LEADING OFF — Washburn baseball will have a busy schedule as it plays six games in seven days ... the Ichabods will open the week of action on Tuesday (4 p.m.) when they host Emporia State in the final game at Falley Field this season ... WU then treks to Durant, Okla., where it will face Southeastern Oklahoma in a non-conference doubleheader on Wednesday (2/4:30 p.m.) ... the 'Bods then cap the week with a three-game set at Central Oklahoma with games slated for Friday (3 p.m.), Saturday (2 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.).
SCOUTING REPORT: ESU — The Hornets come to Topeka at 35-8 overall and stand atop the MIAA at 24-5 ... Emporia State is batting .324 as a team and has six hitters with 120 plate appearances or more hitting .330 or better ... ESU tops the league in runs (380), RBI (335) and hits (487) while listed second in triples (17), home runs (50), walks (203), stolen bases (84) ... pitching-wise, the Hornets are third in team ERA (4.22) but pace the MIAA in wins, shutouts (7), saves (11) and walks allowed (105).
SCOUTING REPORT: SOSU — The Savage Storm enter the week with a 14-25-1 record and carry the burden of a four-game losing streak ... Southeastern is batting .257 on the season ... Hunter Harrison leads the way with a .328 average while also being the team leader in runs (23), doubles (10), home runs (6), RBI (28), total bases (68), slugging percent (.557) and walks (22) ... SE Oklahoma is fielding at a .964 clip and has been charged with 44 errors (second-best mark in the Great American Conference) ... on the hill, Southeastern pitchers own a collective 4.89 ERA with opponents batting .293 ... Brandon Wolski (3-5) paces the staff in strikeouts (38), appearances (21), saves (3) and has the second-most innings pitched (44.2).
SCOUTING REPORT: UCO — The Bronchos began the week ahead of WU in the standings as it owned a 23-17-1 mark overall with a 13-16 record in MIAA play ... UCO batting .297 with 234 total runs on 387 hits ... the Bronchos have four batters with at least 100 at-bats hitting .300 or higher ... UCO pitchers have team ERA of 5.14 with three shutouts and 10 saves ... the staff is also tied for the second fewest hits allowed (317) in the MIAA ... Holden Capps leads the staff in victories (5), games started (10), complete games (2), innings pitched (61.1) and strikeouts (58).
SERIES HISTORY — Tuesday's showdown with Emporia will be game number 230 in the series history ... ESU leads the all-time series at 156-73 ... the Hornets claimed the first two meetings 8-2 and 16-6 ... Wednesday will be the first-ever meeting for WU and Southeastern Oklahoma ... the weekend series with UCO will feature games 44-46 in the series' history ... WU took three of four games during the regular season before defeating the Bronchos in the tournament play ... UCO leads the all-time series 23-20.
'BODS & ENDS — Darian Abram's team-best 18-game reached base streak came to end during the series opener at Lindenwood ... Bowe Behymer has reached base in the last seven 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 ... Behymer and Krane are the only Ichabods to start every game this season.
JUST FOR THE RECORD (BOOK) — Marcus McKinney became Washburn's single-season save leader after recording his eighth on Apr. 2 in a 5-3 victory over Pittsburg State ... McKinney is now two shy the all-time record (10) ... on Apr. 7, Riley Krane became just the eighth player in program-history to record 200 career hits as he went 3-for-4 against Southwest Baptist ... Krane currently sits sixth overall with 209 hits while being six RBI short of a top five position in WU history ... head coach Harley Douglas is 17 wins shy of No. 100.
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 ... the Ichabods close 2017 with 11 of 12 games on the road ... this season WU is 10-9 when listed as the visiting team on the scoreboard ... currently WU has bussed approximately 5,111 miles round trip or nearly same flight distance from Topeka to Vienna, Austria (5,111).
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.
PRO 'BODS UPDATE — Former Washburn hurler Brett Ash (2010-12, 14) continues his baseball career as a member of the Seattle Mariners organization ... Ash began the 2017 season with the Mariners' Double-A affiliate, Arkansas Travelers ... on Apr. 21 he was assigned to Triple-A affiliate Tacoma Rainiers where he picked up a win in his debut ... on Apr. 9, Ash was credited with his first win of the season during his season debut with the Travelers ... 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.
