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Quick Hits
• The 29th-ranked Central Missouri Mules host Southwest Baptist in the MIAA opening series for both teams. The teams will play a doubleheader on Friday at 4 p.m. and a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field in Warrensburg.
• UCM is ranked No. 29 in the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Poll. The Mules are ranked in three of the four Division II polls.
• 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.

The Series
    Central Missouri leads the all-time series with Southwest Baptist 91-9-1, including a 19-3 mark during the Tom Myers era.
    The teams split the only two games played last season. The Mules won the opening game of a doubleheader 3-2 in Bolivar, before the Bearcats rallied for an 8-6 win in 13 innings in game two to salvage the split.
    The SBU win in game two last year snapped an 11-game winning streak in the series for UCM.

Southwest Baptist
    Southwest Baptist enters the MIAA opening series at 0-2 overall after dropping a pair of games to third-ranked Minnesota State on Monday afternoon in Bolivar.
    The Bearcats were swept in their season-opening doubleheader on Monday by Minnesota State. SBU lost 10-5 and 7-2.
    Southwest Baptist is batting .250 as a team after that season-opening doubleheader. Chance Wolfe went 2-for-3 in that doubleheader and is batting .667 with a double and a triple. Kyle Jochems is hitting .250 with a team-leading three RBI.
    The Bearcat pitching staff sports a 5.62 ERA in 16.0 innings pitched. Cory Borsh tossed 3.1 innings of four-hit relief to open the year. Cole Roark (2.45 ERA) and Tim Collins (7.36 ERA) were the starters in that series. The staff recorded 16 walks and five strikeouts in the two games.
    The SBU defense committed four errors and sports a .947 fielding percentage, while turning two double plays.

The Mules
    Central Missouri enters the series at 3-4 overall after dropping two of out three games two weeks ago at Ouachita Baptist.
    The Mules enter the weekend hitting just .198 as a team with seven doubles, two triples a home run and 22 RBI. Barrett Noirfalise leads the team in hitting with a .400 average and a pair of RBI. Trevor Jones is hitting .333 with the team's only home run and a team-leading five RBI. He is also 5-for-5 in stolen base attempts.
    The pitching staff sports a 3.21 ERA in seven games. Ricky Rivera is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA after tossing five innings of one-hit ball in Houston against Winona State. Jake Heissler is also 1-1 with a 1.93 ERA in two starts and Zach Davis has a 0.00 ERA in 9.0 innings of relief. The staff has 49 strikeouts and 30 walks in 56.0 innings pitched.
    The Mule defense has committed nine errors and sports a .962 fielding percentage. They have turned three double plays on the year.

Worth Noting
• The Mules have scored at least one run in 353 of the 358 games played under head coach Tom Myers.
• The 12-0 loss at Ouachita Baptist was the first time UCM was shutout since a 1-0 loss to Millersville in the 2011 Division II World Series.
• 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.

Last time out
    February 9, 2014 - (ARKADELPHIA, Ark.) -- The 19th-ranked Central Missouri Mules salvaged a doubleheader split on the final day of their series with Ouachita Baptist on Sunday afternoon at Rogers Field. UCM dropped game one 2-1, but rallied for a 4-1 win in 10 innings in game two to pull their season record to 3-4 overall.
    Central Missouri jumped on top 1-0 in game one when Brad Wilson doubled home Trevor Jones. The Tigers (4-3) responded with two runs in the bottom half to take the lead. Those were all the runs OBU would need as starter Luis De Jesus tossed six solid innings allowing just three hits and the one run. Keegan Ghidotti picked up the save allowing one hit in the seventh inning.
    Jake Heissler (1-1) took the loss for UCM after giving up two runs on six hits in 4.1 innings. Zak Anstine threw 1.2 innings of one-hit relief.
    OBU took a 1-0 lead in the second inning of game two when Matt Sinclair singled home Will Wallace.
    That lead stood until the sixth inning when Trevor Jones led off with his first home run of the season to tie the game
    Neither team was able to break the tie through nine innings and into extras the game went. In the 10th, Seth Wheeler led off with a walk and went to second on Jackson Schnurbusch's single up the middle. Following a force out, Dusty Maas walked to load the bases.
    Schnurbusch then scored on a passed ball to give UCM a 2-1 lead and Jones and Maas came home on successive wild pitches to put UCM in front 4-1.
    Zach Davis shut the door in the bottom of the 10th to earn his first win of the season. He tossed five innings on one-hit relief, while striking out five to earn the victory. Starter Kurtis Schuyler allowed just one run on one hit in five innings. He struck out five and walked three.
    Kyle Matusoff (0-1) took the loss for the Tigers after giving up three runs, one earned, on one hit in 2.2 innings of relief.

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. 29 in the nation in this week's Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Poll. The Mules are ranked in three of the four publications including 22nd in the D2BaseballNews.com poll, and 29th in the College Baseball Lineup poll. UCM dropped out of this week's NCBWA Top 25 Poll.
    The Mules have been ranked in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper top 25 for 93 consecutive weeks with their No. 29 ranking this week. UCM finished last season ranked 20th in the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball Newspaper 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 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 in non-conference action
    Central Missouri is 3-4 in non-conference games this season and 93-37 in non-conference games during the Tom Myers era after dropping two out three at Ouachita Baptist two weeks ago. The Mules were 8-5 against non-conference competition last season.

Mules in MIAA openers
    Central Missouri is 5-1 in MIAA openers during the Tom Myers era. The Mules beat Fort Hays State 16-4 in last season's conference-opener in Hays, Kan.
    The Mules are also 5-1 in MIAA home openers under Myers. UCM beat Nebraska-Keraney 4-1 in last season's home conference opener.

Mules at home
• The Mules are 113-27 at home during the Tom Myers era after going 9-2 at home last season. It was the first time UCM failed to win double digit home games since 1984, which was also the last time the Mules played that few home games in a single season.
• The Mules are 722-139-1 (.838) in 862 games played in this, their 39th season playing home games at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field.
• The Mules' best home record under Myers was a 23-3 mark during the 2011 campaign.

Mules on the road
    The Mules are 1-2 on the road this season after dropping two out of three at Ouachita Baptist. UCM was 18-5 on the road last season and the Mules are 128-34 in road games during the Tom Myers era.

The Myers way
    Central Missouri head coach Tom Myers has a 279-79 (.779) record in 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.

Ballpark specials
    Sodexo will be having specials at the concession stand all series long. Friday will be $1 Hot Dog Night with all hot dogs $1 at the concession stand during the doubleheader. Saturday's deal will be all hot drinks (coffee and hot chocolate) being sold for $1 each.

Mules Baseball history
    In the 58th season of UCM baseball the Mules have compiled a 1,727-674-9 (.718) record in 2,410 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

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 696-162 (.811) 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 hit the road next weekend for their first MIAA road trip of the season at Northeastern State. The teams will start the four-game series with a single nine-inning game on Friday, Feb. 28 at 2 p.m. Saturday's doubleheader will start at 12 p.m. with Sunday's single-game also starting at 12 p.m.
• The Mules return home to host Pittsburg State on the weekend of March 7-9.