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Quick Hits
• The seventh-ranked Central Missouri Mules travel to Jefferson City, Mo. on Tuesday for a doubleheader against Lincoln beginning at 12 p.m.
• UCM is ranked No. 7 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 Lincoln have met 94 times on the diamond with the Mules holding a commanding 88-6 lead in the series.
• UCM swept a doubleheader from Lincoln back on March 19 in Warrensburg winning 6-1 and 11-2.
• The Mules swept a four-game series in Jefferson City last year winning 10-2, 11-1, 4-3 and 11-0. UCM is 10-0 against Lincoln under Tom Myers.

Lincoln
• The Blue Tigers come into the series at 3-23 overall and 2-19 in MIAA play. Lincoln was swept in a three-game series at Fort Hays State over the weekend.
• The Blue Tigers are batting .253 as a team and are led by Ben Stewart's .341 average. Colby Shepherd is hitting .337 and James Earlywine bats .333. Stewart, Shepherd and Brad Wright are tied for the team lead with two home runs. Shepherd and Clint Cashen lead the team with 15 RBI.
• The Lincoln pitching staff has an 9.00 team ERA allowing 235 runs, 194 earned, in 194.0 innings. Scott Jones is 2-6 with a 8.39 ERA in eight starts. Clint Cashen has a 1.80 ERA in four relief appearances.
• Opponents are batting .344 against Blue Tiger pitching.
• The pitching staff has issued 104 walks and struck out 107 in 194.0 innings.
• Lincoln has committed 47 errors in the field and sports a .946 fielding percentage.

The Mules
• Central Missouri enters the series at 24-6 overall and 18-5 in MIAA play after sweeping a three-game series at Henderson State over the weekend.
• The Mules are batting .331 as a team and are led by John Oropeza's .400 average. Kyle Grieshaber is hitting .364 and leads the team with seven home runs and also has 36 RBI. Oropeza leads the team with 39 RBI. Brad Wilson is batting .370 with three long balls and 37 runs batted in, while Kevin Gratza has upped his average to .380 and has driven in 23.
• The UCM pitching staff has an ERA of 3.80 and opponents are hitting .254 against them. Travis Higgs is 4-0 with a 3.72 ERA in seven starts and leads the team with 34 stirkeouts in 38.2 innings. Jake Heissler is also 4-0 with a 2.57 ERA and 33 K's in 14 relief appearances. Kurtis Schuyler has recorded 34 K's in 36.1 innings pitched. Andrew Urban is 3-1 with a 2.59 ERA and three saves in 15 relief appearances.
• The Mules have a .972 fielding percentage and have turned 15 double plays on the year.

Worth Noting
• The Mules have scored at least one run in 328 of the 332 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.

Last time out
    April 7, 2013 - (ARKADELPHIA, Ark.) -- The seventh-ranked Central Missouri Mules Baseball team completed a three-game sweep of Henderson State with a 7-2 win in the finale at Clyde Berry Field on Sunday afternoon. The win improves Central Missouri to 24-6 on the season.
    The Reddies (20-15) got on the board first with a single run in the first inning on a Michael Corso RBI groundout.
    The lead held until the fourth when UCM took the lead for good with a pair of runs. Kevin Gratza singled home John Oropeza to tie the game and he later scored on Trevor Jones' RBI triple to right.
    The Mules tacked on three runs in the fifth to open a 5-1 lead. Brad Wilson had an RBI double and Oropeza singled him home on the very next pitch. Gratza doubled home Oropeza for his second RBI of the day to extend the lead to four. Henderson State got one run back in the bottom of the inning on Jeff Beck's RBI double down the left field line.
    UCM added a single run in the seventh on Wilson's second RBI of the day to make it 6-2. The Mules added another run in the eighth on Jones' second RBI of the day for the 7-2 lead.
    Devon Brogan (3-1) earned the win for UCM tossing three innings of one-hit relief. He struck out two and didn't walk a batter. Zach Davis pitched the final two innings in relief as well. Starter Chris Fitzpatrick gave up two runs on four hits in four innings. He walked three and struck out one.
    Dustin Hudson (5-3) took the loss for Henderson State after giving up five runs, none of them earned, on nine hits in five innings.

Mules in MIAA play
• Central Missouri is 18-5 this year and 176-39 overall in MIAA play under head coach Tom Myers after splitting a doubleheader at Lindenwood last Wednesday.
• 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 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 13-3 in road games this season after sweeping a three-game series at Henderson State over the weekend.
• UCM is 122-30 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. 7 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 third in the NCBWA, sixth in the D2Baseballnews.com poll, and eighth in the College Baseball Lineup poll.
• The Mules have been ranked in the Collegiate Baseball News Top 25 for 85 consecutive weeks with their No. 7 ranking this week. The Mules have been ranked, in order, 4, 7, 9, 9, 8, 5, 4, 3, 5 and 7 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 264-68 (.795) 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 1,712-663-9 (.720) record in 2,384 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 681-151 (.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 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 Missouri Southern on Saturday, April 13 and Sunday, April 14 for a three-game series. All three games will be broadcast on the UCM Sports Network.
• UCM travels to Truman State on Wednesday, April 17 for a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.