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Quick Hits
• The fifth-ranked Central Missouri Mules travel to Kirksville, Mo. on Tuesday for a doubleheader with Truman State beginning at 1 p.m.
• UCM is ranked No. 5 in this week's ABCA/Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Poll and the Mules are ranked in the top 16 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 Truman State have met 152 times on the diamond with the Mules holding a 133-19 lead in the all-time series.
• The Mules swept a doubleheader from Truman in Bolivar back on March 7. UCM won 17-2 and 24-3.
• The Mules are 22-0 against the Bulldogs during the Tom Myers era and have won an incredible 82 straight games against Truman.
• The last loss to TSU came back on April 15, 1989 by a 6-4 margin. The Mules swept a four-game series last season in Kirksville. UCM out-scored the Bulldogs 39-10 during that series.

Truman State
• The Bulldogs come into the series at 9-27 overall and 8-25 in MIAA play. Truman split a midweek doubleheader at Lindenwood then split a doubleheader with fourth-ranked St. Cloud State on Sunday in Kirksville.
• The Bulldogs are batting .279 as a team and are led by Blake Marino's .376 average. Paul Trenhaile is hitting .347 and leads the team with three home runs and 31 runs batted in. Corbin Williams hits .327 and has 19 RBI.
• The Bulldog pitching staff has an 7.28 team ERA allowing 301 runs, 226 earned, in 278.0 innings. Logan Siegler leads the team with three wins and has a 5.44 ERA in nine appearances including eight starts. He also has tossed two complete games. Tim Lee is 2-3 with a 5.12 ERA in nine appearances and seven starts. He also has one save.
• Opponents are batting .328 against Truman State pitching.
• The pitching staff has issued 127 walks and struck out 151 in 278.0 innings.
• The Bulldogs have committed 79 errors in the field and have a .938 team fielding percentage.

The Mules
• Central Missouri enters the mid-week doubleheader at 27-8 overall and 21-7 in MIAA play after taking two out of three from Missouri Southern over the weekend.
• The Mules are batting .341 as a team and are led by Kevin Gratza's .405 average. John Oropeza is hitting .394 and leads the team with 47 RBI. Kyle Grieshaber is hitting .381 and leads the team with eight home runs and also has 44 runs driven in. Brad Wilson is batting .363 with three long balls and 43 runs batted in.
• The UCM pitching staff has an ERA of 3.98 and opponents are hitting .256 against them. Travis Higgs is 5-0 with a 3.35 ERA in eight starts and leads the team with 43 strikeouts in 45.2 innings. Jake Heissler is also 4-0 with a 2.54 ERA and 33 K's in 15 relief appearances. Kurtis Schuyler has recorded 35 K's in 37.1 innings pitched. Andrew Urban is 3-2 with a 2.73 ERA and three saves in 17 relief appearances.
• The Mules have a .971 fielding percentage and have turned 18 double plays on the year.
Worth Noting
• The Mules have scored at least one run in 333 of the 337 games played under head coach Tom Myers.
• The Mules hit over .700 against Missouri Southern with runners on third and less than two outs.
• The 26 runs scored in game one against Lincoln last week are the most ever in a game during the Tom Myers era and the most since UCM scored 32 runs in a 32-0 win over Washburn on April 26, 2004.
• The win over Nebraska-Kearney in game one of that series gave the Mules win No. 1,700 in program history.

Last time out
    April 14, 2013 - (WARRENSBURG, Mo.) -- The fifth-ranked Central Missouri Mules baseball team scored eight first inning runs and never looked back en route to a 12-2 run-rule win over Missouri Southern on a windy Sunday at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field. The Mules scored eight in the first and three more in the third to build an 11-0 lead as they cruised to the win.
    The Mules (27-8, 21-7 MIAA) sent 13 batters to the plate in the first inning and scored six runs before an out was recorded. Samuel Domingue led off the game with a double and scored in Trevor Jones' RBI single. John Oropeza had a two-run single with the bases loaded to make it 3-0 in favor of UCM and Kevin Gratza brought home two more with a triple to the gap in right center. After an MSSU pitching change, Seth Wheeler had a perfectly placed RBI bunt single to make it 6-0 for the Mules. Jones added another RBI single to make it 7-0 and Kyle Grieshaber finished off the inning with another run-scoring single.
    The Mules added three more runs in the third when Grieshaber blasted a home run through the wind to left field to give Central Missouri an 11-0 lead. UCM added another run in the fourth when Domingue was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
    The Lions (25-15, 19-13 MIAA) got on the board in the sixth with a pair of runs to make it 12-2. Will Wagner had an RBI groundout to score the first run and Tee Helsel added an RBI single to make it 12-2, but UCM would close the door in the sixth and hold the Lions scoreless in the seventh for the run-rule victory.
    Chris Fitzpatrick (3-0) earned the win for UCM after tossing 5.2 innings allowing two runs on five hits. He didn't walk a batter and struck out two. Andrew Urban gave up one hit in 1.1 innings of relief.
    Drew Noble (5-3) took the loss for Missouri Southern giving up six runs on six hits without recording an out in the first inning. David Reese gave up five runs on six hits in 3.0 innings of relief.
    Domingue finished the day 3-for-3 with an RBI and three runs scored, while Grieshaber went 3-for-4 with four RBI and two runs scored.

Mules in MIAA play
• Central Missouri is 21-7 this year and 179-41 overall in MIAA play under head coach Tom Myers after taking two out of three from Missouri Southern 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 88-29 in non-conference games during the Tom Myers era and 6-1 this season after sweeping a three-game series at Henderson State over the weekend.

Mules at home
• The Mules are 6-2 at home this season after taking two out of three from Missouri Southern over the weekend and 110-27 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 693-136-1 (.836) in 830 games played during their 38th season playing home games at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field.

Mules on the road
• The Mules are 14-4 in road games this season after splitting a doubleheader at Lincoln on Tuesday.
• UCM is 123-31 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 last weekend.
• 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 16 in all four publications including 16th in the NCBWA, ninth in the D2Baseballnews.com poll, and 11th in the College Baseball Lineup poll.
• The Mules have been ranked in the Collegiate Baseball News Top 25 for 86 consecutive weeks with their No. 5 ranking this week. The Mules have been ranked, in order, 4, 7, 9, 9, 8, 5, 4, 3, 5, 7 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 267-70 (.792) 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 1,715-665-9 (.720) record in 2,389 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. Junior outfielder Kevin Gratza was added to the list midseason. 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 684-153 (.817) 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
• UCM heads to St. Joseph this weekend for a key MIAA showdown against conference front-runner Missouri Western. The teams will open the series with a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m. and wrap things up with a single game on Sunday at 12 p.m.
• UCM wraps up the regular season hosting Emporia State in a three-game series on Saturday and Sunday, April 27-28.