Quick Hits
• The third-ranked Central Missouri Mules will host Lincoln in an MIAA doubleheader on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field.
• UCM is ranked No. 3 in this week's ABCA/Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Poll and the Mules are ranked in the top five in all four national polls.
• Central Missouri was the unanimous 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.
The Series
• Central Missouri and Lincoln have met 92 times on the diamond with the Mules holding a commanding 86-6 lead in the series.
• The Mules swept a four-game series in Jefferson City last year winning 10-2, 11-1, 4-3 and 11-0. UCM is 8-0 against Lincoln under Tom Myers.
• The doubleheader was originally scheduled to be played Wednesday in Jefferson City, but was moved due to an unplayable field at Lincoln.
Lincoln
• The Blue Tigers come into the series at 2-11 overall and 2-8 in MIAA play. Lincoln was swept in a three-game series by Central Oklahoma over the weekend.
• The Blue Tigers are batting .263 as a team and are led by Colby Shepherd's .367 average. Ben Stewart is hitting .360 and Clint Cashen bats .348. Five different players are tied for the team lead with one home, while Stewart, Cashen and Shepherd all have at least 20 RBI.
• The Lincoln pitching staff has an 8.72 team ERA allowing 121 runs, 95 earned, in 98.0 innings. Scott Jones is 2-2 with a 7.61 ERA in four starts. Joe Jungmeyer has a 2.61 ERA in four appearances and Cameron Moss leads the team with 12 strikeouts in 17.0 innings of work. The Blue Tiger has given up 54 extra-base hits, including 13 home runs.
• Opponents are batting .318 against Blue Tiger pitching.
• The pitching staff has issued 57 walks and struck out 55 in 98.0 innings.
• Lincoln has committed 30 errors in the field and sports a .935 fielding percentage.
The Mules
• Central Missouri enters the series at 13-2 overall and 10-1 in MIAA play after taking two out of three games from Nebraska-Kearney over the weekend.
• The Mules are batting .351 as a team and are led by
Kyle Grieshaber's .444 average.
John Oropeza is also hitting above .400 at .439.
Trevor Jones is hitting .396. Grieshaber leads the team with five home runs and Oropeza leads the team with 25 RBI.
Brad Wilson is batting .370 with three long balls and 22 runs batted in.
• The UCM pitching staff has an ERA of 3.92 and opponents are hitting .257 against them.
Dany Coulombe has a 1.59 ERA and one win in four appearances.
Jake Heissler leads the staff with a 3-0 record and 22 strikeouts in 15.2 innings of relief.
Kurtis Schuyler has recorded 19 K's in 20.1 innings pitched.
• The Mules have a .976 fielding percentage and have turned 13 double plays on the year.
Worth Noting
• The Mules have scored at least one run in 313 of the 317 games played under head coach Tom Myers.
• The loss to Nebraska-Kearney in game two snapped a string of 31 straight conference wins for the Mules.
• The Mules have won 11 straight conference series dating back to last year
Last time out
March 16, 2013 - (WARRENSBURG, Mo.) -- The fourth-ranked Central Missouri Mules held off a late rally from Nebraska-Kearney to win the series finale 9-8 on Saturday afternoon at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field. With the win, the Mules claimed their ninth straight conference series win dating back to last year.
The Mules (13-2, 10-1 MIAA) got on the board first with a single run in the third inning on a
Kyle Grieshaber RBI double. Central Missouri added three more runs in the fifth to make it 4-0.
Trevor Jones and Grieshaber scored on an error to make it 3-0 and
Tucker Cross added a sacrifice fly to give UCM a four-run cushion.
The Lopers (9-9, 9-7 MIAA) got two runs back in the top of the sixth on Brian Wuest's two-run home run. UCM came right back with five runs in the bottom half to make it 9-2. Grieshaber drew a bases-loaded walk to start the scoring before
John Oropeza laced a two-run double to center to make it 7-2.
Kevin Gratza added a sacrifice fly and
Chase Graskewicz singled home the final run of the inning.
Nebraska-Kearney came right back though with three runs in the top of the seventh inning to pull within 9-5. The Lopers made things interesting in the ninth, plating three more runs on Wuest's second home run of the game. Following the home run, Brandon Pacheco singled to bring the go ahead run to the plate. Pacheco went to second on a wild pitch, but
Dany Coulombe got Mike Kattula to strike out to end the game and give UCM the 98 win.
Travis Higgs (2-0) got the win for Central Missouri after allowing five runs, only two earned, on five hits in 6.2 innings. Coulombe picked up his first save of the year after coming on to retire the final batter of the game.
Michael Hahn (1-2) took the loss for UNK after giving up one run on three hits in three innings of work.
Grieshaber and Oropeza each finished the day with two hits and two RBI, while
Jon Cotter and Jones also had two hits.
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 play
• Central Missouri is 10-1 this year and 168-35 overall in MIAA play under head coach Tom Myers after taking two out of three from Nebraska-Kearney over the weekend.
• The Mules were 34-4 in conference play last season as they captured their third straight MIAA regular season crown and the 23rd title in school history.
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 2-1 at home this season following the home-opening series against Nebraska-Kearney and 106-26 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 689-135-1 (.836) in their 38th season playing home games at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field.
Mules on the road
• The Mules are 6-0 on the road this season following a three-game sweep at Northeastern State on Sunday and Monday.
• UCM is 115-27 in road games during the Tom Myers era.
Mules in the Polls
• Central Missouri is ranked No. 3 in the country in this week's ABCA/Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Poll. The Mules are ranked in the top five in all four publications including third in the NCBWA and D2Baseballnews.com polls, and fifth in the College Baseball Lineup poll.
• The Mules have been ranked in the Collegiate Baseball News Top 25 for 83 consecutive weeks with their No. 4 ranking this week. The Mules have been ranked, in order, 4, 7, 9, 9, 8, 5, 4 and 3 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 253-64 (.798) record in 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 1,701-659-9 (.720) record in 2,369 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 for the Mules 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 Conferences now make up the NCAA-II Central Region.
• This year's regional will take place at a campus site to be determined May 16-19.
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 670-147 (.820) 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 winter 2012-13 athletic season, Central Missouri has won a combined 193 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 139 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 Washburn this weekend for three games. The series gets underway with a doubleheader on Saturday at 2 p.m. and wraps up with a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m.
• UCM hosts Southwest Baptist on Tuesday, March 26 for a mid-week doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field.
