LEADING OFF — Washburn resumes its series with conference rival Fort Hays with a return to Falley Field on Tuesday ... the second of the three-game series begins at 4 p.m. ... WU leads the season series after claiming the opener on Tuesday, Mar. 21. 

FHSU SCOUTING REPORT — The Tigers enter the week at 8-18 overall while holding a conference mark of 1-12 ... FHSU is coming off a quiet week having played two mid-week games including a shutout victory (5-0) to Northwestern Oklahoma State ending an eight-game losing streak  ... FHSU is a collective .279 at the plate with four starters batting better than .300 to begin the week ... in spite of their record FHSU ranks ahead of WU in several categories including batting average (11th), hits (10th/245) and home runs (7th/20) amongst others ... Alex Ruxlow leads the pitching staff in wins (3) and innings pitched (39.1) ... collectively the Tigers' mound crew has an 7.28 ERA with opposing teams hitting .318.

THE WEEK THAT WAS — WU batters were one home run shy of doubling its season total as it rose to 15 ... Darian Abram, Dylan Lonteen and Josh Crosby each recorded their first homers as Ichabods while Tanner Triggs and Riley Krane pushed their career totals to 12 and 21 respectively ... the Ichabods started the week with a 12-8 victory at Fort Hays before one of three games at Missouri Southern to finish the week at 2-2. 

SERIES HISTORY — The mid-week showdown will be the 174th meeting between the two schools in a series that dates back to 1966 ... Fort Hays leads WU all-time 101-73, but has fallen to the Ichabods in four of the last five meetings ... the 2017 season series will conclude on April 4 in Hays, Kan.

'BODS & ENDS —  Riley Krane is among the league leaders in RBI (2nd, 39); triples (t-2nd, 4); runs (t-5th, 31) and home runs (t-2nd, 9) ... Krane also cracks the top 40 nationally in home runs (26th), RBI and triples (12th) ... Darian Abram's three triples have him tied for sixth in the MIAA and places him 35th in Division II ... Josh Crosby's 11 doubles is tied for seventh in MIAA standings while placing him 32nd-overall in the Division II ranks ... Marcus McKinney is in a three-way tie for the most saves (6) in the MIAA while also sharing ninth in Division II ... Lance Barkley and Jacob Head are both among the nation's leaders in wins with Barkley at 25th (5) while Head and his four victories check in at 72nd ... with a 4.54 ERA the WU pitching staff entered the week ranked fifth in the MIAA and 84th nationally. 

FALLEY FIELD — The official home of Ichabod baseball since opening in 1990 ... Falley Field features a FieldTurf surface for the infield and grass for the outfield with dimensions of 330 feet to the left and right field and a distance of 400 feet to center ... in the previous 26 seasons, Washburn has put together an overall record of 363-251 including a 21-10 mark during the 2000 season ... with a listed capacity of 800, Falley Field has welcomed 20,771 cheering fans over the course of the last three seasons.

THE 'BODS ROADSHOW — The Ichabods opened their season with an 11-game road swing ... during that stretch WU went 8-3 overall with a 4-1 mark in neutral site venues ... this season WU is 10-5 when listed as the visiting team on the scoreboard ... currently WU has bussed approximately 3,652 miles round trip or the nearly same distance from Topeka to Panama City, Panama (3,682 mi).

CAUTION MILESTONES AHEAD — Head coach Harley Douglas is 20 wins shy of No. 100 ... with six saves on the season Marcus McKinney is now four shy of the WU all-time record held by Don Huss ... Riley Krane is five hits shy 200 for his career and four RBI short of surpassing Pat Colley (1998-2001) for ninth in program-history.

WHERE THEY RANK — Behind one first-place vote, the Ichabods open the season ranked fifth in the MIAA Preseason Coaches' Poll ... WU placed eighth in the NCBWA's Division II Preseason Regional Rankings ... the only recognition the team earned nationally was from Collegiate Baseball News where they were listed in the receiving votes category.

BIG LEAGUE 'BODS — Washburn baseball has been home to many talented alumni with some being able to take their talents to the Majors ... to date, their have been six former Ichabods who have played a regular-season or playoff game for an MLB club including George Darrow, Rick DeHart, Jerad Head, Davey Lopes, Jerry Robertson and Steve Simpson and has had eight players chosen in the MLB Amateur Draft.

70TH ANNIVERSARY -- The 2017 campaign marks the 70th anniversary of the first season of Ichabod baseball ... the program however took a six-year hiatus from 1951-56 due to world events ... the program returned in 1957 under the leadership of Washburn's first baseball coach, Marion McDonald.

UPDATES & MORE — Fans can fellow every pitch of the 2017 season via live stats available by visiting wusports.com/live ... for in-game updates, news and more be sure to also follow Washburn athletics on Twitter (@wusports) and Facebook.