TOPEKA, Kan. -- Washburn baseball secured its first shutout of the season on Tuesday afternoon with an 11-0 run rule victory in seven innings over Northwest Missouri State. The Ichabods will host Central Missouri in a three-game series over the weekend beginning on Friday at 4 p.m.
After a scoreless first inning on the mound from Fidel Hatch in the top half of the inning Washburn (13-8, 8-2 MIAA) provided run support right away. Cale Savage singled with one out and moved to second on a wild pitch before scoring on a line drive to left field off the bat of Cash Jay.
The Ichabods tacked on another run in the second inning with Payton McHarg hitting a sacrifice fly to center field scoring Trevor McCollum who singled with one out earlier in the inning. The Bearcats (8-14, 1-9 MIAA) went down 1-2-3 in the top of the third and Washburn got on the board again in the home half.
Jay led off with a single, Hayden Priest followed with a single of his own and Connor Scott loaded the bases, reaching on an error by the pitcher on a sacrifice bunt attempt. Jett Buck brought home Jay with a sacrifice fly and Ike Book singled to bring home Priest. Two consecutive wild pitches scored Scott and Book respectively, making it a 6-0 game after three.
Northwest Missouri got its first hit of the game in the top of the fourth inning but Hatch finished his outing after four innings, striking out two and allowing just one hit over four scoreless.
A leadoff walk from McHarg led off the fourth, back-to-back doubles from Savage and Jay scored two more runs and Washburn was on the board for a fourth consecutive inning to open the game.
Charlie Kiefer took over on the mound in the fifth and got the Bearcats to hit into double plays in both the fifth and sixth innings to help keep the visitors scoreless. The Ichabods juiced the bases in the sixth in a walk from Jay, pinch hit single from Otto Jones and a base knock by Scott. Buck was able to reach on a throwing error on a grounder, scoring two runs and a third was able to come around on the ensuing throws to make the game 11-0.
Kiefer finished off the game with a strikeout in the top of the seventh to give Washburn its fifth straight win. Hatch and Kiefer combined for three strikeouts while allowing just four hits and walking five.
At the plate the Ichabods collected 13 hits and scored in five of six innings. Cash Jay went 3-3 and drove in two runs while all of Ike Book, Cale Savage and Hayden Priest had multi-hit games.
