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Quick Hits
• The 19th-ranked Central Missouri Mules get the 2014 season underway with four games in Houston, Texas at the Houston Winter Invitational at Minute Maid Park.
• UCM is ranked No. 19 in the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Preseason Poll and the Mules are ranked in all four preseason publications.
• Central Missouri is the preseason favorite to win the MIAA as chosen by the league coaches.
• The Mules were 36-13 a season ago and advanced to the 27th NCAA Tournament in school history, and the 20th straight.

Central Missouri opens 2014 season
    Central Missouri will open the 2014 season against St. Mary's on Saturday night at 6 p.m. at Minute Maid Park in Houston as part of the Houston Winter Invitational.
    The Mules will then play Henderson State on Sunday at 2 p.m., Arkansas-Monticello on Monday at 2 p.m. and UCM will wrap up the tournament against Winona State on Tuesday at 10 a.m.

On the air
• All of Central Missouri's games during the Houston Winter Invitational can be heard live on 1450 KOKO and warrensburgradio.com.
• Bob Jackson will be on the call with the Central Missouri School of Graduate and Extended Studies Dugout Show beginning 25 minutes prior to first pitch.

The Series
    Central Missouri leads the series with St. Mary's 3-2, including 2-1 during the Tom Myers era. The Mules and Rattlers split a pair of games at the 2012 NCAA-II South Central Regional, with St. Mary's claiming the second, winner-take-all championship game.
    The Mules lead the series with Henderson State 16-2, including a 9-0 series lead under Myers. UCM swept a three-game series at HSU last season(8-7, 9-2, 7-2).
    Central Missouri holds a 3-0 series lead against Arkansas-Monticello. The Mules beat the Boll Weevils 2-1 in the final game of last year's Astros in Action D-II Invitational at Minute Maid Park. That was the only meeting between the two schools during Tom Myers' tenure.
    UCM leads the all-time series with Winona State 17-3. The series is tied 1-1 under Myers. The Warriors beat the Mules 4-3 in the 2011 D-II World Series opener.

St. Mary's
    St. Mary's enters the season as the No. 15-ranked team in the Collegiate Baseball Preseason Poll. The Rattlers are the No. 2 pick in the Heartland Conferece Preseason Poll
    St. Mary's was 39-17 overall a season ago, including the Heartland Conference regular season title. The Rattlers advanced to the South Central Regional tournament and were ranked No. 12 in the final national poll.

Henderson State
    Henderson State finished 24-27 in head coach Cody Hooten's fourth season. The Reddies were 17-13 in Great American Conference play, tied for fourth in the league standings.
    Henderson State is picked to finish fifth in the GAC Preseason Coaches Poll.

Arkansas-Monticello
    Arkansas Monticello finished 32-20 overall last season, including a 17-13 record in conference play, tied for fourth in the Great American Conference. The Boll Weevils are picked to finish fourth in the conference's preseason coaches' poll.

Winona State
    Winona State finished the 2013 season 23-17 overall and 16-7 and in fourth place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. The Warriors' top returning hitter is infielder Brett Young. He hit .341 with six home runs and 24 RBI in 32 games last season.
    Chase Blazier was 6-2 with a 3.75 ERA in 11 appearances last season, including 10 starts. The Warriors hit .279 as a team last year with 32 home runs and 201 RBI. The pitching staff had a 4.46 team ERA.

The Mules
    Central Missouri returns 18 letterwinners and five starters from the 2013 squad that finished 36-13 overall, and finished second in the MIAA with a 28-8 conference mark. The 36 wins snapped a streak of 14 consecutive seasons with 40 or more wins for the program. For the first time in the Tom Myers era the Mules failed to play for the MIAA Tournament title or the regional crown.
    UCM returns three All-MIAA players and one All-Region and All-American selection to a team that is gunning for their fourth trip to the NCAA-II World Series in seven seasons.
    Honorable Mention All-American Kevin Gratza returns after hitting .371 last season with four triples, four home runs and 42 runs driven in.
    Other returners include All-MIAA selections Jake Heissler and Brad Wilson. Both were honorable mention selections in 2013. Heissler was 5-0 with a 2.01 ERA in 20 relief appearances, while Wilson hit .335 with 14 doubles, three home runs and 53 RBI.

Worth Noting
• The Mules have scored at least one run in 347 of the 351 games played under head coach Tom Myers.
• The Mules won four straight conference series to close out the 2013 regular season.
• Senior outfielder Kevin Gratza was named to the NCBWA Preseason All-Central Region First Team.

Mules picked first in MIAA Preseason Poll
    Central Missouri was picked to finish first in the MIAA according to the 14 league coaches in the preseason poll released on Thursday. The Mules received 12 of a possible 13 first place votes and tallied 168 points to claim the top spot. Missouri Western received one first place vote and tallied 144 points to come in second.
    Central Oklahoma received the other first place vote and totaled 139 points to come in third. Emporia State and Missouri Southern each received 128 points to tie for fourth.
    UCM opens MIAA play Feb. 21-23 hosting Southwest Baptist in a four-game series at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field.

Mules in the Polls
    Central Missouri is ranked No. 19 in the nation in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Preseason Poll. The Mules are ranked in all four preseason publications including 12th in the D2BaseballNews.com poll, tied for 14th in the NCBWA poll and 23rd in the College Baseball Lineup poll.
    The Mules have been ranked in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper top 25 for 92 consecutive weeks with their No. 19 preseason ranking. UCM finished last season ranked 20th in the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll. The Mules are the only MIAA school ranked in every poll.
    The last time UCM was unranked was April 21, 2008, but the Mules finished that season ranked No. 4 in the nation.

Mules in season-openers
    Central Missouri is 4-2 in season-openers under seventh-year head coach Tom Myers. The Mules lost to Texas A&M-Kingsville 4-1 to open last season at the Astros in Action D-II Invitational in Houston, Texas. The Mules are 30-19 in season-openers since 1965.

Mules in non-conference action
    Central Missouri is 90-33 in non-conference games during the Tom Myers era. The Mules were 8-5 against non-conference competition last season including 3-0 against Henderson State, and 1-0 against Arkansas-Monticello.

Mules in MIAA play
    Central Missouri is 186-42 in MIAA play under head coach Tom Myers. The Mules were 28-8 in conference play last year as they finished in second place in the league standings.

Mules on the road
    The Mules were 18-5 on the road last season and are 127-32 in road games during the Tom Myers era.

Mules in Texas
    Central Missouri is 7-1 in games played in the state of Texas during the Tom Myers era. UCM went 3-1 at last year's Astros in Action D-II Invitational and 4-0 at the 2011 South Central Regional hosted by St. Mary's in San Antonio.

The Myers way
    Central Missouri head coach Tom Myers has a 276-75 record as he enters his seventh season leading the Mules' program. The Mules won at least 44 games in each of his first five seasons and recorded 52 wins during the 2010 campaign.
    The Mules have had 23 first team All-MIAA selections and 13 All-Americans during Myers' tenure.

Mules Baseball history
    In the 58th season of UCM baseball the Mules have compiled a 1,724-670-9 (.719) record in 2,403 games played. The Mules have won 40 or more games 17 times, including 14 straight seasons from 1999-2012, 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.

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

UCM Alumni to host pregame reception on Saturday
    There will be a pre-game UCM Alumni and Friends reception before Saturday night's game against St. Mary's. The reception will be from 4-6 p.m. in the Insperity Club located behind home plate on the main concourse at Minute Maid Park. The event is free of charge once inside the stadium. Fans may RSVP for the event by calling 660-543-4339 or online at www.ucmo.edu/houston.

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 693-158 (.814) record since 2000, the most wins of any program in NCAA Division I, II, or III. That is an average of 49.5 wins per season over the last 14 years.

A Tradition of Excellence in Athletics
• Central Missouri has won a combined 193 MIAA regular-season conference championships in 14 league sports to lead all schools.
• Last season, UCM captured three MIAA regular season titles and one tournament championship.
• 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 550 Central Missouri student-athletes received 375 Academic Awards from the MIAA office for the 2012-13 academic year.
• 305 UCM student-athletes were named to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll with a 3.0 GPA or higher.
• 37 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.
• 33 UCM student-athletes were named MIAA Academic Excellence Award winners with a 4.0 GPA.
• UCM had eight student-athletes earn Academic All-America honors in their respective sports, including Brent Vogel being named the Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year for Men's Track & Field.

Upcoming
• The Mules travel to Arkadelphia, Ark. for a four-game set with Ouachita Baptist next weekend. The teams will play a single game on Friday at 2 p.m., a doubleheader on Saturday at 12 p.m. and a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m.
• Central Missouri opens MIAA play on Friday, Feb. 21 hosting Southwest Baptist for a 2 p.m. game. It is the first game of a four-game series. Saturday's doubleheader will start at 1 p.m. with Sunday's single game also starting at 1 p.m.