Leading off
•     The Washburn Ichabods travel to St. Joseph, Mo., this weekend for a best-of-three series with Missouri Western to open the MIAA Tournament.  The first round runs April 30-May 2, with the winner advancing to Kansas CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas City, Kan., for the second weekend of play, May 7-9.

•    Washburn is making its second consecutive appearance in the MIAA Tournament and holds a 16-23 all-time record in 12 appearances at the tournament.  In tournament openers, the Ichabods are 6-6 all-time.  Last season, WU dropped a best-of-three series at Emporia State, 2-1, as the seventh seed.  This is the third straight year the league has started the tournament with a best-of-three series format.  

•    The Ichabods finished tied for fourth in the MIAA regular season standings with Missouri Western and Nebraska-Kearney, and took the fifth seed after a tiebreaker.  

•    Washburn is 30-18 overall and 22-14 in the MIAA while Missouri Western is 29-19 overall and 22-14 in conference play.  

•     The Ichabods won eight of their last 10 games, running off a stretch of eight consecutive wins before dropping the season finale.  Washburn ended the year with 4-0 and 3-1 series wins over Northwest Missouri State and Nebraska-Kearney, seperated by a midweek 13-0 victory over Fort Hays State.

•    Washburn is 10th in the latest MIAA statistical rankings in batting average with a .307 batting average while the Missouri Western are fourth with a .321 batting average. 

•    The Ichabods are ranked fifth in the MIAA in ERA with a 5.11 while the Griffons are third with a 4.73 ERA.

•    The Ichabods fell out of the NCBWA Central Regional Poll (left) from No. 7 on April 14 … the NCAA regional rankings (right) determine which teams go to the postseason.

•    The Ichabods outscored their opponents 351 to 273 in 48 games this season ... An inning-by-inning breakdown is:

            1: WU, 61-42    6: WU, 49-39

            2: OPP, 49-35    7: WU, 32-19

            3: WU, 43-32    8: WU, 25-15

            4: OPP, 33-27    9: WU, 16-8

            5: WU, 59-34    EX: WU, 4-2

•     Overall, the Ichabods are 12-0 when leading after eight innings, 15-0 after seven innings and 24-0 when leading after six innings.

•    Of Washburn's 51 home runs this season, eight have been grand slams … the NCAA Division II record is nine, set by Armstrong in 1988 in 54 games played.

•    Connor Crimmins is ninth in career at bats as an Ichabod with 552 ... No. 8 on the list (Brian Soderberg, 1986-89) has 573.

•    Several Ichabods rank in Top 10 offensive statistical catagories for the MIAA ... Kyle Carnahan ranks fifth with 18 stolen bases, is tied tied for seventh with 49 runs batted in, tied for eighth with 50 runs scored and eighth in on base percentage (.472) ... Parker Gibson is second in steal attempts (30), third in stolen bases (22), is tied for third with 217 total plate appearances and sits sixth with 52 runs scored ... Connor Crimmins is tied for third after being hit by a pitch 17 times and is sixth with 50 runs batted in ... David Gauntt is tied with Crimmins for hit-by-pitch (17), fifth in home runs (14), tied for fifth in walks (31) and tied for seventh with Carnahan for runs batted in (49) ... Riley Crane is tied for fifth with four triples on the year.

•    On the mound, Tanner Kilmer, Eric Schmid and Hank Wellborn sit in the top 10 of several MIAA pitching catagories ... Kilmer is second with a 2.65 earned run average, tied for third in wins (7) and tied for fourth in appearances (20) and relief appearances (19) ... Schmid is tied for eighth with 16 strikeouts looking this season ... Hank Wellborn's 18 appearances places him tied for 10th on the MIAA leaders list.

•    The 14 home runs hit by David Gauntt are the most by an Ichabod since John Calhoun and Tyler Bean had nine in 2012.

Noting Missouri Western
•    The Griffons (29-19, 22-14 MIAA) closed the year on a similar hot streak to the Ichabods, winning eight of the final 10 games entering the MIAA Tournament.  As a team, MWSU is hitting .321 while sporting a 4.73 combined ERA.  The Griffons finished tied for fourth in the conference standings with WU and UNK and earned the fourth seed after a tiebreaker.

•    MWSU has three starters above the .350 mark - Orencio Fisher (.358), Ryan Degner (.357) and David Glaude (.356). Fisher's 21 stolen bases leads the team, while Degner (40 RBI, 11 home runs and 15 doubles) and Glade (44 RBI, 12 home runs and 13 doubles) rank among the team's best marks in power numbers.

•    Banks Born (6-1) has a 3.45 ERA in 13 appearances, leading the team with 62.2 innings pitched and 27 strikeouts.  A.J. Martinez is 4-1 with a 4.13 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 56.2 innings, while Grant Woods (2-4) has tossed 55 innings, striking out 42.

Series history with Missouri Western

•    The Ichabods lead the all-time series, 62-59, and have won six of the last 10 games.  Earlier this season, WU and MWSU split a four-game series in Topeka, Kan.

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 30-18 in his first season in the Washburn dugout going 22-14 in MIAA games, clinching the first 30-win season for the Ichabods since 2000.

•    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
TOPEKA, Kan. -- Washburn saw its comeback bid fall short in the second game of the day, just missing the series sweep with a 5-3 loss to split the Saturday, April 25 doubleheader. 

Riley Krane gave the Ichabods an early 1-0 lead with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first, just clearing the left field foul pole on a solo shot.

 Two bases loaded walks, an Ichabod error and a two-run double pushed UNK to a 5-1 lead in the third, before WU got one back in the bottom of the sixth off Kyle Carnahan's second home run of the day.

 Double plays ended WU threats in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, though the Ichabods made things interesting in the ninth. 

 Dylan Turpin led off the ninth with a pinch-hit, solo home run to cut the deficit to two (5-3), and singles from Corey Gragg and Payton Soicher put two on with one out.  Later in the inning, WU had runners on second and third with two outs, but couldn't come up with their third straight walkoff in the loss.

Eric Schmid (4-3) took the loss for the Ichabods, tossing 2.1 innings with 5 runs allowed (three earned) on two hits.  Tanner Kilmer three 3.2 innings in relief and Hank Wellborn, Greg Mason and Ryne Dowling each pitched one inning. 

Krane and Soicher each had two hits as WU scored all three runs on home runs. 

Last meeting with Missouri Western
(3/22/15) TOPEKA, Kan. -- The No. 19/21-ranked Washburn Ichabods wrapped up the four game series with Missouri Western winning 12-5 to earn a split in the series.

Washburn (18-5, 12-4 MIAA) broke open a scoreless game with five runs in the third inning on a three-run homer by Riley Krane on an opposite field shot and after David Gauntt drew a walk, Connor Crimmins hit the first of his two home runs on the day with a two run homer to left staking the Ichabods to a 5-0 lead. The Griffons (16-9, 11-5 MIAA) came back with two in the top of the fourth cutting the lead to 5-2 and in the fifth the Griffons added another trimming the lead to 5-3 before the Ichabods came back with three runs in the bottom of the fifth going up 8-3. 

Crimmins hit his second home run after the Griffons gave up a double to Kyle Carnahan and then intentionally walked Gauntt to face Crimmins. Crimmins hit an 0-2 pitch over the left field fence. The Griffons came back with a solo run in the sixth but then Washburn added four more in the seventh inning to go up 12-4. 

Washburn scored all four of its runs with two outs after Gauntt drew a walk and Crimmins was hit by a pitch. Tanner Triggs was walked and Corey Gragg drove in two with a single to left and Tanner Johnson cleared the bases with a triple to right field.

Eric Schmid pitched five innings striking out three improving to 4-0 on the season. Tanner Kilmer pitched four innings allowing three hits and an unearned run picking up his second save of the season.

Both teams finished with 12 hits as Parker Gibson, Krane, Crimmins and Triggs all had two hits and Crimmins drove in five runs and Krane finished with three.

On Deck
The winners of the best-of-three opening round series' will advance to the MIAA Tourney at Community America Ballpark in Kansas City.