Mules Baseball wraps up nine-game home stand hosting Lincoln

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Quick Hits
• The Central Missouri Mules wrap up their nine-game homestand with a four-game MIAA series against Lincoln this weekend.
• The series gets underway with a doubleheader on Thursday starting at 1 p.m. It continues with a single game on Friday at 3 p.m. and concludes with another single game on Saturday at 1 p.m.
• The Mules were 35-16 a season ago and captured the 24th MIAA Regular Season Championship in program history. The Mules missed out on the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1993.

The Series
• The Mules hold a 94-7 lead in the all-time series with Lincoln, including a 1-0 mark this year.
• The Mules beat the Blue Tigers 4-3 back on Feb. 14 in Magnolia, Arkansas. That game counted as a non-conference game.
• UCM swept the Blue Tigers last year in Jefferson City, winning by scores of 7-5, 14-3, 6-4 and 15-3.

Mules Baseball on the air
• All four games of the Lincoln series can be heard live on the Central Missouri Sports Radio Network on 1450 KOKO, 98.5 The Bar and warrensburgradio.com.
• Bob Jackson will be on the call with the UCM Office of Extended Studies Dugout Show beginning 25 minutes prior to first pitch.

Lincoln
• Lincoln enters the series at 1-25 overall and 1-15 in MIAA play after dropping a pair of non-conference games to Lindenwood on Tuesday. The Blue Tigers were swept by Nebraska-Kearney in a four-game series last weekend by a combined score of 79-10.
• Head coach Mike DeMilia is in his first season leading the Lincoln program.
• The Blue Tigers are hitting .252 as a team with 36 doubles, two triples and six home runs. They've driven in 90 runs as a unit.
• Kaleb Davis leads the team in hitting with a .417 average to go along with seven doubles, a triple and a home run.
• Trevor Schneiders is hitting .315 with a team-leading 11 doubles, two home runs and 27 runs driven in.
• The only other Blue Tiger with double-digit RBI is Nick Lovell with 11.
• Dylan Koehler is hitting .236 with four doubles, a triple, home run and nine RBI.
• The pitching staff has a 14.18 ERA through 25 games and 184.0 innings pitched. They have walked 120 and struck out 87 during that span. Opponents are hitting .421 against Lincoln pitchers.
• Trevor Schneiders is 0-3 with a staff-leading 9.24 earned run average in five starts. Opponents are hitting .378 against him.
• Jordan Barrett is 1-3 with a 15.66 ERA in seven appearances, including two starts.
• Kolton Clark is 0-5 with a 14.81 earned run average in six starts. He leads the team with 14 strikeouts in 20.2 innings pitched.
• Ryan Simpson has the staff's lone save and is 0-4 with a 16.20 ERA in eight appearances with four starts.
• The Blue Tigers have a .926 team fielding percentage. They've committed 64 errors on the season. They've turned 21 double plays and have six passed balls.

The Mules
• Central Missouri enters the weekend series with Lincoln at 15-14 overall and 11-9 in MIAA play after taking three out of four games from Central Oklahoma last weekend.
• The Mules are hitting .250 as a team with 32 doubles, 10 triples, eight home runs and 111 RBI. The Mules have drawn 97 walks on the season with 171 strikeouts.
• Trevor Jones leads all eligible hitters with a .339 average to go along with five doubles, four triples and nine RBI.
• Tony Sandifer is hitting .299 with a team-leading three home runs and 18 RBI. He is tied with Jones for the team lead with five doubles.
• Dusty Maas is hitting .292 with three doubles, two triples and 14 RBI.
• Jake Alexander is the only other Mule with double digit runs batted in (13). He's hitting .281 with three doubles and a triple.
• The pitching staff has a 4.19 team ERA through 29 games and 236.1 innings pitched. The staff has 211 strikeouts and 98 walks during that span. Opponents are hitting .260 against UCM pitchers.
• Carlos D'Armas is 1-1 with a staff-leading 2.67 earned run average in seven appearances and six starts. He's struck out a team-leading 42 batters in 33.2 innings and is holding opponents to a .200 batting average.
• Tyler House is 2-2 with a 4.17 ERA in seven starts. He's recorded 39 strikeouts in 36.2 innings and has UCM's only complete-game this season.
• Austin Southmayd has a 0.93 ERA in 9.2 innings pitched over six relief appearances.
• Lucas Williams is 4-2 with a 2.42 earned run average in 11 relief appearances. He picked up a win and a save in the UCO series.
• Trevor Ezell has a team-leading six saves on the year. He has 20 striketouts in 17.1 innings pitched over 12 relief appearances.
• The UCM defense has committed 34 errors and has a .967 fielding percentage. The Mules have turned 16 double plays on the year.

Worth Noting
• The series win over Central Oklahoma was the first this year for UCM. The Mules won six straight MIAA series to close out the 2014 regular season, before splitting their first four this season.
• Senior outfielder Trevor Jones was named to the NCBWA Preseason All-Central Region Second Team.

Last time out
    March 29, 2015 - (WARRENSBURG, Mo.) -- Jackson Schnurbusch went 3-for-3 with three RBI and Ricky Rivera tossed 6.1 innings of four-hit ball as the Mules beat Central Oklahoma 4-2 in the series finale on Sunday at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field. With the win, the Mules claim their first series win of the season.
    The Mules (15-14, 11-9 MIAA) jumped on top with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning on a two-run single off the bat of Schnurbusch. He added an RBI double in the fourth that plated Colton Hilbrenner and UCM led 3-0.
    Central Missouri made it 4-0 in the fifth when Tony Sandifer scored on Dylan Farrell's RBI groundout.
    The Bronchos (11-16, 7-12 MIAA) cut the lead in half in the eighth on Isaac Hellbusch's two-run home run. UCO threatened again in the ninth, putting two on with nobody out, but Lucas Williams recorded a pair of strikeouts and a groundout to end the game and pick up his first save of the season.
    Rivera improved to 3-2 on the year as he scattered four hits over 6.1 innings. He walked one and struck out three. Carson Corff (0-2) took the loss for the Bronchos after giving up four runs on seven hits in 4.1 innings pitched.
    The Mules took three out of four games in the series and moved up in to a tie for sixth place in the MIAA standings.

Mules in MIAA play
• The Mules are 11-9 in MIAA play under first-year head coach Kyle Crookes after winning three out of four games against Central Oklahoma last weekend.
• It was the first series win of the year for UCM after having split each of their first four conference series of the season.
• The Mules were 32-8 in conference play last year as they captured the 24th MIAA Regular Season championship in program history and the 16th in the last 21 seasons.

Mules in non-conference action
• The Mules are 4-5 in non-conference games this season after falling 6-3 to Emporia State last Tuesday.
• UCM was 3-8 in non-conference games last season.

The Mules at home
• The Mules are 5-4 at home this season after winning three out of four games against Central Oklahoma last weekend.
• UCM was 18-5 at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field last year.
• The Mules are 745-148-1 (.834) in 894 games played in this, their 40th season playing home games at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field.

Mules on the road
• The Mules are 7-8 on the road this season after splitting a four-game series at Missouri Southern over the weekend.
• The Mules were 15-9 on the road last season.

Mules at neutral sites
• The Mules are 3-2 in neutral site games this season after beating Lincoln in Magnolia, Arkansas back on February 14.
• UCM was 2-2 at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas to open the season.

Crookes era underway
• The Mules are 15-14 in the early going of Kyle Crookes' first season as head coach of the Central Missouri program.
• The Mules were 71-29 in his two seasons as an assistant coach and captured the 2014 MIAA Regular Season Championship. The Mules garnered five First Team All-MIAA selections and three All-America honors during his two years as an assistant.
• Crookes compiled a 292-164 overall record in eight seasons as the head coach at Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College before taking over as an assistant coach at UCM.

Mules Baseball history
• In the 60th season of UCM baseball the Mules have compiled a 1,774-700-9 (.716) record in 2,483 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 24 MIAA championships, 16 regional titles and two national championships.

Mules Baseball by the Numbers
• 27 NCAA Regional Appearances (20 of the last 21 years)
• 24 MIAA Titles (16 of the last 21)
• 20 MIAA Tournament Titles (16 of the last 21)
• 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 2000s
• The Central Missouri baseball program has had unprecedented success in the last 25 years and has been even more impressive since the year 2000. The Mules were the winningest team in all divisions of the NCAA by victories (508) and percentage (.814, 508-116) from 2000-09. That success has continued through the 2010s.
• The Mules are 743-189 (.797) since the year 2000. An average of 49 wins per season over the last 15 years.

A Tradition of Excellence in Athletics
• Following the winter sports seasons, Central Missouri has won a combined 203 MIAA regular-season conference championships in 14 league sports to lead all schools.
• During the 2013-14 year, UCM captured seven MIAA regular season titles, the most of any school in one season in league history, and the second time Central Missouri has accomplished the feat.
• Since 1983, the tenure of Athletic Director Jerry Hughes, UCM has won or shared 146 MIAA championships, more than any other league school.
• Central Missouri has won seven national championships since 1980 (men's and women's basketball in 1984, baseball in 1994 and 2003, women's bowling in 2003, men's basketball in 2014 and women's indoor track & field in 2015) and nine national championships overall.

A Tradition of Excellence in the Classroom
• Central Missouri had 220 student-athletes named to the 2013-14 MIAA Academic Honor Roll with grade point averages of 3.0 or higher.
• 41 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.
• 17 UCM student-athletes were named MIAA Academic Excellence Award winners with a 4.0 GPA.
• UCM had 12 student-athletes earn Academic All-Region awards in their respective sports with seven of those earning CoSIDA Academic All-America honors.

Upcoming
• The Mules head back out on the road for five straight games beginning with a non-conference doubleheader at Drury on Tuesday, April 7.
• UCM travels to Topeka, Kansas April 10-12 for a four-game MIAA series with Washburn.