First Pitch
• The Central Missouri Mules hit the road for their first mid-week MIAA matchup of the season. UCM will take on Lindenwood on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. in St. Charles, Missouri.
• This season, each MIAA series will consist of three nine-inning games.
• Central Missouri was picked to finish third in the MIAA's Preseason Coaches' poll.
• The Mules were 30-22 a season ago and finished in third place in the MIAA with a 23-13 conference mark. It was the 22nd consecutive season with at least 30 wins for UCM.

The Series
• The Mules lead the all-time series with Lindenwood 20-8 and a 1-3 mark under Kyle Crookes.
• The Lions won three of four games in St. Charles last year to close out the regular season.
• UCM won the opener 13-4, but LWU rallied to win the final three by scores of 4-3, 13-4 and 4-3.

Lindenwood
• Lindenwood enters the mid-week contest at 9-11 overall and 3-9 in MIAA play after being swept at Central Oklahoma last weekend. They've lost four in a row.
• The Lions are 5-4 at home this season.
• Lindenwood is led by eighth-year head coach Doug Bletcher. He has a 266-183-1 mark while leading the Lions and a 606-334-2 record in his 17th season as a head coach.
• Lindenwood is hitting .304 as a team with 34 doubles, six triples, 20 homers and 144 RBI.
• Mike Ehrhard leads the team with a .391 average to go along with six doubles, five home runs and 21 RBI.
• Drew Quinones is hitting .377 with nine extra-base hits and a team-leading 23 runs driven in.
• Nathan Prindle leads the team with eight doubles, six home runs and has knocked in 21 runs. He is batting .338
• Five Lions are hitting .329 or better.
• The Lindenwood pitching staff has an 7.00 ERA in 20 games and 159.1 innings pitched. The staff has walked 97 and struck out 143 during that span. Opponents are hitting .289 against LWU.
• Andrew Eilers is 2-1 with a 3.86 ERA in seven total appearances and three starts.
• Connor Law is 3-1 with a 3.95 earned run average in six appearances and five starts. He leads the team with 29 strikeouts in 27.1 innings pitched.
• Devin Breihan is 0-0 with a 5.14 earned run average in eight relief appearances. He leads the team with two saves.
• The Lions have a .959 team fielding percentage. They've committed 30 errors and have turned 22 double plays on the year.

The Mules
• Central Missouri enters the midweek match-up at 11-8 overall and 9-3 in MIAA play after taking two out of three games from Nebraska-Kearney over the weekend.
• The Mules are hitting .247 as a team with 27 doubles, five triples, 21 home runs and 104 RBI.
• Jake Alexander is hitting .373 with seven doubles, a triple, home run and 16 RBI. He has a .456 on-base percentage.
• Derek Cornell is hitting .318 with six extra-base hits and a team-leading 18 RBI.
• Bennett Oliver leads the team in home runs with six and has knocked in 14 runs, while hitting .269.
• Dylan Farrell is hitting .281 with three doubles, two home runs and nine driven in.
• The pitching staff has a 3.59 team ERA through 19 games and 165.1 innings pitched. The staff has 178 strikeouts and 69 walks during that span.
• Ethan Westphal is 3-1 with a staff-leading 2.45 ERA in six appearances and five starts. He leads the team with 43 strikeouts in 36.2 innings pitched and is holding opponents to a .183 batting average.
• Carlos D'Armas is 2-1 with a 3.16 ERA in six starts. He's fanned 36 batters in 31.1 innings pitched.
• Tyler House is 3-0 with a 3.18 ERA in six starts. He's struck out 29 batters in 34 innings pitched and is holding opponents to a .200 batting average.
• The UCM defense has a .971 fielding percentage and has committed 20 errors on the season. The Mules have turned 14 double plays on the year.

Worth Noting
• During his recent 15-game hitting streak, Jake Alexander hit .396 with eight extra-base hits, 14 RBI and 13 runs scored. He had a .484 on-base percentage and a .604 slugging percentage in that span as well.
• The Mules hit just .286 with runners in scoring position against Nebraska-Kearney, but they hit .700 with runners on third and less than two outs in the series.
• During MIAA play, the Mules are hitting .315 with runners in scoring position and .615 with runners on third and less than two outs.

Season and single-game tickets available online
• All-season passes and single-game tickets for Mules Baseball are available at the UCM Athletic Ticket Office in room 101 of the Multipurpose Building or online at UCMathletics.com/tickets.
• Season passes for all 15 remaining regular season home games are $20 for adults and $10 for youth.
• Single-game tickets are $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and $3 for youth. UCM students get in free with their student ID's.

Last time out
March 20, 2016 - (WARRENSBURG, Mo.) -- The Mules took a 4-1 lead in to the sixth inning, but Nebraska-Kearney put up four runs in the top of the sixth and held on for a 5-4 win in the series finale on Sunday afternoon at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field.
    The Mules (11-8, 9-3 MIAA) jumped on top 2-0 in the first inning, thanks in part to a UNK throwing error. Jake Alexander had an RBI sacrifice bunt to plate Matt Elliott with the game's first run and Derek Cornell added an RBI single to make it 2-0.
    UNK (11-10, 8-4 MIAA) scored one run in the second to cut the UCM lead in half. Kirk McLeod doubled to right center and scored on Brent Kirsch's single to center.
    The Mules extended the lead to 4-1 in the fifth. Blake Wilfong led off the inning with a home run down the right field line and Dylan Farrell added an RBI single for the three-run advantage.
    The Lopers took the lead in the sixth scoring four runs on Pate Katechis' grand slam to left.
    The Mules threatened in the eighth inning putting the tying run on second with one out, but could not score. UCM put the tying run on in the ninth when Collin Nevil reached on an error by the UNK pitcher, but pinch runner Travis Able was stranded at second and the Mules fell.
    Reece Ponak (1-1) took the loss for UCM after giving up three runs on two hits in just a third of an inning. He walked two and struck out one. Starter Carlos D'Armas allowed two runs on three hits in five innings, he struck out five with no walks, but did hit three batters.
    Chris Sievers (3-0) earned the win for UNK after tossing 3.2 innings of no-hit relief. Chayse Gulzow recorded the final four outs of the game for his first save of the season.
    The loss snaps UCM's winning streak at four. Alexander finished the day 0-for-3 with an RBI, snapping his 15-game hitting streak. It was also the first game all season that he had not reached base.

Mules in MIAA play
• The Mules are 9-3 in MIAA play this season after taking two out of three games from Nebraska-Kearney over the weekend.
• The Mules finished 23-13 in MIAA play last season and finished in third place in the conference's regular season standings.

Mules in non-conference action
• The Mules are 2-5 in non-conference action this season after beating Drury 4-3 on March 16.
• The Mules were 7-9 in non-conference games last season.

The Mules at home
• The Mules are 6-1 at home after taking two out of three from Nebraska-Kearney.
• Central Missouri was 15-5 at home during the 2015 season.
• The Mules are 761-150-1 (.835) in 912 games played in this, their 41st season playing home games at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field.

Mules on the road
• The Mules are 4-3 on the road this season after taking two out of three games at Central Oklahoma.
• The Mules were 12-13 on the road last season.

Mules in neutral site games
• The Mules are 1-4 in neutral site games after going 1-1 against Oklahoma Christian and Central Oklahoma at the Southern Arkansas Invitational in Magnolia, Arkansas.
• UCM was 3-4 in neutral site games last season.

MIAA schedule change for 2016
• This season every MIAA team will play the other 13 league schools in a three-game series. All three games of the series will be nine-inning games.
• UCM will play 11 weekend series and two mid-week conference series. The mid-week series will consist of a single game midweek in three different weeks. One of the series will be two home games and one road game, while the other will be two road and one home.

UCM during the Crookes era
• Kyle Crookes has a 41-30 (.577) record in his second season as head coach at Central Missouri.
• The Mules went 30-22 during Crookes' first season as head coach. Ten Mules earned All-MIAA honors, including First Team honors for outfielder Trevor Jones, who went on to earn Second Team All-Region honors as well.
• The Mules were 71-29 in Crookes' 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
• The 2016 season marks the 61st in the storied history of Mules Baseball. During that span the Mules have compiled a 1,800-716-9 (.715) record in 2,525 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, captured 16 regional titles and two national championships.

Mules Baseball by the Numbers
• 27 NCAA Regional Appearances (20 of the last 22 years)
• 24 MIAA Titles (16 of the last 22)
• 20 MIAA Tournament Titles (16 of the last 22)
• 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 769-205 (.790) since the year 2000. An average of 45 wins per season over the last 17 years.

A Tradition of Excellence in Athletics
• Entering the 2015-16 academic year, Central Missouri had won a combined 205 MIAA regular season conference championships in 14 league sports to lead all schools.
• Last season, UCM captured five MIAA regular season titles, and three MIAA Tournament crowns.
• Since 1983, the tenure of Athletic Director Jerry Hughes, UCM has won or shared 151 MIAA championships, more than any other league school.
• Central Missouri has won eight 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 and outdoor track & field in 2015) and 10 national championships overall.

A Tradition of Excellence in the Classroom
• Central Missouri had 218 student-athletes named to the 2014-15 MIAA Academic Honor Roll with grade point averages of 3.0 or higher.
• 29 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 six student-athletes earn Academic All-Region awards in their respective sports with three of those earning CoSIDA Academic All-America honors.
• Since the year 2000, UCM is tied for sixth in NCAA-II with 49 Academic All-Americans.

Upcoming
• The Mules return home on Thursday to host Northwest Missouri State in a three-game series. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field.
• UCM hosts Lindenwood on Wednesday, March 30 in the second of their three-game mid-week series.