TOPEKA, Kan. -- Washburn got back to .500 on the season Tuesday afternoon with a 14-4 seven-inning win over Northwestern Oklahoma State in its final nonconference game of the regular season. The Ichabods hit the road on Wednesday to face No. 3 Central Missouri at 4 p.m.
The Washburn (23-23) offense got started right away with a leadoff single by Payton McHarg. He moved to second before scoring on a single by Jackson Mervosh. Darian Duhon followed with an RBI single of his own. A third run scored on an attempted double steal, as the Ichabods traded an out at second for a run to make it 3-0.
Grant Zwald began the game on the mound stranding a pair of Rangers (27-20) on base in the first inning. He followed that up with a scoreless second, retiring the side in order to wrap up his start. Chase Torkelson took over on the mound, delivering scoreless third and fourth innings.
The score stayed at 3-0 until the bottom of the fourth inning which started with Connor Scott reaching with one out after being hit by a pitch. He moved to second on a single by Owen Laessig with two outs before scoring on another single from a freshman as Brooks Richardson shot one through the left side.
Northwestern Oklahoma State got on the board with a pair of hits to beign the fifth inning, scoring one on a sacrifice fly. A two-out single plated another run to cut the lead in half.
In the sixth inning Laessig and Blake Scott led off with singles. Richardson picked up his third hit of the game landing a double down the right field line to plate a run. With the bases loaded and one-out, Jett Buck found green in the outfield with a two-run single. He stole second before moving to third on a wild pitch that also allowed McHarg to score. Darian Duhon extended the lead with a double down the left field line to score one. Blake Scott finished completed the six-run inning with a single to score another run and make it 10-2.
The Rangers came back with a pair of runs in the seventh inning that both reached on walks. Both runs were matched quickly in the bottom of the inning after Richardson and McHarg led off with singles. Priest followed with the first home run of the day over the wall in left field, extending the lead to 13-4.
With two outs in the inning Ricky Powell slashed a pinch-hit single, moving to second on a walk and third on a wild pitch. Jacob Trombley followed with a pinch-hit single of his own to the left side, scoring the walk-off run to end the game in seven innings at 14-4.
Washburn out-hit the Rangers 18-6 while the visitors had a slight advantage in walks, 5-4. Neither side recorded an error in the contest. The pitching crew for the Ichabods combined for nine strikeouts led by five from Chase Torkelson over four innings as he moved to 2-0 on the year with the win. Grant Zwald had three K's in his two innings.
At the plate six players had multi-hit games, led by Brooks Richardson who went 4-4 with two RBI in his first career start. Darian Duhon and Jett Buck each had two hits with two RBI while Hayden Priest drove in three on his round-tripper.
