TOPEKA, Kan. --- The Washburn baseball team will head to St. Joesph to take on Missouri Western. Originally scheduled to be played in Topeka, weather forced the relocation of the three-game series to the Griffon Baseball Field with the opener slated for Saturday at 4 pm. The series will then resume on Sunday at 1 pm with the rubber match scheduled for 1 pm on Monday. The Ichabods head into series looking to rebound as they have loss three of their last five and holding a 8-10 overall and 3-6 mark in conference play.
Live stats for each game will be available online at wusports.com/live or on the team's schedule page with additional links to radio and video made available on a game-by-game basis.
LEADING OFF
» Heading into the three-game set, Washburn and Missouri Western have faced off 132 times with the all-time series knotted at 66-66.
» The Ichabods have struggled against the Griffons at off as of late, dropping five of the last seven meetings at Falley Field since 2015.
» Washburn is hitting .227 and averaging 5.5 runs per game. The Ichabods 15 doubles through 18 games is fourth-best amongst the MIAA and 39th overall on the NCAA Division II leaderboard.
» Washburn is led by Harley Douglas, who is in his fifth season with the program.
A LOOK AT MISSOURI WESTERN
The Griffons are 9-7 overall in 2019 with a 7-2 mark against the MIAA. Missouri Western has won four of its last six road games including 2-1 series wins at Missouri Southern and Northeastern State. The team is hitting .266 with 29 doubles and 17 home runs. Conrad McMahon is batting .429 (24-for-56) with 22 runs, four doubles, two home runs and seven RBI. The Griffon pitching staff has a 4.18 combined ERA with 175 strikeouts, 87 walks and 82 runs against in 131.1 innings of work. Anthony Castaneda is 4-0 in five starts with a 1.50 ERA and 50 strikeouts having thrown 36.0 innings.
OFFENSIVE CONTRIBUTIONS
The Ichabods have received offensive support form their entire lineup:
» 16 different players have scored at least one run, with seven scoring at least six times.
» 12 players have doubles led by Brady Hoover and Lane Harvey with five apiece. Hoover has a team-best 11 extra base hits, including five home runs, while co-leading the team in hitting with a .292 clip (19-for-65). Harvey is hitting .262 (16-for-61) with seven extra base knocks.
» Seven players have at least five RBI, with Hoover and Steven Jacobson accounting for 36.5 percent (30-for-82) of the team's RBI total.
» In the last three series, there has been a different player topping the batting average — Javis Larson was .417 at Lindenwood, Peter Shearer was .600 at Pittsburg State and Michael Oyervides was .250 at Missouri Southern.
