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Quick Hits
• The Central Missouri Mules return home to host Missouri Southern in a four-game MIAA series beginning on Friday at 3 p.m. The two teams will play a doubleheader on Friday and a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m.
• 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 in-a-row.

The Series
    Central Missouri leads the all-time series with Nebraska-Kearney 69-18, including a 20-5 mark during the Tom Myers era.
    The Mules took three out of four from the Lions last season. UCM won two out of three in Warrensburg by scores of 9-1, 8-9 and 12-2 before eliminating Missouri Southern from the Central Regional with a 7-3 win in Mankato, Minn.

Missouri Southern
    Missouri Southern enters the four-game MIAA series at 14-8 overall and 9-7 in MIAA play after dropping four conference games to Lindenwood last weekend. The Lions beat Ozarks 28-9 in a non-conference game on Tuesday. MSSU has lost six straight conference games.
    Missouri Southern is led by seventh-year head coach Bryce Darnell. He has compiled a 186-163 mark during his time leading the Lion program.
    The Lions are hitting .328 as a team and have five players batting .311 or better. They have 42 doubles, five triples, five home runs and 153 RBI as a group. Logan Moon leads the team in hitting with a .413 average in 22 games played. He has five doubles, two triples a home run and a team-leading 25 RBI. Brandon Weller is hitting .397 and leads the team with 14 doubles. He's also driven in 24 runs. Dusty Harper is hitting .311 and has a team-best two home runs with 17 RBI.
    The Missouri Southern pitching staff has a 3.91 ERA in 22 games and 172.2 innings pitched. They've struck out 147 batters and walked 55 in that span.
    Payton Walker leads the team with four wins and also sports a 3.34 ERA in five starts. David Reese is 3-1 with a 1.80 ERA in five starts. He also has a staff-leading 34 strikeouts in 30.0 innings pitched. Stephen Vaughn has a 3.24 earned run average and is 0-1 in 13 relief appearances. Opponents are hitting just .266 against Lion pitching.
    The MSSU defense committed 32 errors and has a .959 fielding percentage, while turning 16 double plays on the season.

The Mules
    Central Missouri enters the series at 14-9 overall and 11-5 in MIAA play after splitting a four-game series at Nebraska-Kearney last weekend. The Mules won the first two games in the series before dropping the final two games for the split.
    The Mules enter the weekend hitting .294 as a team with 29 doubles, four triples, 10 home runs and 129 RBI. They have six players hitting .333 or better and they've drawn 103 walks on the season.
    Tony Sandifer leads the team with a .392 average to go along with four doubles, a home run and a team-leading 23 RBI. Barrett Noirfalise is hitting .387 and is tied for the team lead with seven doubles. Brad Wilson is hitting .356 with a team-best four home runs and has driven in 19 runs.
    The pitching staff has a 4.20 team ERA in 23 games and 178.0 innings pitched. The staff has 164 strikeouts and 66 walks during that span.
    Jake Heissler is 4-1 with a 2.08 ERA in 34.2 innings pitched. He has a staff-leading 36 strikeouts over his six starts. Ricky Rivera is 4-0 with a 2.93 ERA in 30.2 innings pitched over five starts. Zach Davis is 2-0 with a 2.55 earned run average over 17.2 innings and eight relief appearances. He leads the relievers with two saves.
    The UCM defense has committed 26 errors and has a .966 fielding percentage. The Mules have turned 11 double plays on the year.

Worth Noting
• The Mules have scored at least one run in 369 of the 374 games played under head coach Tom Myers.
• Central Missouri and Nebraska-Kearney both hit .353 with runners in scoring position during their series last weekend.

Last time out
    March 17, 2014 - (KEARNEY, Neb.) -- The Central Missouri Mules dropped their MIAA series finale 8-2 to Nebraska-Kearney on Sunday afternoon at Memorial Field. The Mules trailed 3-2 in the seventh before UNK plated five runs to break the game open.
    Nebraska-Kearney (15-8, 9-7 MIAA) scored single runs in the first, second and third innings to grab a 3-0 lead. UCM (14-9, 11-5 MIAA) got on the board in the sixth with two runs. Brad Wilson had a sacrifice fly and Tony Sandifer added an RBI single to pull the Mules within a run.
    The Lopers plated a single run in the bottom of the sixth on Brandon Landanger's RBI single to go back up by two, 4-2. UNK broke the game open scoring four times in the bottom of the seventh to lead 8-2.
    Kurtis Schuyler (1-2) took the loss for the Mules after giving up three runs, two earned, on six hits in three innings of work.
    Michael Hahn (2-1) earned the win for the Lopers giving up two runs on four hits in 5.2 innings. Aaron Smith picked up his first save of the season tossing the final 2.2 innings of hitless 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 MIAA play
    Central Missouri is 11-5 this season and 197-47 in MIAA play under head coach Tom Myers after splitting a four-game conference series at Nebraska-Kearney last weekend. 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 at home
• The Mules are 120-28 at home during the Tom Myers era and 7-1 this season after sweeping Pittsburg State at Crane Stadium last weekend.
• The Mules were 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 729-140-1 (.839) in 870 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 5-6 on the road this season after splitting a four game series at Nebraska-Kearney last weekend. UCM was 18-5 on the road last season and the Mules are 132-38 in road games during the Tom Myers era.

The Myers way
    Central Missouri head coach Tom Myers has a 290-84 (.775) 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.

Dollar Day and other Stadium Deals
    UCM Concessions by Sodexo will be having weekend specials during the series this weekend. Friday is Dollar Day with hot dogs and hot drinks (coffee & hot chocolate) just $1. Saturday's special will be dollar hot drinks with coffee & hot chocolate costing just $1 at the concession stand.

Martinez Watch List
• Before the season began, 125 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 outfielders Kevin Gratza and Brad Wilson and junior infielder Tony Sandifer 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.

Mules Baseball history
    In the 58th season of UCM baseball the Mules have compiled a 1,738-679-9 (.718) record in 2,426 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 707-167 (.809) 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
• Following the 2013-14 winter sports season, Central Missouri has won a combined 198 MIAA regular-season conference championships in 14 league sports to lead all schools.
• The Mules and Jennies have captured five MIAA regular season titles this year and one tournament championship.
• 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 144 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 head out on the road for five straight games beginning with a single nine-inning game at Emporia State on Tuesday, March 25. The single game is a non-conference game.
• UCM heads to Jefferson City next weekend for a four-game MIAA series with Lincoln beginning on Friday, March 28 at 3 p.m.uesday, March 25.