Mules Baseball completes Saturday sweep at Washburn

Game 1 Box Score (HTML) | Game 2 Box Score (HTML) | Season Statistics (HTML) 

TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Mules baseball team received two strong starting pitching performances from Tyler House and Jake Heissler on Saturday, sweeping Washburn, 3-1 and 5-4 at Falley Field. 

Senior Tony Sandifer went 4-for-7 with a solo homerun in the double dip for UCM (22-16, 17-10 MIAA). Matt Milner, Bennett Oliver and Trevor Jones each collected three hits on the afternoon. 

Game 1: UCM 3, Washburn 1

In the first game, the Mules wasted little time on offense. With one out in the top of the first inning, senior Dusty Maas singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. After advancing to third on a groundout by redshirt junior Derek Cornell, Maas scored the first run on a single through the left side by Oliver. 

In the top of the second, Milner led off with a double to left center and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Jackson Schnurbusch. Junior Colton Hilbrenner followed with a single to left center, bringing Milner home to make it 2-0 in favor of UCM. 

Washburn cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the third on an RBI double by Riley Krane. 

Sandifer's leadoff homerun down the left field line in the top of the sixth provided the Mules with an insurance run and a 3-1 advantage. 

House (4-2) pitched a gem for the Mules, going the distance while allowing three hits, a run (earned), walking a pair and collecting five strikeouts. 

Game 2: UCM 5, Washburn 4

In game two, the Mules jumped on Washburn starter Mike Hefferan for four runs in the top of the third inning, knocking him out of the game in the process. The inning had back-to-back RBI triples from Cornell and Oliver. The other two runs were scored when Washburn's right fielder committed a fielding error, allowing Colin Federick, who led off the inning with a double, to score. The Mules' fourth run came on a two-out RBI single by Milner. 

A fifth run came across for UCM in the top of the fifth. Cornell drew a walk to lead off the inning and advanced to third on back-to-back singles by Oliver and Sandifer. Cornell came around to score on Sandifer's bunt single on a throwing error by the catcher to make it a 5-0 game.

Washburn got a run back in the bottom half of the fifth via sacrifice fly from Krane.

The Ichabods made the game interesting in the bottom of the seventh against the Mules bullpen after Heissler tossed six innings of one-run baseball. After the leadoff batter grounded out, sophomore Austin Southmayd yielded back-to-back singles and also issued a walk to load the bases. Junior Lucas Williams replaced Southmayd on the hill and allowed a two-run single to Kyle Carahan, drawing Washburn to within, 5-3. Williams got a second out on a sacrifice fly by Connor Crimmins, closing the lead to 5-4. The final batter grounded out to Schnurbusch at short to preserve the one-run victory for Central Missouri. 

The Mules pounded out 12 hits in game two, including two apiece from the one, three, four, five and six hitters. Heissler (4-1) allowed five hits and the one run, while striking out four Ichabods and issuing a walk. 

Central Missouri will look to take the series win from Washburn on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.