LEADING OFF — Washburn opens it's season series with arch-rival Emporia State on Tuesday at Falley Field with first pitch slated for 5 p.m. ... the remainder of the season will be played over the course of the next two weeks.
ESU SCOUTING REPORT — The nationally-ranked Hornets come to Topeka sporting an overall record of 27-8 while topping the MIAA at 16-5 ... Emporia State is batting .330 as a team and leading the conference in runs (318) and hits (414) ... ESU has eight batters with 90 or at-bats this season hitting .295 or better ... the team is led by the .394 average (37-94) belonging to Alex White ... defensively, the Hornets are fielding at .975 clip while only being charged with 33 errors, the fewest in the MIAA ... the ESU pitching staff owns the fifth lowest ERA (4.49) and the sixth-most hits (354) in the conference while allowing the fewest walks (82) ... the mound crew is fronted by Seth Holman who has a 3.70 ERA and paces the staff in wins (6), innings pitched (58.1) and strikeouts (43).
SERIES HISTORY — Tuesday's showdown will be game number 228 in the series history ... the first game between the schools occurred during the 1949 season and is third-oldest series in Washburn history begin Football (1899) and Men's Basketball (1906) ... with a record of 154-73, ESU controls the all-time series ... the balance of this season's meetings will be played Apr. 18 in Emporia with the finale on Apr. 26 at Falley Field.
RECAP REWIND — The Ichabods struggled offensively in its weekend series to Southwest Baptist losing three straight to the Bearcats.
'BODS & ENDS — Darian Abram has reached base in 17 straight games ... the longest individual hit streak of the season by an Ichabod was 10 games (Feb. 2-18 ) by Riley Krane ... during that stretch Krane had four multiple hit games and 20 RBI.
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.
'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 10-6 when listed as the visiting team on the scoreboard ... currently WU has bussed approximately 3,854 miles round trip or the nearly same distance from Topeka to Panama City, Panama (3,682 mi).
MILESTONES AHEAD — Head coach Harley Douglas is 17 wins shy of No. 100 ... with eight saves on the season Marcus McKinney is now two shy of the WU all-time record (10) held by Don Huss ... Krane surpassed the 200-hit mark on Wednesday becoming just the eighth Ichabod in program-history to accomplish the feat ... Krane is five RBI short of moving into the top five RBI leaders in WU history.
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.
PRESEASON Rankings — Behind one first-place vote, the Ichabods opened the season ranked fifth in the MIAA Preseason Coaches' Poll ... WU placed eighth in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association (NCBWA) Division II Central Region ranking ... Collegiate Baseball News was the only national poll to recognize the Ichabods, listing them in the receiving votes category.
PRO 'BODS UPDATE — Former Washburn hurler Brett Ash (2010-12, 14) continues his professional baseball career as member of the Seattle Mariners organization ... Ash, who's second in program-history in strikeouts (199), began the 2017 season with the Mariners' Double-A affiliate, Arkansas Travelers ... on Sunday, Apr. 9, Ash earned his first win of the season tossing five scoreless innings while scattering four hits to help the Travelers capture an 8-2 victory ... last season Ash was 12-8 with the Jackson Generals who were the Mariners' Double-A affiliate and won 2016 Southern League championship.
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.
