TOPEKA, Kan. – The No. 21-ranked Washburn Ichabods picked up a pair of shutout wins blanking the Lincoln Blue Tigers in 5-0 and 7-0 wins on Friday at Gahnstrom Field. In sweeping the doubleheader the Ichabods ran their winning streak over Lincoln to 16 games. The Ichabods will return to action on Saturday afternoon hosting Central Missouri in an MIAA doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.
Game 1 – Washburn 5, Lincoln 0
In the opener, Washburn broke open a scoreless tie with a solo run in the bottom of the third when
Jaycee Ginter drove in
Hadley Kerschen who singled as the Ichabods jumped out to the 1-0 lead.
The Ichabods (25-5, 4-2 MIAA) stretched their lead to 5-0 taking advantage of two Lincoln errors with all the damage coming with two outs. After loading the bases,
Autymn Schreiner scored on a wild pitch and then Kerschen hit her first home run of the season with a three-run shot scoring
Paige Robbins and
Allison Hemsath who came in as a pinch runner.
Washburn remained scoreless the rest of the game but the five runs were more than enough as starting pitcher Ginter improved to 17-2 striking out 10 leaving facing the minimum of 15 batters not allowing a hit before giving away to
Sheyenne Cheek who pitched the final two innings striking out one. Overall, the Blue Tigers (4-16, 1-5 MIAA) were held without a hit for 6 2/3 innings before getting their first base runner of the game.
Kerschen had three of Washburn's seven hits driving in three and scoring twice.
Marrit Mead had two hits and Ginter and
Kaylee Wagner added the other two.
Game 2 – Washburn 7, Lincoln 0
The Ichabods wasted little time in the second game scoring four times in their first at bat cruising to the 7-0 win.
Washburn did its damage in the first inning with two outs as Ginter doubled to single and the Mead followed up with a single of her own.
Jaden LaBarge singled driving in both Mead and Ginter and after a walk drawn by
Erin Boles,
Danielle Schlader doubled down the left field line sending both Boles and LaBarge home as the Ichabods jumped out to the 4-0 lead.
In the second, Washburn added another run when the Ichabods took advantage of a wild pitch by the Blue Tigers scoring Kerschen who singled with two outs. Washburn scored a solo run in the fourth when LaBarge singled scoring Mead who singled and then stole second in the frame as the Ichabods went up 6-0.
A solo run in the fifth on Kerschen's second home run of the day put the Ichabods in front 7-0.
Cheek improved to 5-0 in the circle for the Ichabods tossing three innings in relief striking out three before Ginter pitched the final two innings striking out five Blue Tigers.
Overall Kerschen was 5 of 7 in the series driving in four scoring four times raising her batting average 26 points on the day to .404.
