21 at home against Northwest Missouri.
Schachenmeyer earns MIAA pitcher of the week honor: Washburn senior pitcher Kerry Schachenmeyer was named the MIAA pitcher of the week after throwing a shutout March 24 against SBU. Schachenmeyer shared the pitching award with Fort Hays State's Shawn Lewick. Schachenmeyer pitched a com­plete-game shutout as Washburn won 11-0 against Southwest Baptist as part of a four-game sweep. He allowed just three hits and struck out four. In the fourth inning, he allowed a single and then walked two to load the bases. He got the next batter to fly out to end the inning and leave all three on base. He allowed just one batter the final three innings with a hit-by-pitch.
Shutout leads Ash to MIAA pitcher of the week honor: Junior pitcher Brett Ash threw a complete game shutout March 16 in Washburn's series opener at Truman to earn him MIAA pitcher of the week honor. 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.
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.

Up Next For The Ichabods
The Ichabods will need to win the MIAA tournament to secure the league's automatic bid to the NCAA South Central Region tournament, which will take place May 17-21 at the site of the highest seed. Washburn has never advanced to the NCAA tournament.