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Quick Hits
• The fifth-ranked Central Missouri Mules and the Southwest Baptist Bearcats will play a doubleheader on Wednesday at 1 p.m. at Dodson Field in Bolivar, Mo.
• UCM is ranked No. 3 in this week's ABCA/Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Poll and the Mules are ranked in the top 10 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.

Change of location for SBU doubleheader
• The Mules will now travel to Bolivar on Wednesday to take on Southwest Baptist due to an unplayable field in Warrensburg.
• The Mules will still be the home team in the two games.

The Series
• Central Missouri and Southwest Baptist have met 99 times on the diamond with the Mules holding a 90-8-1 all-time lead.
• The Mules swept all four games of the series last year winning 5-1 and 12-2 in Bolivar and 4-3 and 10-0 in Warrensburg.
• UCM is 18-2 against the Bearcats under Tom Myers. The Mules have won 10 straight games in the series.

Southwest Baptist
• The Bearcats come into the series at 8-13 overall and 8-9 in MIAA play after splitting a pair of games at Emporia State last Friday.
• The Bearcats are batting .287 as a team and are led by Bo Helsel's .347 average. Spencer Blacksher and Kyle Jochems each have three home runs on the year, while Drew Miller is batting .338 with two homers and a team-leading 17 RBI.
• The SBU pitching staff has a 6.28 team ERA allowing 139 runs, 113 earned, in 162.0 innings. Ryan Harralston has a team-low 3.07 ERA in nine relief appearances. Dustin Caplette is 3-0 with a 6.35 ERA in five starts. Jacob Sullinger has the lone save and sports a 6.75 ERA in nine relief appearances. Zach Winchester has struck out 27 batters in 32.2 innings.
• Opponents are batting .309 against Bearcat pitching.
• The pitching staff has issued 71 walks and struck out 96 in 162.0 innings.
• Southwest Baptist has committed 43 errors in the field and sports a .944 fielding percentage.

The Mules
• Central Missouri enters the mid-week doubleheader at 17-3 overall and 14-2 in MIAA play after taking two of three from Washburn in St. Louis over the weekend.
• The Mules are batting .343 as a team and are led by Kyle Grieshaber's .423 average. John Oropeza is also hitting above .400 at .421. Grieshaber leads the team with five home runs and Oropeza leads the team with 31 RBI. Brad Wilson is batting .356 with three long balls and 29 runs batted in.
• The UCM pitching staff has an ERA of 3.83 and opponents are hitting .255 against them. Dany Coulombe has a 2.13 ERA and two wins in five total appearances. Jake Heissler leads the staff with a 3-0 record and 23 strikeouts in 18.1 innings of relief. Travis Higgs is also 3-0 with a 3.54 ERA in five starts. Kurtis Schuyler has recorded 21 K's in 24.2 innings pitched. Blake Kolons has a 1.80 ERA in five relief appearances.
• The Mules have a .979 fielding percentage and have turned 13 double plays on the year.

Worth Noting
• The Mules have scored at least one run in 318 of the 322 games played under head coach Tom Myers.
• The win over Nebraska-Kearney in game one of the series gave the Mules win No. 1,700 program history.
• The Mules have won 13 straight conference series dating back to last year

Last time out
    March 23, 2013 - (ST. LOUIS, Mo.) -- The third-ranked Central Missouri Mules scored runs in four straight innings to break open a scoreless game and earn an 11-1 run-rule win over Washburn on Saturday afternoon at St. Mary's High School. The Mules took two out of three games from the Ichabods during their weekend series.
     The game was scoreless through the first three innings before the Mules (17-3, 14-2 MIAA) broke out for three runs in the fourth inning. Brad Wilson got UCM on the board with an RBI groundout followed later by an RBI single from Chase Graskewicz to make it 2-0. Hunter Johnson added an RBI groundout later in the inning to make it 3-0 in favor of the Mules.
     The Ichabods (5-14, 5-13 MIAA) got on the board in the fifth scoring a single run on a wild pitch.
     The Mules blew the game open with a five-run fifth inning to make it 8-1. John Oropeza brought home two runs with a bases-loaded single to make it 5-1. Graskewicz brought home his second run of the game to make it 6-1 and Jon Cotter drove in a pair to make it 8-1 after five innings.
     Oropeza added an RBI double in the sixth to give the Mules a 9-1 lead in the sixth. UCM added two more runs in the seventh for the 11-1 run-rule victory. Jake Alexander was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to drive in one run and Wilson singled home Cotter for the clincher.
     Travis Higgs (3-0) picked up the complete-game victory allowing just one run on four hits. He walked two and struck out nine in the process.
     Mark Biesma (1-2) took the loss for Washburn after giving up seven runs, five earned, on seven hits in 4.1 innings. He walked two and struck out two.

Mules in MIAA play
• Central Missouri is 14-2 this year and 172-36 overall in MIAA play under head coach Tom Myers after taking two out of three games from Washburn 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 in February.

Mules at home
• The Mules are 4-1 at home this season after sweeping Lincoln last Tuesday and 108-26 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 691-135-1 (.836) in 827 games played during 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 back on March 3 and 4.
• UCM is 115-27 in road games during the Tom Myers era.

Mules at neutral sites
• The Mules are 7-2 this year when playing at neutral sites and 34-12 overall during the Tom Myers era after taking two out of three from Washburn in St. Louis.
• UCM opened the season 3-1 at the Astros In Action D-II Invitational and then swept a doubleheader from Truman State in Bolivar.

Mules in the Polls
• Central Missouri is ranked No. 5 in the country in this week's ABCA/Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Poll. The Mules are ranked in the top 10 in all four publications including third in the NCBWA, fifth in the D2Baseballnews.com poll, and sixth in the College Baseball Lineup poll.
• The Mules have been ranked in the Collegiate Baseball News Top 25 for 84 consecutive weeks with their No. 4 ranking this week. The Mules have been ranked, in order, 4, 7, 9, 9, 8, 5, 4, 3 and 5 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 257-65 (.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 1,705-660-9 (.720) record in 2,374 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
• Prior to the season, 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 674-148 (.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 will hit the road this weekend traveling to Edmond, Okla. to take on Central Oklahoma in a three-game series beginning with a doubleheader on Friday and wrapping up with a single nine-inning game on Saturday.
• UCM travels to St. Charles, Mo. on Wednesday, April 3 for a doubleheader at Lindenwood beginning at 1 p.m.