TOPEKA, Kan. – No. 30 Washburn Baseball fell short in a 10-3 loss to No. 16 Central Missouri on Sunday, May 8 for Senior Day at Falley Field.
Dan Gabler (3-2) took the loss, throwing 5.1 innings with five runs allowed on six hits, striking out one.
Greg Mason threw the next 1.2 frames and allowed one run on two hits with a pair of strikeouts.
Ryne Dowling gave up one run over the next two innings to finish out the game.
Payton Soicher led the Ichabod offense with his 11th home run of the season and an RBI, while
Kyle Carnahan had a double, a walk and an RBI.
David Gauntt and
Parker Gibson both went 1-for-3 with walks. Gauntt closed the regular season by reaching safely in all 49 games. Dan Reilly also picked up with a ninth-inning pinch hit appearance.
Down 2-0 after the first, Washburn cut the deficit in half as Soicher blasted a solo home run to right field on a 2-2, one-out pitch. The Ichabods scored another run in the third and tied it, 2-all. Gibson started the inning with a walk and moved to second on a ground out, taking third on a wild pitch. Carnahan came through in the next at-bat, lining a double down the left field line to plate Gibson.
UCM struck for three more in the sixth and added another in the seventh, pulling out of reach of the Ichabods' offense. In the eighth, WU loaded the bases with one out but couldn't find the key hit, falling just short of a comeback as UCM scored four in the top of the ninth.
The bottom of the ninth saw
Bowe Behymer single with one out and race around to score off Reilly's pinch hit double for the final run of the day.
Washburn Seniors were honored prior to the game for their contributions to the Ichabod baseball program.
Washburn awaits its official seeding for the MIAA Tournament, held May 12-15 in St. Charles, Mo. Washburn finished the regular season third in the conference standings. Official pairings for the conference tournament will be announced Sunday evening by the MIAA.
