MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Washburn Baseball scored 29 total runs and won both games on the final day of the SAU Invitational on Sunday, Feb. 14.  Washburn knocked off Central Oklahoma, 16-5, in the first game of the day before defeating host No. 14 Southern Arkansas, 13-5.
 
WU (4-3) racked up 24 hits over the two non-conference games, and the win over SAU was also the second against the Muleriders this season, as the teams played twice last weekend in Texas.  In addition to the hits, Washburn was plunked by seven pitches on the day and drew 12 walks as a team.  On the mound, WU combined for 17 strikeouts and walked 11.
 
The Ichabods host Newman on Tuesday, Feb. 23 in its home opener from Falley Field.
 
Washburn 16, Central Oklahoma 5
After a slow start at the SAU Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 13, Washburn got its offense going quickly in its second game of the day as it exploded for 13 hits against Central Oklahoma to win, 16-5.
 
Riley Krane (2-for-4) had two walks and four RBI to lead the Ichabod offense alongside Kyle Carnahan, who went 2-for-4 with a home run.  David Gauntt (1-for-4) and Payton Soicher (1-for-4, two walks) each had doubles for Washburn, and Lance Barkley went 1-for-4 with two RBI and a walk.  Kasey Clark finished the day with a team-high three hits in six at bats with two runs scored.
 
On the hill, Nick Silva earned the start and threw 3.2 innings, striking out five with three runs allowed before Jaren Kutzke (1-0) entered and threw 1.1 innings while earning the win, giving up two hits with one run allowed.  Evan Payne, Greg Mason, Zach Linquist and Josh Ramirez finished the game with one inning each.  Payne had two strikeouts while Mason, Linquist and Ramirez did not allow hits in the final three innings.
 
Carnahan opened the scoring for Washburn with a solo home run, giving the Ichabods a temporary lead before UCO took a 2-1 lead off a two-run home run in its half of the inning.
 
The scoring stayed low until the third, when WU took an unconventional way of scoring four runs, using just one hit while zero errors were committed in the inning. Soicher led off the inning with a walk before moving to second on a sacrifice bunt and scoring when Krane singled into right field on a 1-2 pitch.  Parker Gibson, Carnahan and Gauntt were hit by pitches in three consecutive at-bats, scoring Krane and keeping the bases loaded for Lance Barkley, who grounded out but drove in Gibson, and with Triggs at the plate, Carnahan came home on a wild pitch to make it 5-1.
 
Both teams tacked on a run in the fourth, with WU's coming off Krane's sacrifice fly, and in the top of the fifth the Ichabods added two more, taking a 8-3 lead.  Carnahan led off the fifth with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch before Barkley walked, and Triggs drove in Carnahan on a single to center as Barkley came around to score as well on the play due to a UCO error.
 
UCO got one back in each the fifth and sixth inning, but that was it for the Bronchos as WU pulled away with eight runs over the final three innings. 
 
The seventh saw Gauntt start the inning with a double, coming around to score as Triggs reached on a muffed throw.  Later in the inning, with bases loaded and one out, Krane drove in two more runs with a single to center, scoring Bowe Behymer (who pinch ran for Triggs) and Kasey Clark.  Soicher scored the final run off the inning off an infield RBI single from Gibson.
 
WU's run in the eighth was manufactured off an RBI single from Behymer after Barkley singled and moved to second on a wild pitch, and WU closed the game with three more runs in the ninth, though the Ichabods did not have a hit in the inning. 
 
Washburn 13, No. 14 Southern Arkansas 5
Washburn continued its hit parade in the final game of the weekend to knock off SAU, 13-5, in the final game of the SAU Invitational.
 
Quentin McGrath started the game and tossed four innings, striking out two with four runs allowed.  Dan Gabler (1-0) earned the win after throwing into the eighth, finishing with three strikeouts over 3.2 innings as he scattered five hits.  Greg Mason threw the ninth inning and gave up one hit with two strikeouts.
 
Parker Gibson went 5-for-6 for Washburn's second five-hit performance in the early season, while Tanner Triggs, Kasey Clark and Kyle Carnahan each had two hits and two RBI.  Riley Krane went 1-for-4 on the day with a walk, but his one hit was a three-run home run.
 
Washburn jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second when Tanner Triggs singled to drive in Lance Barkley, though SAU scored two in its half of the inning to go on top, 2-1, but that Mulerider advantage was short lived as Washburn erupted for five runs in the third off three hits and two SAU errors. 
 
Krane walked on four straight pitches to start the inning before going all the way to third when Parker Gibson singled through the right side and scoring off Kyle Carnahan's sacrifice fly to center.  With a runner on first and one out, David Gauntt walked and Barkley reached safely on a muffed throw to load the bases for Tanner Triggs, who singled through the right side to score Gibson and keep the bases juiced.  Kasey Clark's two-RBI single followed to make it 5-2, and a throwing error when Zane Mapes reached safely allowed Triggs to score as the final run of the inning.
 
A two-run home run from SAU kept things tight in the bottom of the third, and the Muleriders cut the lead to one (6-5) in the fourth, but Washburn raced back out to a comfortable lead thanks to a four-run sixth inning.
 
With one out in the sixth, Zane Mapes walked and Krane reached on an error that allowed Mapes to move to third, and Gibson had a bunt single to push Krane to second and Mapes home.  In the next at-bat, Carnahan took an 0-1 pitch down the left field line for an RBI double that scored Krane, and Gauntt's ground ball scored Gibson for the Ichabods ninth run of the game.  Carnahan came home when Barkley reached on an error to make it 10-5. 
 
The Ichabods' final runs of the day came in the seventh off a swing of Krane's at-bat, as his first home run of the year was a three-run blast to score Mapes and Clark.