Leading off
•     The Washburn Ichabods return to MIAA play hosting Central Missouri in a four-game series starting Friday night at 5 p.m. in a single game.
•    The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. and then wrap up the weekend with a single game on Sunday starting at 1 p.m.
•    The Ichabods (21-13, 14-10 MIAA) will be looking to snap a five-game losing slide after being swept by then No. 26 Missouri Southern last weekend in Joplin and dropping a non-conference game at Emporia State on Tuesday.
•    Washburn enters the week in fifth place in the MIAA standings one game back in the loss column behind Central Missouri, who is third, and Emporia State who is in fourth. Missouri Southern is 17-3 on top of the conference standings at 17-3 and Nebraska-Kearney is in second at 17-7. The Lopers come to Falley Field April 24-26.
•    Washburn is ninth in the latest MIAA statistical rankings in batting average with a .296 batting average while the Mules are 12th with a .277 batting average. 
•    The Ichabods are ranked sixth in the MIAA in ERA with a 5.26 while the Mules are second with a 3.98 ERA.
•    The Ichabods fell from No. 5 to No. 7 in the NCBWA Central Regional Poll released on Monday and Central Missouri was ranked No. 9 in the poll … the NCAA regional rankings determine which teams go to the postseason.
•    The Ichabods outscored their opponents 256 to 204 in 34 games this season and 44 to 32 in the first inning of games this year and 34 to 17 in the third inning of games … Washburn is being outscored 24 to 17 in the fourth 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 34 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.
•    Connor Crimmins needs 19 more at bats to move into the top 10 career chart as an Ichabod.
•    The 10 home runs hit by David Gauntt are the most by an Ichabod since John Calhoun and Tyler Bean had nine in 2012.
Noting Central Missouri
•    The Mules (20-15, 15-9 MIAA) is coming off a doubleheader split at Drury on Tuesday after falling in game one 9-3 before winning 13-1 in the nightcap.
•    Trevor Jones leads the Mules with 53 hits batting .381 scoring a team high 27 runs.
•    Carlos D'Armas leads the team with a 2.95 ERA in nine appearances and Ricky Rivera leads the team with five wins going 5-2 with a 3.89 ERA in seven starts.
•    The Mules have won 8 of their last 10 games and 7 of their last 8 MIAA games after sweeping Lincoln last weekend and 3 of 4 prior to that from Central Oklahoma.

Series history with Central Missouri
•    The Mules lead the all-time series 74-20 and have won 12 of the last 15 meetings … the Ichabods won one of three in 2013 outside of St. Louis and in 2014 the two teams were not scheduled to play … the Ichabods split with the Mules in a four game series in 2009 in Topeka … the Mules have not played in Topeka since the 2011 season when they won 3 of 4 with the Ichabods.

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 21-13 in his first season in the Washburn dugout going 14-10 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
EMPORIA, Kan. -- The Washburn Ichabod baseball team dropped a non-conference game 15-5 at Emporia State on Tuesday night. Washburn will open a four game MIAA series starting Friday in Yager Stadium at 5 p.m. against Central Missouri.
Washburn fell behind 1-0 after a first inning run by the Hornets but came back to tie the score at 1-1 in the top of the second on an RBI single to right center scoring Connor Crimmins who reached via a double to right field.
The Ichabods (21-13) took the lead over the Hornets (23-9) in the top of the third on a 2-run homer by Kyle Carnahan sending Tanner Johnson home after leading off the inning with a single through the left side.
With Washburn leading 3-1, the Hornets scored three in the third inning, five in the fourth and five more in the sixth inning taking a 14-4 lead.
Washburn scored its last run of the night when Carnahan scored on a wild pitch after a two-out single.
Carnahan led the Ichabods with three hits going 3 for 4 with three runs scored while driving in two. Crimmins was 2 for 2 with two walks.
Hank Wellborn took the loss dropping to 1-1 on the season. Jagger Harjo picked up the win for the Hornets improving to 2-0 on the season.

Last meeting with Central Missouri
(3/23/13) ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- The Ichabods fell 11-1 in a run-rule shortened game Saturday at St. Mary's High School to close their three-game series with No. 3 Central Missouri. The Mules took the series 2-1.
Washburn (5-14, 5-13 MIAA) will return home and host Nebraska-Kearney Tuesday at 1 p.m. in a doubleheader at Falley Field.
The Ichabods were down 3-0 when they scored their first run in the fifth. Dakota Kell led of the inning with a single and then later scored on a wild pitch. The Mules then added five runs in the bottom of the fifth to jump way ahead and then invoked the run rule with two runs in the seventh.
The Ichabods had just four hits, all singles, with Taylor Herrington getting two of them. Kell and Riley Price had the others. The Mules got 14 hits with the first seven coming off starting pitcher Mark Biesma. He gave up seven runs to earn the loss and fall to 1-2 on the year.

On Deck
Washburn will have a single nine inning game against Emporia State on April 14 at Falley Field before returning to MIAA play at Northwest Missouri April 17-19 in a four game series. Washburn will then host Fort Hays State in a single game on April 22 starting at 6 p.m. The Ichabods will wrap up the regular season April 24-26 hosting Nebraska-Kearney in a four game set. The MIAA Tournament starts April 30 on campus sites with the top four teams hosting teams five through eight in the final standings. The winners of the three game series will advance to the MIAA Tourney at Community America Ballpark in Kansas City.