Leading off
•     The Washburn Ichabod baseball team will travel to Joplin, Mo., to face the No. 26 (ABCA/No. 19 NWBCA) Missouri Southern Lions in a four-game series starting on Thursday beginning with a single game starting at 6 p.m.  A doubleheader will start at 1 p.m. on Friday and the series will wrap up with a single game on Saturday at 12 p.m.
•    The Ichabods (21-8, 14-6 MIAA) enter the week in third place in the MIAA standings one game in the win column behind the Lions who are 22-6 overall and 13-3 in the MIAA. Nebraska-Kearney is in second at 15-5 in conference play.
•    Washburn is eighth in the latest MIAA statistical rankings in batting average with a .309 batting average while the Lions are third with a .320 batting average. 
•    The Ichabods are ranked fifth in the MIAA in ERA with a 4.89 while the Lions lead the league with a 3.70 ERA.
•    The Ichabods split their last MIAA series going 2-2 against Lindenwood and then picked up a 11-1 non-conference win against Newman on Tuesday.
•    Missouri Southern won three of four games over Missouri Western last weekend and lost a 11-1 decision at Emporia State in a non-conference game on Tuesday.
•    The Ichabods fell from No. 4 to No. 3 in the NCBWA Central Regional Poll released on Monday and the Lions remained No. 3 in the poll … the NCAA regional rankings determine which teams go to the postseason.
•    The 21-8 start equals the best start for the Ichabods after 29 games since the 1994 season when they started 20-9.
•    The Ichabods outscored their opponents 239 to 152 in 29 games this season and 44 to 23 in the first inning of games this year … Washburn is being outscored 15 to 11 in the seventh inning by opponents … Washburn is outscoring opponents 11 to 5 in the ninth inning this season … overall the Ichabods are 10-0 when leading after eight innings, 13-0 after seven innings and 19-0 when leading after six innings.
•    Of Washburn's 29 home runs this season, seven have been grand slams … the NCAA Division II record is nine by Armstrong set in 1988 in 54 games played.

Noting Missouri Southern
•    The Lions (22-6, 13-3 MIAA) is ranked No. 26 in the ABCA poll and No. 19 in the NWBCA poll after taking three of four from Missouri Western last time out. 
•    Chris Hoffman leads the team with a .422 batting average and has scored 29 runs while leading the team with 12 stolen bases in 14 attempts.
•    Missouri Southern pitching coach Justin Immekus played for the Ichabods during the 1997-98 seasons and was a two-year teammate of Ichabod head coach Harley Douglas. Immekus is in his sixth season as a member of the Lions coaching staff. He led the Ichabods in wins as a junior and senior.

Series history with Missouri Southern
•    The Lions lead the all-time series 43-33 with the Ichabods. Missouri Southern swept the Ichabods in 2013 in Joplin. The teams did not meet during the 2014 season as the teams were not scheduled to play.

In the dugout
•     Washburn is led by first-year head coach Harley Douglas. He served as an assistant to former coach Steve Anson for three years and he's a 2002 Washburn graduate. He played at WU from 1997-00.
•    He is 21-8 in his first season in the Washburn dugout going 14-6 in MIAA games.
•    Douglas played for the Ichabods from 1997-2000. 
•    He was an all-MIAA second team selection as an outfielder his senior year at Washburn. 
•    He finished with a .363 career batting average, the 13th highest in school history. 
•    He's second in school history with 11 triples and eighth with 136 runs scored … third with 75 career stolen bases. 
•    Douglas graduated in 2002 from Washburn with an exercise physiology degree and in 2004 with an education degree. He earned a master's degree in adaptive special education from Emporia State in 2010.

Last time out
March 31 - TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Washburn Ichabods improved to 21-8 after grounding the Newman Jets in an 11-1 win which ended in eight innings after a pinch hit grand slam by Dylan Turpin. 
After the Jets (13-15) scored a run in the first taking an early lead, the Ichabods came back with four unearned runs in the bottom of the first taking a lead they would not give up. After Parker Gibson reached on an error, he would come around to score after a stolen base on a ground out by Kyle Carnahan. Connor Crimmins drove in David Gauntt with the first of his two doubles and then would score on a double by Corey Gragg which also scored Tanner Triggs who reach base after being hit by a pitch.
The Ichabods would remain scoreless until the sixth inning when Crimmins led off the inning with a double and was sent home after Gragg's second double of the day. Gragg stole third base and then scored on a wild pitch putting Washburn up 6-1.
In the eighth, the Ichabods' Cole Gardner drew a walk and moved to second after pinch hitter Alex Head was hit by a pitch. Gibson drew his third walk of the night. With the bases loaded, Carnahan was hit by a pitch scoring Head and then Turpin entered the game and cleared the bases with a grand slam on a 1-1 pitch to right field wrapping up the 11-1 win.
Hank Wellborn picked up the win improving to 2-1 on the season striking out three scattering five hits and one earned run. Greg Mason tossed an inning of scoreless relief striking out one allowing a hit. Tanner Lee took the loss for the Jets falling to 1-3 on the season.
Crimmins and Gragg led the Ichabods with two hits each and Gibson and Crimmins each scored twice. Gragg finished with 3 RBI while Carnahan had two and Turpin finished with four after the walk off grand slam.

Last meeting with Missouri Southern
(4/7/13) JOPLIN, Mo. -- The Ichabods scored a run in the top of the ninth to tie their game at Missouri Southern but the Lions scored a run in the bottom of the 11th for a 2-1 win to sweep the three-game series.
Washburn fell to 6-23 overall and 6-22 in the MIAA and will now look to return home for the first games played at Falley Field since March 20. The Ichabods will host Fort Hays State with a 2 p.m. doubleheader Tuesday.
Taylor Herrington drew a one-out walk and then moved to second when Riley Price singled up the middle. John Stoothoff then drove him in with a hit to left field to tie the score at 1-1. Washburn then lined into a double play with two on base to end the inning.
Brad Alberts started and worked through the ninth inning. He allowed one run off four hits with no runs while striking out five.
Greg Mason then entered for Washburn and recorded a 1-2-3 inning in the 10th before allowing an unearned run to the Lions in the 11th after they had a player reach on an error and later score.
Washburn was held hitless through the first five innings before Richard Swan led off the sixth with an infield single. A double play negated that before Washburn was able to produce its first threat of the game when Taylor Herrington led off the seventh with a double and moved to third on a single from Price. Herrington was then thrown out at the plate as he broke for home on a pickoff attempt at first. MSSU then threw a wild pitch that could have scored Herrington.
The Ichabods ended up with six hits while MSSU had five. Washburn had the only three errors of the game and left seven runners on base while the Lions stranded five.

On Deck
Washburn will have a single nine inning game at Emporia State on April 7 before coming back to Falley Field for a four-game series against Central Missouri starting April 10.