TOPEKA, Kan. --- A late rally came up short as the Washburn Ichabods fell to Missouri Western, 8-6, in its conference opener at Falley Field on Saturday afternoon.
 
After falling behind 8-3 in the top half of the ninth, the Ichabods (8-4, 0-1 MIAA) pulled back a run as Cole Gardner poked a single through the right side allowing Tanner Triggs comfortably come across from third.
 
Riley Krane then connected on the 0-1 pitch to cut the MWSU (4-7, 1-0 MIAA) advantage to 8-6 as both Darian Abram and Curtis Whitten crossed thanks to Krane's single. The rally then came to abrupt end as the Griffons turned a double play to seal the win.
 
After a scoreless first, WU and MWSU each plated two runs in the second before Krane tallied his third home run of the season in third.
 
The Griffons then responded with two home runs in the fourth and one in the fifth to a 5-3 advantage before scoring twice more in the eighth and once in the ninth.
 
The loss was issues to Nick Silva as he slipped to 2-2 on the season. Silva worked five full innings allowing five runs on nine hits and registered five strikeouts and four walks. Zach Linquist, Matthew Hicks and Tanner Strickbine each made relief appearances.
 
Brett Nickle went 3-for-4 on the day, while Abram, Krane and Triggs each finished with a pair of hits. Krane collected three RBI to push his season total to 18.
 
Washburn will try to bounce back in game two of the series on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.