TOPEKA, Kan. -- Forecasted rain in the Pittsburg, Kan., area has forced Washburn Baseball's weekend series to shift one day as the Ichabods will now take on the Gorillas Saturday, March 19 through Monday, March 21.  Game times for Saturday and Sunday (March 20) are 3 p.m., with Monday's first pitch set for 1 p.m.

Midweek Outlook
Washburn continues its road swing with a three-game MIAA series at Pittsburg State this weekend, March 18-20 ... WU will look to get back on track in the win column after dropping a midweek contest on Wednesday, and the Ichabods will be looking to claim their third MIAA series win of the season ... Pitt State (5-13, 0-9 MIAA) has dropped 10 straight contests and is winless in conference action, but has squared off with Emporia State, Central Missouri and Missouri Western, all who sit among the top five in the MIAA standings thus far ... for PSU, Andrew Volgelbaugh has been named MIAA Hitter of the Week twice and leads the team with a .420 average, slugging .812 alongside seven home runs and four doubles for 24 RBI ... Brett Macary is second on the team with a .366 average and 11 doubles, while Jacob Boylan is close behind, hitting .362 with five doubles and two home runs ... on the hill, Ty Rowe (2-0) has a 2.53 ERA in eight relief appearances with 11 strikeouts ... George Brandecked (3.18 ERA) is 0-2 on theyear but leads the team with five starts and has thrown 22.2 innings, striking out 31... more information on opponents and series history can be found on page one of the game notes.

Last Time Out
LIBERTY, Mo. – Washburn Baseball built an early 3-0 lead but couldn't hold off a late innings charge from William Jewell, falling 7-6 in 11 innings in a non-conference matchup ... WU outhit the Cardinals, 10-9, but couldn't complete the season sweep against WJC after winning the first matchup last week ... Maustin Otterstatter started for the Ichabods and threw 5.0 innings, exiting in the sixth with two runs allowed on four hits while striking out four ... Jacob Head allowed three runs (two earned) in the sixth as well before Josh Ramirez entered to close the sixth and pitch the seventh.  Ramirez had two strikeouts and gave up one run ... Ryne Dowling got one out in the ninth and Jaren Kutze (1-2) took the loss after throwing 3.1 innings with one strikeout, giving up the game-winning run in the 11th ... Wes Jones had four RBI on the day while Lance Barkley was 3-for-4 with three runs scored, two walks and a double.  Riley Krane was 2-for-4 with two RBI and two walks ... Tanner Triggs (2-for-4) also had a double ... Sacrifice flies from Jones in the first and third sandwiched an RBI single from the Ichabods' right fielder in the second to push WU ahead 3-0, but a solo home run from WJC in the sixth started a rally of five runs for the Cardinals that inning as Washburn soon found itself down three (6-3) after another run in the seventh ... The Ichabods, though, fought back to tie it at 6-6 with two runs in the eighth off RBI singles from Jones (scoring Barkley), but the Cardinals had a walk-off in the bottom of the 11th.

Weekend Recap
Washburn won its weekend series with Northwest Missouri, 2-1, to close the week at 3-1 overall and claim its second MIAA series of the season ... the week opened with a 5-4 win over William Jewell in a midweek game ... over the four games last week, Kyle Carnahan batted over .500 for the week in four stars while Parker Gibson (.429), Wes Jones (.417) and David Gauntt (.417) were all above the .400 mark and started all four games ... WU hit eight doubles and blasted three home runs as a team, working 18 walks and being plunked by eight pitches ... As a team, the Ichabods hit .279 as 16 different Ichabods saw action either defensively or at the plate as position players ... on the bump, Washburn had a team ERA of 3.09 and had 24 strikeouts, allowing 13 earned runs ... Nick Silva and Mike Hefferan each had wins in their starts while Greg Mason picked up a relief win on Wednesday against WJC ... Silva wet 7.2 innings and scattered seven hits with seven strikeouts, while Hefferan went 7.2 innings with three hits allowed and four strikeouts, taking a no-hit bid into the sixth inning of play ... Lance Barkley and Mason both had two relief appearances, as Barkley earned his first career save and had a 0.00 ERA in 4.0 innings pitched ... WU lost the first game with the Bearcats, 12-10 in 11 innings before coming back with a 3-0 shutout on Friday and a 9-2 win on Saturday.

No Hit Bid
Mike Hefferan was dominant in his Saturday start against Northwest Missouri in the weekend series finale, going 7.2 innings while taking no-hit bid into the sixth inning for his second win of the season as Washburn won, 9-2 ... Hefferan scattered three hits and did not allow a run, striking out four Bearcats on the afternoon.

Career Record Watch List - Parker Gibson
Senior outfielder Parker Gibson already ranks in the Top 15 of several career record lists as the 2016 season is in its early stages ... lists that Gibson is already in the Top 10 are listed in the game notes.

Tearing it Up
Kyle Carnahan started all four games last week and mashed the ball all over the field, hitting .545 (6-for-11) with a double, a home run, three RBI and six runs scored ... On the basepaths, Carnahan swiped seven stolen bases to extend his MIAA lead in that category (he's now 16-of-19 on the year) ... The third baseman for WU had two multi-hit games and had a hit in every game, while working free passes on the week (two walks, three HBP) ... Carnahan stole a team-high six bases in the three-game series against Northwest Missouri ... for the season, Carnahan is hitting .324 with six doubles and three home runs, swiping 16 of 19 stolen base attempts this year.

Double Um Up
With 22 double plays on the defensive end, Washburn is averaging 1.10 double plays per game and ranks among the nation's best in that defensive category through 20 games ... Washburn is 14th in NCAA Division II and first in the conference in double plays turned, and sixth nationally (and first in the MIAA) in double plays per game in the March 14 stats release.

Swiping Bases
Washburn has swiped 49 bases this season and 2.56 per game, which ranks 14th and 9th nationally (respectively)  in the March 14 stats release ... 10 Ichabods have swiped at least one base this season, and Kyle Carnahan leads the team with 16, as he also stole three bases in one game two times this season ... Carnahan also ranks seventh nationally in stolen bases among NCAA Division II and is first in the MIAA (as of March 14)

Plate Vision
Payton Soicher has worked 22 walks this season (1.11 per game) and ranks among the best nationally and in the conference in those categories ... Soicher is eighth nationally (and second in the MIAA) in walks per game and is 13th in NCAA Division II (and first in the conference) in total walks as of March 14.

Silva Picks Up Weekly Honor
Washburn's Nick Silva was named the MIAA/AstroTurf Baseball Co-Pitcher of the Week on March 1, announced by the conference office ... Silva  threw all nine innings in a 11-2 win over Missouri Western last Saturday, Feb. 27, allowing two runs (one earned) with only one walk allowed and four strikeouts ... Working efficiently, the right-hander from Littleton, Colo., threw 99 pitches and faced just five over the minimum with five 1-2-3 innings for his first complete game at Washburn.

Scoring Frenzy
Washburn has scored in double-digits in six games this season and has been held to less than five runs in only four games ... WU is 9-5 in games it scores over the five-run mark and 1-4 in games it hasn't reached five runs.

Crowding the Plate
After breaking the school record last season with 90 hit-by-pitches, Washburn has already been plunked 44 times on the year through 20 games which ranks fifth nationally and first in the MIAA as of March 14 stats release ... Kyle Carnahan has been hit 11 times already this season to lead the team and ranks fifth nationally (and first in the MIAA), while ranking third nationally with a 0.61 hit-by-pitch per game average ... David Gauntt has been hit 10 times (12th nationally) while three other Ichabods have been hit three times ... the Ichabods ranked third in NCAA Division II last season in hit by pitches ... individually, David Gauntt was 11th nationally with 18 hit-by-pitches while Connor Crimmins (current student assistant coach) was 14th (17) and Carnahan ranked 30th (14).
 
Bods Receive Votes in Preseason Polls
Washburn baseball received votes in the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Division II Preseason Poll, released Dec. 22 and in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers of America (NCBWA) Central Region Preseason Poll, released Jan. 26 ... in the ABCA poll, WU was joined by four other MIAA schools ... Missouri Southern was picked 24th while Emporia State was 38th ... Central Missouri and Nebraska-Kearney were also in the receiving votes section ... in the NCBWA Preseason Poll, ESU, MSSU and UCM were listed in the Top 10.

Home Run Record List
David Gauntt leads the team with five home runs this season (including three the week of Feb. 21-28) to move into second place on Washburn's career home run record list with 30, passing Scott Gregor, who had 28 from 198-87) ... Gauntt ended 2015 tied for third alongside Terry Middendorf (1984-85, 87-88) and Jesse Schmidt (2002-06) with 25 ...   No. 1 on the list is J.P. Wright, who played at Washburn from 1986-88 and hit 64 home runs ... Gauntt has led the Ichabods in home runs in both of the previous two seasons with 16 in 2015 and eight in 2014.

Career RBI Record Watch List
Kyle Carnahan and David Gauntt entered the 2016 season just outside of the Top 15 on Washburn's career RBI record list and have joined the list through 15 games this season ... Parker Gibson is coming up on career RBI 100 and could enter the record list later this season ... the current standings of the record list is found in the game notes.

Upperclassman dominate starting lineup
An upperclassman-heavy lineup has the Ichabods poised for a successful 2016 season, with five seniors and two juniors marked in for seven of the 10 offensive lineup positions ... two positions, first base and right field, are up in the air but junior Lance Barkley has been marked in at one of them in all 14 games ... junior Kasey Clark has also seen time at first base (five starts) while junior Wes Jones (five starts) and freshman Bowe Behymer (three starts) have been in the lineup at right field ... Tanner Triggs is the lone sophomore in the lineup as designated hitter.

Best College for Baseball
Washburn baseball received national recognition in September after NCSA Athletic Recruiting named the program the No. 1 "Best College for Baseball in 2015" in NCAA Division II on its website.
  
Gauntt named Perfect Game Summer College All-American
Washburn's David Gauntt was named a 2015 Second Team Summer Collegiate All-American by Perfect Game for his play with the Xenia Scouts of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League over the summer ... Announced Aug. 19, the All-American honors came in addition to Gauntt earning First Team All-League honors and being picked to the All-Star Team earlier in the summer ... Gauntt finished the summer with a .322 batting average while slugging .587 and posting a .430 on base percentage ... Gauntt's seven home runs ranked fourth in the GLSCL and came alongside 13 doubles, two triples and 39 runs batted in.
  
Three Ichabods named GLSCL All-League, All-Stars
Washburn's David Gauntt, Kyle Carnahan and Quentin McGrath played together on the Xenia Scouts of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League over the summer and were all named to the All-League and All-Star teams ... Gauntt hit .322 for the summer with 46 hits, 13 doubles, seven home runs and 39 RBI ... Carnahan played in 40 games, hitting .299 with 46 hits, 12 doubles, seven home runs and 27 RBI ... McGrath went 6-0 on the hill, putting together a 3.58 ERA over 47.2 innings with 19 earned runs allowed, 38 strikeouts (team-high).

MIAA Preseason Poll
Missouri Southern earned 11 first place votes and was picked by the coaches to win the MIAA in baseball ... The Lions earned the top spot in the poll after winning the MIAA regular season and post-season title in 2015 ... Emporia State, the other MIAA school in the NCAA Tournament last season, earned the second spot with one first place vote ... Central Missouri who earned two first place votes, was picked third by the coaches. Lindenwood earned 122 points to take the fourth spot in the poll, coming in just two points ahead of Missouri Western (picked fifth) ... Washburn was six points behind MWSU with 114 votes while Nebraska-Kearney (97), Central Oklahoma (87), Fort Hays State (64) and Northeastern State (60) closed the Top 10 ... The final four spots in the rankings went to Southwest Baptist, Northwest Missouri, Pittsburg State and Lincoln.