TOPEKA, Kan. – Washburn baseball tied up the game in the bottom of the eighth after trailing by as many as five runs in the game, but the Ichabods came up short in a heartbreaking 7-6 10 inning loss to Northeastern State in the finale of the MIAA Tournament first round best-of-three series on Sunday afternoon. The Ichabods' season comes to a close with a record of 30-22 and record their second-straight 30-win season and third-consecutive MIAA Tournament appearance.
 
Northeastern State (24-26) opened the scoring in the second inning and jumped out to a 4-0 lead after three hits, two walks, and an error in the frame. The RiverHawks increased their lead with a two-out solo home run in the top of the third.
 
In the bottom of the third, Washburn (30-22) loaded the bases after two walks and one hit by pitch. Ike Book drove in a run with an RBI groundout that put runners on second and third with two outs. A wild pitch scored Cale Savage and a few pitches later, Trey Adams landed the first hit of the day for the Ichabods with an RBI single to right field to trim the deficit to 5-3.
 
The Ichabods made some noise in the fourth and had the bases loaded with two outs, but were unable to get a run in.
 
The RiverHawks added to their lead with one run in the sixth, going up 6-3.
 
With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Savage connected on the first pitch of his at bat and sent the ball over the fence in left center to make it a two-run deficit.
 
Chase Torkelson retired the side in order in the seventh on six pitches and the Ichabod offense got back to work in the home half of the inning. Book legged out a leadoff triple and easily scored on Adams' single to center field to pull Washburn within one run at 6-5.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, Savage stepped up to the plate with one out and went yard again to level the score at 6-all. The Ichabods had a pair of runners on with two outs, but they were left stranded.
 
Each team had a base runner in the ninth inning, but no one made it past second base as the game moved on into extra innings.
 
Northeastern State drew a leadoff walk in the 10th and the runner made it over to third after a single and wild pitch before scoring on a sacrifice fly to give the RiverHawks a 7-6 advantage.
 
Savage sparked the offense again in the bottom of the 10^th, leading off the frame with a double down the left field line. After Book was hit by an 1-0 pitch, the Ichabods had runners on first and second with one out, but the game came to a close on a line out double play.
 
Washburn finished with 11 hits while Northeastern State had eight. Savage reached base five times and was officially 3-4 with two home runs, a double, a walk, a hit by pitch, and scored three times. Book, Bressler, and Adams all landed two hits with Adams driving in a pair of runs.
 
Charlie Kiefer (2-3) pitched the 10th and received the loss. Torkelson threw five innings in relief and allowing one run on three hits with one walk and four strikeouts. After throwing eight no-hit innings on Friday, Casey Steward threw a hitless and scoreless ninth inning.

WASHBURN NOTES ABOUT THE 2023 SEASON

• Washburn has now had 12 seasons with 30 or more wins with head coach Harley Douglas being at the helm for four of those.
• The Ichabods went 21-12 in MIAA play this year, marking the most conference wins for the program since 2016.
• WU won nine of the 13 series it played this season.
• After starting the season 2-7, the Ichabods put together a 13-game winning streak...it was the longest winning streak for WU since the 2015, when the team started out 14-0. 
• In 69 full seasons of Washburn baseball, the team has previously only had four winning streaks of 10 or more games (2015 - 14; 1994 - 13; 1973 - 10; 1948 -10).
• The Ichabods won six games in walk-off fashion this season.
• Washburn's pitching staff combined for 446 strikeouts this year, landing second on the program's all-time single-season record book.
• Steward finished the year with 110 strikeouts to tie Brock Gilliam's program record for the most strikeouts in a single season. He is third in Washburn's career strikeouts with 211.
• Rane Pfeifer finishes his Ichabod career with 210 strikeouts, which ranks fourth in Washburn's career record book. Additionally, this season he struck out 90 to tie for fifth in the program's single-season records list.
• Savage finished the year with 13 home runs to tie for the seventh-most home runs hit in a single season at Washburn.
• Watkins tied for sixth on the program's most hits in a season after recording 76 in 2023.
• Book completed his first year at Washburn with a .394 batting average, which was the highest batting average at the end of the season since Kyle Carnahan hit .395 in 2014.