TOPEKA, Kan. -- Washburn baseball remains in the Show Me State for three games at No. 24 Central Missouri this weekend.
LEADING OFF
>> Game one will take place on Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday's game is set for a 2 p.m. first pitch. The final game is on Sunday at 1 p.m.
>> The Ichabods (20-11, 13-4 MIAA) are coming off a 4-2 midweek victory at Northwest Missouri.
>> The Mules picked up a 14-7 victory at Missouri Western on Tuesday and improved their record to 22-8 (14-3 MIAA).
>> Central Missouri is 13-3 when playing at home this season and Washburn is 7-6 in true road games.
>> These two teams faced each other six times last year - three times at Falley Field and three times in the MIAA Tournament.
>> The Mules took two out of three games against the Ichabods in the regular season.
>> Washburn won the first game against Central Missouri in the postseason tournament, 15-13, before falling in the championship Saturday games 16-13 in 10 innings and 10-5 in the finale.
>> The Ichabods were picked fifth in the 2023 MIAA Coaches Preseason Poll and the Mules repeated as the conference favorite after winning the regular and tournament titles last year and finishing with a mark of 46-9 (30-3 MIAA).
>> In 2022, Washburn reached its first NCAA postseason and finished the season 33-22 (19-14 MIAA).
>> The 2023 season is the 71st year of Washburn Baseball.
NATIONAL NUMBERS
>> Shortstop Cal Watkins enters the weekend ranked sixth in all of Division II and tied for first in the MIAA in hits with 55 on the year.
>> Pitchers Casey Steward and Rane Pfeifer rank in the top-15 in the nation in strikeouts. Steward is second among MIAA pitchers and sixth in DII with 67 strikeouts and Pfeifer is third in the conference and 13th in the nation with 60 strikeouts.
>> As a team, the Ichabods currently rank 13th in the nation in hits with 329 so far this season.
QUICK HITS
>> Through 31 games, Washburn is hitting .308 with 58 doubles, 11 triples (tied for second in MIAA), and 21 homers.
>> Watkins has reached base in 13-straight games and leads the team in hits, doubles (11), and runs (36 - second in MIAA). For the season, he's batting .399 and is tied for the team-lead in doubles with 10.
>> Trevor McCollum is second among MIAA players with a .427 batting average and his .538 on base percentage ranks first in the league. He has landed 35 hits and is 14-of-15 in stolen bases to lead the team.
>> Ike Book is hitting .356 with 32 hits, 26 RBI, and 14 runs scored.
>> Trey Adams has recorded 38 hits, six doubles, three homers, 27 runs scored, and 21 RBI to go with his .328 batting average.
>> Cale Savage is tied with Adams for the second-most hits on the team and leads the squad with 33 RBI. Out of his 38 hits, 15 of those have gone for extra bases, including a team-high six home runs.
>> Caden Bressler has 28 hits, 19 runs scored, 12 RBI, and seven stolen bases while batting .277.
>> Easton Bruce has notched 32 hits with 14 going for extra bases so far this eyar. He is hitting .264 with 10 doubles, 23 RBI, and 20 runs scored.
ON THE MOUND
>> The Ichabod pitching staff has a 5.14 ERA and ranks second in the MIAA in strikeouts with 288.
>> Chase Torkelson is 5-1 on the season and earned the save at Missouri Western in game one after he retired all three batters he faced in the ninth frame.
>> Overall this season, Torkelson has thrown 20 2/3 innings scattered across 11 relief appearances and holds a 4.35 ERA with 22 strikeouts.
>> Washburn's game one pitcher Casey Steward is 2-1 in eight starts with one complete game. He leads the team with 67 strikeouts, 47 2/3 innings pitched, and has a 3.59 ERA.
>> Pfeifer is 3-1 with a 3.40 ERA after throwing 42 1/3 frames in eight starts. He leads the league in opponent batting average at a low .167 and has allowed the fewest hits with 24.
>> The Washburn bullpen threw four scoreless innings at Northwest Missouri.
>> Jake Schroeder pitched a scoreless sixth and seventh against the Bearcats and allowed just two hits.
>> Max Clark made his collegiate debut in the eighth at NWMSU and allowed zero runs, one hit, one walk, and recorded one strikeout.
>> Charlie Kiefer picked up his second save of the season on Wednesday at Northwest Missouri, throwing a scoreless ninth frame. Overall, he is 1-1 with a pair of saves, 19 strikeouts, and a 3.91 ERA in 23 innings across 10 appearances.
BODS AND ENDS
>> Washburn is a game back from first-place in the MIAA standings ... Missouri Southern and Central Missouri are tied with a conference record of 14-3 and WU is tied with Pittsburg State at 13-4.
>> The Ichabods have stolen 70 bases through 31 games this year...in 2022, the team stole a total of 47 bases in 55 games.
>> McCollum and Watkins both have a nine-game hitting streak.
>> The Ichabods have played five games against teams ranked in the top-25 and are 1-4.
>> Washburn claimed a 10-5 win over No. 11-ranked Missouri Southern on March 19th of this season.
>> In the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association (NCBWA) Central Region poll, the Ichabods are currently No. 9.
MILESTONE WATCH
>> Watkins is eight runs shy of having scored 100 runs since joining the Ichabods last season.
>> Pfeifer needs 20 more strikeouts to eclipse 200 since joining the Ichabods in 2021.
>> Steward is 17 strikeouts away from tying his season-high 84 strikeouts from last season ... he made 16 starts last year and has made eight so far in 2023.
MIAA PRESEASON POLL
>> In the 2023 MIAA Coaches Preseason Poll, the Ichabods were picked exactly where they finished a season prior in fifth place.
>> Central Missouri repeated as the conference favorite, earning 11 first-place votes.
>> Pittsburg State checked in at No. 2, Northeastern State was No. 3 and earned the final first-place vote.
>> Central Oklahoma and Washburn rounded out the top-five.
HEAD COACH HARLEY DOUGLAS
>> Former Washburn All-MIAA outfielder Harley Douglas enters his ninth season at the helm of the Washburn baseball program in 2023.
>> In eight seasons, Douglas carries an all-time record of 161-152 with four appearances in the MIAA Tournament and led the program to its first-ever NCAA Tournament in 2022.
>> He has also coached a total of 47 all-MIAA selections, including the MIAA Player and Pitcher of the Year in 2016.
SCOUTING CENTRAL MISSOURI
>> The Mules finished out the 2022 season in the NCAA Central Region tournament with a record of 46-9 (30-3 MIAA).
>> UCM currently leads the MIAA with a .330 batting average to go with 47 doubles, 11 triples, and 35 home runs.
>> Carter Young leads the team batting .404 with a team-best 46 hits, eight doubles, and 35 RBI.
>> John Prudhol has hit a team-best 10 home runs and has landed 37 hits overall.
>> The Mules' pitching staff is also atop the conference rankings in earned run average with a league-low 4.06 ERA.
>> Conner Wolf is 5-2 after 38.0 innings pitched in eight starts. He holds a 2.84 ERA and leads the team with 38 strikeouts and has only walked eight.
>> JD McReynolds is 3-0 after nine relief appearances and has a 0.57 ERA with 27 strikeouts in 15 2/3 innings of work.
HEAD COACH KYLE CROOKES
>> Heading into his ninth season leading the Mules, Kyle Crookes has compiled a record of 303-108 (197-60 MIAA) with three trips to the NCAA World Series.
>> He has led the team to four MIAA regular season titles, five MIAA tournament championships, and three NCAA Central Region titles.
SERIES HISTORY WITH CENTRAL MISSOURI
>> These two programs have played each other 122 times since 1983 and Central Missouri leads the series, 94-28.
>> The Ichabods last played in Warrensburg in 2021 and lost the three-game series all by three or fewer runs.
>> When Washburn run-ruled then-ranked No. 4 Central Missouri on April 2, 2022, it snapped a 19-game winning streak for the Mules and handed them their first conference loss of the season.
PRO BODS
>> At the conclusion of his collegiate career, Gilliam was signed by the Kansas City Monarchs on July 23, 2021 and has been with them since.
>> After a season and a half as a Monarch, he has appeared in 40 games and has a 9-5 record with 88 strikeouts in 88.1 innings pitched.
>> In the 2022-23 offseason, Gilliam joined the Perth Heat in the Australian Baseball League ... he made 10 starts and had a 5-1 record, a 3.04 ERA, and 36 strikeouts.
>> Tyler Clark-Chiapparelli, who graduated from Washburn in 2022, spent the summer playing for the Trois-Rivières Aigles, an independent professional baseball team located in Quebec, Canada and in the Frontier League.
>> Clark-Chiapparelli resigned to play with Trois-Rivières in the 2023 season.
>> Joel Casillas, also a graduate of the 2022 Washburn baseball team, signed to play the 2023 season with the Sultanes de Monterrey in the Mexican Baseball League in Monterrey, Mexico.
WASHBURN BASEBALL HISTORY
>> The 2023 season will be the 71st year of Washburn Baseball.
>> The Ichabods have gone 1313-1255-3 in that time.
>> There has been 31 seasons with 20+ wins; 21 seasons with 25+ wins; and 11 seasons with 30+ wins.
>> Washburn has earned 24 All-Region selections and nine All-America awards.
TAKE A LOOK AHEAD
>> The Ichabods stay on the road for the next four games, first with a three-game set at Central Oklahoma on April 6-7.
