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Quick Hits
• The ninth-ranked Central Missouri Mules open MIAA play with a three-game series at Fort Hays State this weekend.
• The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday and a single nine-inning game on Sundayat Larks Park in Hays.
• UCM is ranked No. 9 in the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Preseason Poll and the Mules are ranked in the top 10 in all four national polls.
• Central Missouri is the preseason favorite to win the MIAA as chosen by the league coaches.
• The Mules were 48-9 a season ago, their 14th consecutive season with 40 or more wins.

Central Missouri opens MIAA play
• Central Missouri will open the MIAA portion of their schedule with a three-game series this weekend at Fort Hays State. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday and finish with a single nine-inning game on Sunday.

The Series
• Central Missouri and Fort Hays State have met 35 times on the diamond with the Mules holding a 25-10 advantage in the series, including a 15-8 lead during the Tom Myers era.
• The teams went 3-3 against each other last season. The Tigers took three out of four games from UCM in Hays, before the Mules beat FHSU twice in the MIAA Tournament. The Mules won 5-0 in the first round of the tournament, then beat the Tigers 7-1 in the championship game.
• FHSU beat UCM 6-1, 8-7 and 14-6 in Hays, while the Mules won game two of the four-game set 13-5 at Larks Park.

Fort Hays State
• The Tigers come into the series at 3-1 after their season-opening series at Metro State last weekend and a midweek game against Bethany. FHSU dropped the season-opener 13-12 in 10 innings, but rebounded to win the next two games in the series, 10-4 and 10-6.
• FHSU beat Bethany 17-3 on Wednesday afternoon.
• The Tigers are batting .414 as a team and are led by Nathan Miller's .538 batting average. Clayton Garland, Horace Johnson and Jay Sanders are all batting .500.
• The FHSU pitching staff has a 4.98 team ERA allowing 26 runs, 19 earned, in 34.1 innings. Taylor Davis is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA after allowing four unearned runs in a seven-inning complete game win. Jesse Hart is also 1-1 on the season with a 1.23 ERA after tossing 7.1 innings and allowing one earned run.
• The Tiger pitching staff has issued 21 walks and struck out 13 in 34.1 innings.
• FHSU has committed six errors in the field and sports a .959 fielding percentage.

The Mules
• Central Missouri enters the first weekend of MIAA play at 3-1 overall after opening the season February 1-4 at the Astros in Action Division II Invitational in Houston, Texas.
• The Mules are batting .276 as a team and are led by Kyle Grieshaber's .467 average. He also leads the team with two home runs and five RBI. Seth Wheeler is hitting .429, while Samuel Domingue and John Oropeza are both batting .385.
• The UCM pitching staff has an ERA of 2.00 and they are holding opponents to a .203 batting average. Zach Davis has a 0.00 ERA and one save in two relief appearances. Chris Fitzpatrick, Jake Heissler and Devon Brogan are each 1-0 on the season. Kurtis Schuyler has a staff-leading eight strikeouts.

Worth Noting
• The Mules have scored at least one run in 302 of the 306 games played under head coach Tom Myers.
• Central Missouri pitchers held opponents to just 7-for-36 (.194) with runners in scoring position during the Astros in Action D-II Invitational.
• UCM won 22 straight MIAA games to end the 2012 season.
• The Mules won seven straight conference series to end the 2012 season.

Last time out
    February 4, 2013 - (HOUSTON, Texas) -- Kyle Grieshaber hit a go-ahead two-run home run with two outs in the seventh inning and the fourth-ranked Central Missouri Mules beat Arkansas-Monticello 2-1 in the Astros in Action D-II Invitational finale on Monday afternoon at Minute Maid Park. The Mules complete the season-opening tournament at 3-1.
    The Mules trailed 1-0 after the third and were held scoreless through the first six frames as they stranded eight runners on base and couldn't get the big hit.
    That all changed in the seventh. Jon Cotter led off with a walk and went all the way to third on a botched pick off attempt. After a pop-up on the infield, Dusy Maas hit a chopper towards third. Cotter broke for home, but was caught in a rundown and tagged out for the second out of the inning. With Maas at second and a 1-0 count, Grieshaber belted a home run into the Crawford Boxes in left field for his second home run of the tournament.
    Central Missouri's bullpen pitched out of a jam in the eighth to keep the lead and Andrew Urban came on to record the final out after UAM had worked a two-out walk. Urban picked up his first save of the season, while Jake Heissler earned his first win tossing 1.1 innings of one-hit relief. Dany Coulombe pitched an inning and a third of no-hit relief as well.
    Starter Marshall Dean tossed six solid innings allowing just one run on three hits with five strikeouts.
    Eddie Smith (0-1) took the loss for the Boll Weevils after allowing two runs on two hits in 2.0 innings of relief. Starter Kenny Marshall pitched 5.0 innings allowing just two hits.
    Grieshaber finished the day 2-for-4 with the two RBI. Cotter was 1-for-2 and Brad Wilson picked up the only other Mule hit going 1-for-4.

Mules picked to four-peat in 2013
• Central Missouri was the unanimous pick to finish first in the MIAA according to the 15 league coaches in the preseason poll. The Mules received all 14 possible first place votes and tallied 196 points to claim the top spot. Missouri Western received one first place vote and tallied 175 points to come in second.
• Emporia State was picked to finish third, followed by Central Oklahoma and Fort Hays State to round out the top five.
• In the new 15-team MIAA, the Mules will play the other four teams in their pod (Lincoln, Lindenwood, Southwest Baptist and Truman State) four times, two at home and two on the road in midweek doubleheaders. UCM will play the other conference teams in three-game series on the weekends.

Mules in MIAA openers
• Central Missouri is 4-1 in MIAA openers under sixth-year head coach Tom Myers. The Mules dropped last season's conference lid-lifter 8-3 to Missouri Western before rebounding to win the final three games of the series.

Mules in MIAA play
• Central Missouri is 158-34 in MIAA play under head coach Tom Myers. The Mules were 34-4 in conference play last year as they captured their third straight MIAA regular season crown and the 23rd title in school history.
• The Mules won 22 straight conference games to end the 2012 season.
• UCM won nine of 10 conference series during the 2012 season.

Mules in non-conference action
• Central Missouri is 85-29 in non-conference games during the Tom Myers era and 3-1 this season after the season-opening Astros in Action Division II Invitational.

Mules at home
• The Mules are 104-25 at the friendly confines of Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field under Tom Myers. Central Missouri was 20-5 at home last season. The Mules' best home record under Myers was a 23-3 mark during the 2011 campaign.
    The Mules are 687-134-1 (.836) in their 38th season playing home games at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field.

Mules on the road
• The Mules were 25-4 on the road last season and are 109-27 in road games during the Tom Myers era.
• The Mules dropped three out of four games during their series at Fort Hays State last season and they are 5-3 in Hays during Tom Myers' tenure.

Mules in the Polls
• Central Missouri is ranked No. 9 in the country in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Poll. The Mules are ranked in the top 10 in all four publications including third in the NCBWA preseason poll,  sixth in the College Baseball Lineup poll and eighth in the D2BaseballNews.com poll.
• The Mules have been ranked in the Collegiate Baseball News Top 25 for 78 consecutive weeks with their No. 9 ranking this week. The Mules have been ranked, in order, 4,7, and 9 so far this season by CBN.
• The last time UCM was unranked was April 21, 2008, but the Mules finished that season ranked No. 4 in the nation.

The Myers way
• Central Missouri head coach Tom Myers has a 243-63 (.794) record as he enters his sixth season leading the Mules' program. The Mules have won at least 44 games in each of his first five seasons and recorded 52 wins during the 2010 campaign.
• The Mules have had 20 first team All-MIAA selections and 11 All-Americans during Myers' tenure.

Mules Baseball history
• In the 57th season of UCM baseball the Mules have compiled a 1,691-658-9 (.719) record in 2,358 games played. The Mules have won 40 or more games 17 times, including 14 straight seasons and have won 50 or more games nine times.
• The Mules have won or shared 23 MIAA championships, 16 regional titles and two national championships.

Martinez Watch List
    Over 150 players from across the country were named to the Tino Martinez Award Watch List for the most outstanding player in Division II baseball. Central Missouri senior infielder John Oropeza, senior outfielder Kyle Grieshaber and junior shortstop Samuel Domingue were among the names selected for consideration for the award. The award is named after Tino Martinez, former Olympian and MLB All-Star, who played collegiately at Division II University of Tampa.

New region in 2013
• As has been the case for all UCM sports this year, the MIAA has moved into a new region for postseason play in 2013.
• The MIAA, the Northern Sun and Great American Conference's now make up the NCAA-II Central Region.

Mules Baseball by the Numbers
• 26 NCAA Regional Appearances (last 19 in a row)
• 23 MIAA Titles (15 of the last 19)
• 20 MIAA Tournament Titles (16 of the last 19)
• 16 Regional Championships
• 15 Regionals as host site
• 13 Top five national finishes
• 4 Third place finishes
• 1 National Runner-Up
• 2 National Championships

Mules Baseball: Winningest Team of the Millenium
• The Central Missouri baseball program has had unprecedented success in the last 20 years and has been even more impressive since the year 2000.  The Mules have a 660-146 (.819) record since 2000, the most wins of any program in NCAA Division I, II, or III. That is an average of 50.5 wins per season over the last 13 years.

A Tradition of Excellence in the Athletic Arena
• At the conclustion of the fall 2012 athletic season, Central Missouri has won a combined 191 MIAA regular-season conference championships in 14 league sports to lead all schools.
• During the 2011-12 school year UCM captured seven MIAA regular season and three tournament championships.
• Since 1983, the tenure of Athletic Director Jerry Hughes, UCM has won or shared 137 MIAA championships, more than any other league school.
• Central Missouri has won five national championships since 1980 (men's and women's basketball in 1984, baseball in 1994 and 2003, and women's bowling in 2003) and seven national championships overall.

A Tradition of Excellence in the Classroom
• The 500+ Central Missouri student-athletes received 245 Academic Awards from the MIAA office for the 2011-12 academic year.
• 195 UCM student-athletes were named to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll with a 3.0 GPA or higher.
• 32 UCM student-athletes were named MIAA Scholar Athletes with at least a 3.5 GPA and having earned All-MIAA honors in their respective sport.
• 18 UCM student-athletes were named MIAA Academic Excellence Award winners with a 4.0 GPA.
• UCM had 10 student-athletes earn Academic All-America honors, including Shawn Boss being named the CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year for Track & Field.

Up next
• The Mules host Lindenwood in the MIAA home opener Wednesday, Feb. 20 for a doubleheader at 1 p.m. at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field.
• UCM hosts Pittsburg State in a three-game series starting with a doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 1 p.m. The series concludes with a single nine-inning game on Sunday at 1 p.m.