TOPEKA, Kan. -- No. 30 Washburn Baseball fell behind early and couldn't recover, falling 8-4 to No. 16 Central Missouri on Saturday, May 7 at Falley Field.

WU dropped to 31-17 (26-12 MIAA) with the loss while Central Missouri is now 33-12 and 31-7 in MIAA play.

Mike Hefferan (7-3) threw two innings in the loss, allowing four runs on four hits with a strikeout.  Josh Ramirez threw the next two frames, giving up three runs on five hits before Maustin Otterstatter entered to throw scoreless fifth and sixth innings.  Ryne Dowling (one hit) and Braden Larkey (one run, two hits) each threw an inning, while Spencer Schwandt (0.1 innings) and Brad Honeycutt (0.1) tossed the ninth.

Lance Barkley had WU's lone extra base hit for the day (a double) as he joined Parker Gibson, Riley Krane, Kyle Carnahan, Tanner Triggs, Bowe Behymer and Zane Mapes with hits in the game.  Carnahan, Triggs and Barkley all had an RBI for the Ichabods.  

Scoreless through one, Central Missouri scored four in the top of the second and never looked back, though WU struck back with one in the bottom of the inning to stay within three.  Lance Barkley started the inning with a four-pitch walk and moved to second on a flyout into the right field corner.  With two outs, Mapes hit a chopper down the first base line and beat out a play at first, picking up a single as an errant throw helped Barkley scamper home on the play.

UCM three more before the bottom of the eighth, when WU added two to climb back within five.  Carnahan walked to start the inning and moved to second on a groundout, coming around to score as Tanner Triggs singled to left center for an RBI.  Triggs moved to third off a wild pitch during Barkley's at-bat, and came home as Barkley picked up an RBI on a ground ball for the third Ichabod run of the game.

Down to its last chance in the bottom of the ninth, Gibson singled on the first pitch of the inning and moved all the way to third on a wild, eventually scoring after Krane walked and Carnahan drove a line drive single into center field.  WU threatened further with runners in scoring position through the rest of the inning, but a double play ended the comeback effort.

This weekend's series concludes on Sunday, May 8 with a 11 p.m., first pitch for Senior Day.  Washburn will look to close its home portion of the 2016 schedule with a win and improve its standing heading into the conference tournament next weekend in St. Charles, Mo.