JEFFERSON CITY, MO. – Washburn Baseball picked up a weekend series sweep over Lincoln with a 20-4 run-rule victory on Sunday, April 24.
 
WU (29-13, 24-8 MIAA) has now won eight straight games and is 14-1 in the month of April (with wins in 15 of its last 16 contests).  It was also the third straight run-rule win for the Ichabods and 19th game this season that Washburn has scored 10 or more runs.
 
Josh Ramirez (3-0) picked up the win in his first career start, going seven innings with four runs allowed.  Ramirez scattered nine hits on the day and walked one Blue Tiger, striking out four.  Ryne Dowling tossed the eighth with a strikeout.
 
The Washburn offense had a school record seven home runs on the day as part of a 17-hit performance.  Kyle Carnahan and Daniel Reilly each had two hits and three RBI in the win, as Carnahan blasted two home runs.  Reilly, Riley Krane, David Gauntt, Tanner Triggs and Zach Macke also had home runs in the game.  Parker Gibson also had two hits in the game (with two RBI) and moved with seven hits of the career hits record at Washburn.
 
Washburn had multi-run innings in five of eight frames, and scored in all but one inning.  The Ichabods jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first and pushed it to 4-0 in the second. 
 
Gibson walked to open the game, stealing second and taking third on a wild pitch before Krane hit his fifth home run of the season.  Carnahan was then hit by a pitch before swiping second, and after Gauntt was hit by a pitch both runners moved up on a balk.  Lance Barkley drove Carnahan in during the next at-bat, taking an 0-2 pitch back up the middle for an RBI. 
 
In the second, Soicher doubled to open the frame and moved to second off Zane Mapes' single.  Later in the inning, Gibson hit a sacrifice fly to right center deep enough to plate Soicher.
 
The Ichabods added two more in the fourth, thanks in part to a leadoff home run by Triggs.  The Ichabod designated hitter blasted a 3-1 pitch over the left center wall before Bowe Behymer drew a walk and stole second.  Later in the inning, Behymer moved to third on a balk and came home as Gibson doubled down the left field line.
 
Carnahan led off the sixth with a solo home run for WU's seventh home run of the day, and after Lincoln got one back in the bottom of the fifth, Washburn tacked on three more in the sixth thanks to back-to-back home runs from Carnahan and Gauntt.  Krane reached with one out in the inning off of a throwing error before Carnahan ripped home run No. 13 of the season in two run fashion and Gauntt followed with his 15th of 2016. 
 
Up 10-1 after the sixth, WU put itself in run-rule territory in the seventh thanks to a three-run inning that included a sacrifice fly from J.B. Eary and a two-run pinch hit home run by Reilly to take a 13-1 lead.
 
LU, however, extended the game with three runs in the bottom of the seventh before the Ichabods put it out of reach with seven more runs in the eighth to win it. 
 
In the eighth, Wes Jones singled up the middle, Cole Gardner walked and Gibson singled up the middle to load the bases, and with one out Reilly singled up the middle to move every baserunner up 90 feet and score Jones.  Landon Hay (walk) and Kasey Clark (single) each picked up an RBI in the next two at-bats, and with two outs Macke hit Washburn's second grand slam of the series to empty the bases.
 
Washburn travels to Emporia, Kan., next Wednesday, April 27 to wrap up a midweek series with Emporia State.  First pitch with the Hornets is 5 p.m.