TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Ichabods will face their second opponent nationally ranked in the top-five as they travel to the Show Me State to take on No. 5 Central Missouri starting on Saturday with a doubleheader.

LEADING OFF
>> Washburn won the non-conference mid-week matchup against Northwest Missouri on Wednesday, 10-7, and are now 7-10 overall on the season.
>> The Mules are on a 10-game winning streak and are 15-4 overall and lead the MIAA with an 11-1 record.
>> Central Missouri is 7-2 at home this season and Washburn is 4-6 in road contests.
>> Washburn was tabbed sixth in the 2021 MIAA Preseason Poll while Central Missouri was voted the favorite at the top of the list.
>> This is the 68th season in Washburn baseball program history.

GAME INFORMATION
>> A doubleheader will start the series on Saturday at 1 p.m. with game two to follow.
>> The series finale will take place on Sunday with a 1 p.m. first pitch.
>> All games will have live stats, but only Saturday's DH will be video streamed.

MIAA PITCHER OF THE WEEK - BROCK GILLIAM
>> Brock Gilliam was recognized by the league for the gem he pitched in game one of the DH against Northeastern State on Sunday.
>> He improved his record to 3-1 as he threw seven scoreless innings and allowed just three hits while tying a career-high in strikeouts with 13.
>> He recorded five 1-2-3 innings and struck out the side in the fifth.

OFFENSIVE LEADERS
>> Three Ichabods rank in the top-10 in the MIAA for batting average. 
>> Leadoff man Xavier De Leon is second in the MIAA in hits with 29 and seventh in the league in batting average, hitting 403. 
>> De Leon is on a 15 game hitting streak and has recorded 10 multi-hit games.
>> Brett Ingram is batting .390 (ninth in the MIAA) and has a .678 slugging percentage. He leads the team with four home runs and 19 RBI.
>> Kros Bay rounds out the MIAA top-10 in batting average at .380. The catcher has 19 hits with seven of those going for doubles.
>> Parker Dunn has hit a team-high nine doubles, which ranks third in the conference. He has hit one double in the last four games.
>> Carson Sader is 3-3 in his last three plate appearances as a pinch hitter. Against the Bearcats, he hit a pinch hit triple and then scored.

PITCHING LEADERS
>> Sean McElwee and Gilliam have both thrown 28.1 innings and have a 3.81 ERA.
>> Gilliam leads the team and is ranked 13th in the nation with 44 strikeouts. He has walked just four batters and is 16 in Division II in striekout-to-walk ratio.
>> McElwee has struck out 26 batters and issued just five walks.
>> Rane Pfeifer has held opponents to a .159 batting average, the second-best in the MIAA. He has allowed 11 hits over 20.0 innings of work.
>> Michael Schurig came on in the ninth inning against Northwest Missouri and earned his first career save.

MILESTONE WATCH
>> De Leon is five hits away from having 100 in his Washburn career. He transferred to Washburn and had 50 hits in his first season in 2019.
>> Gilliam has 155 career strike outs and is eighth on Washburn's all-time strikeout leader list. He will move up to seventh with 10 more strikeouts.
>> Dunn is eight hits away from 50 since joining the Ichabods last season. He is 42-132 (.318) at the plate with 15 doubles and seven home runs.

LAST TIME OUT
>> The Ichabods defeated Northwest Missouri, 10-7, in non-conference action earlier this week.
>> After falling behind 2-0 in the top of the first, Washburn got one run back in the home half of the first frame before taking the lead for good after scoring four runs in the second.
>> The Ichabods pounded out 15 hits with seven going for extra bases; four doubles, two solo home runs, and one triple.
>> Washburn also stole three bases.

SCOUTING CENTRAL MISSOURI
>> The Mules went 20-3 (8-0 MIAA) in the COVID-shortened 2020 season after reaching the 2019 NCAA Division II World Series and finishing third overall.
>> UCM leads the MIAA and ranks 10th in the nation in batting average (.347).
>> Josh Schumacher has a hot bat for the Mules, leading the MIAA in batting average (.517)  hits (31) to go with 21 runs scored (second in MIAA) and 15 RBI. He is also slugging league-leading .817 with four homers.
>> Garrett Pennington is also batting above the .400 mark at .434 on the season. He has 23 hits and 21 RBI and has scored 15 runs.
>> The UCM pitching staff has a collective 3.78 ERA and 173 strikeouts.
>> Mason Green is 5-0 in six starts and has a 2.01 ERA after 31.1 innings pitched.

HEAD COACH KYLE CROOKES
>> Kyle Crookes is in his seventh season as the Mules' head coach and holds a record of 210-91 (137-54 MIAA).
>> He has led the team to two MIAA regular season titles, three MIAA tournament championships, and two NCAA Central Region titles.

SERIES HISTORY WITH CENTRAL MISSOURI
>> The Mules have won eight of the last nine meetings and lead the all time series, 87-26.
>> The Ichabods played three games in Warrensburg in 2019 and went 1-2.
>> Coach Douglas is 6-13 all-time against Central Missouri.

WELCOME BACK EVERY-BOD-Y
>> Twenty-eight Ichabods from last season return with 11 of those being seniors.
>> The returning roster also consists of five juniors, five sophomores, and seven freshmen.

NEW FACES
>> Washburn welcomes 18 newcomers to this year's squad, including nine transfer student-athletes who are all coming from nine different programs spread across Division I, Division II, and Junior Colleges.
>> Eight true freshmen also enter their first season with the Ichabods.

ICHABODS IN THE PROS
>> There have been five Washburn players since 1965 that played for a Major League Baseball team and seven total players have signed a professional contract.
>> Former Ichabod infielder Riley Krane (2013-17) recently signed a contract with the Evansville Otters of the Frontier League for the 2021 season. 
>> Krane enters his fourth season in the Frontier League after playing two seasons with the Windy City ThunderBolts and one with the Joliet Slammers.

TAKE A LOOK AHEAD
>> Washburn will stay on the road for another week as it heads to Central Oklahoma for three games starting Friday, April 2.