First Pitch• The 16th-ranked Central Missouri Mules wrap up their seven-game home stand hosting Missouri Southern for a three-game weekend series.
• The series gets underway on Friday night at 6 p.m. at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field. Saturday and Sunday's games are slated for 1 p.m. first pitches.
• 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.
Weekend activities• Prior to Friday's game fans will receive a free UCM Athletics/Coca-Cola t-shirt upon entrance to the stadium, while supplies last. Quantities and sizes are limited. Friday's game will also feature $1 popcorn at the concession stand.
• Sunday's game is "Youth Team Day" with all area youth teams getting free admission if they show up in uniform.
• Following Sunday's game, the Warrensburg Parks & Recreation Department will host the MLB Pitch, Hit & Run competition on the field. For more info on that program, contact the Warrensburg Parks & Rec Department at 660-747-7178.
On the air• All of this season's home games and select road games can be heard live on 1450 KOKO and warrensburgradio.com.
•
Bob Jackson and
Ricky Rivera will be on the call with the Lotspeich Automotive Dugout Show beginning 25 minutes prior to first pitch.
The Series• The Mules lead the all-time series with Missouri Southern 75-20, including a 2-2 mark under
Kyle Crookes.
• The teams split a four-game series last year in Joplin. The Mules won the first two games of the series 5-4 and 7-6 before the Lions earned the split with 3-2 and 4-3 wins in the final two games.
Missouri Southern• Missouri Southern enters the weekend series at 25-11 overall and 15-10 in MIAA play after rallying for a 10-9 win at Pittsburg State on Wednesday night.
• The Lions are 6-6 in road games this season.
• Missouri Southern is led by ninth-year head coach Bryce Darnell. He has a 237-180 mark leading the Lion program.
• MSSU is hitting .328 as a team with 89 doubles, 15 triples, 54 homers and 294 RBI.
• Jesse Rall leads the team with a .395 batting average, 16 home runs and 45 RBI. He also has eight doubles and two triples in 36 games played.
• Tyler Sutherland bats .386 with 11 doubles, six long balls and 39 driven in.
• Jacob Bryant is batting .375 with 12 doubles, a triple and 23 runs batted in.
• Richie Gorski is hitting .317 with a team-leading 16 doubles. He also has three triples, seven homers and 25 RBI.
• Seven Lions are batting .317 or better, five have double-figure doubles and 10 have double-digit RBI. Eight players have at least 23 runs batted in.
• The Missouri Southern pitching staff has an 5.27 ERA in 36 games and 307.1 innings pitched. The staff has walked 152 and struck out 271 during that span. Opponents are hitting .285 against MSSU.
• 2015 First Team All-MIAA pitcher Payton Walker is 6-2 with a 2.63 ERA in 10 appearances and nine starts. He leads the staff with 48 strikeouts in 65 innings and is limiting opponents to a .209 batting average.
• 2015 MIAA Pitcher of the Year Cody Hutchinson is 4-4 with a 6.70 earned run average in nine appearances (eight starts). He's fanned 36 in 45.2 innings, but has allowed 10 home runs and a .317 opponent batting average.
• Zach Litchen is 3-1 with a 3.98 ERA in 11 total appearances, eight relief. He's struck out 36 in 31.2 innings and is tied for the team lead with two saves.
• Missouri Southern is 19-1 this season when leading after eight innings, but just 1-8 when tied or trailing after eight.
• The Lions have a .965 team fielding percentage. They've committed 49 errors and have turned 29 double plays on the year.
The Mules• Central Missouri enters the midweek game at 23-9 overall and 21-4 in MIAA play after beating Southwest Baptist 5-1 on Wednesday night.
• The Mules are hitting .286 as a team with 49 doubles, 15 triples, 37 home runs and 204 RBI.
•
Jake Alexander leads the team with a .387 batting average with nine doubles, a triple, three home runs and 25 RBI. He has a .462 on-base percentage.
•
Derek Cornell is hitting .345 with 10 extra-base hits, including four home runs and is one of three tied for the UCM lead with 27 RBI.
•
Dylan Farrell is hitting .336 with six doubles, a triple and six home runs and is tied for the team lead with 27 runs batted in.
•
Bennett Oliver leads the team in home runs with 11 and is tied for the team lead with 27 RBI, while hitting .317.
• The pitching staff has a 3.53 team ERA through 32 games and 280.1 innings pitched. The staff has 285 strikeouts and 112 walks during that span.
•
Ethan Westphal is 5-1 with a staff-leading 2.17 ERA in eight appearances and seven starts. He leads the team with 58 strikeouts in 49.2 innings pitched and is holding opponents to a .184 batting average.
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Carlos D'Armas is 2-1 with a 3.97 ERA in nine starts. He's fanned 52 batters in 47.2 innings pitched.
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Tyler House is 5-1 with a 4.01 ERA in nine starts. He's struck out 44 batters in 49.1 innings pitched and is holding opponents to a .230 batting average.
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Andy Muehlberger is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in eight relief appearances. He has seven strikeouts in 6.2 innings pitched and has allowed three hits.
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Ross Juliana is 2-1 with a 1.29 ERA and two saves in eight relief outings. He's struck out 12 in 14.0 innings pitched.
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Grant Gavin leads the team with six saves to go along with a 2-2 record and a 3.57 ERA in 15 relief appearances. He has struck out 21 batters in 17.2 innings pitched.
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Lucas Williams is 2-1 with a 3.68 earned run average in 11 appearances. He has 21 K's in 22 innings pitched.
• The UCM defense has a .968 fielding percentage and has committed 38 errors on the season. The Mules have turned 24 double plays on the year.
Worth Noting• The Mules hit .625 with runners on third and less than two outs in the Emporia State series.
• During MIAA play, the Mules are hitting .320 with runners in scoring position and .645 with runners on third and less than two outs.
• The Mules currently rank 12th in the MIAA in batting with a .286 team average, but they are first in pitching (3.53 ERA) and third in fielding (.968 fld%).
Saving his way in to the record books• With his next save,
Grant Gavin will move in to a tie for ninth place on the UCM single-season saves list with seven. He will also move in to a tie for 10th place on the career saves list with 10.
Streaking Mules• During his current 10-game hitting streak,
Bennett Oliver is batting .410 with eight extra-base hits, including four home runs, and 11 RBI. He's slugging .846 and has a .467 on-base percentage.
• During that same span,
Jake Alexander is hitting .438 with a pair of home runs and a .500 on-base percentage.
Season and single-game tickets available online• All-season passes and single-game tickets for Mules Baseball are available online at UCMathletics.com/tickets or at the UCM Athletic Ticket Office in room 101 of the Multipurpose Building.
• Season passes for all seven 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 outApril 13, 2016 - (WARRENSBURG, Mo.) -- The 16th-ranked Mules got some good pitching and timely hitting en route to a 5-1 win over Southwest Baptist in the first of three midweek meetings. The Mules improve to 23-9 overall and 21-4 in MIAA play.
   The game was scoreless until the fourth inning when SBU (17-18, 12-13 MIAA) struck first. Christian Binger had a two-out double and scored on Chance Wolfe's RBI single to right.
   The Mules took the lead in the bottom of the fifth, scoring a pair of runs to lead 2-1.
Bennett Oliver led off the inning with a solo home run to tie the game and
Cole Distler tripled and scored on
Matt Safranek's infield single.
   UCM added two more runs in the seventh to grab a 4-1 lead.
Derek Cornell scored on a wild pitch to plate the first run and
Jackson Schnurbusch added a sacrifice fly.
Jake Alexander doubled to lead off the eighth and later scored on a wild pitch to give the Mules a 5-1 lead.
   The four-run lead was more than enough for the UCM pitching staff. The Mules held SBU to three hits in the game. Starter
JJ Benes didn't allow a hit in 3.1 innings of work. He struck out one and walked three.
Austin Southmayd (2-0) allowed one run on two hits in 1.2 innings of relief to earn the win and
Ross Juliana tossed four innings of one-hit relief to pick up his second four-inning save of the season.
   Distler and Schnurbusch finished with two hits apiece and Distler also scored a pair of runs.
Mules in MIAA play• The Mules are 21-4 in MIAA play this season after beating Southwest Baptist 5-1 on Wednesday night.
• 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 13-2 at home after taking the win over SBU on Wednesday night.
• Central Missouri was 15-5 at home during the 2015 season.
• The Mules are 768-151-1 (.835) in 920 games played in this, their 41st season playing home games at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field.
Mules on the road• The Mules are 9-3 on the road this season after the Tuesday night win at Lindenwood.
• 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.
Mules in the rankings• The Mules moved up 10 spots this week to No. 16 in the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball Top 30 poll. The Mules' No. 26 ranking was their first this season.
• UCM moved in to the NCBWA National Poll at No. 16 this week as well, the Mules are ranked No. 2 in the NCBWA Central Region Poll.
• The Mules are also ranked No. 22 in the Perfect Game Baseball Top 25 poll.
Mules vs. ranked opponents• The Mules are 2-4 this season when facing a ranked opponent after beating No. 11 Emporia State in two out of three games last weekend.
• Two of the losses happened at the season-opening Houston Winter Invitational with a third happening the following week at Southern Arkansas and all three were by one run.
UCM during the Crookes era•
Kyle Crookes has a 53-31 (.631) 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 1,812-717-9 (.716) record in 2,538 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 781-206 (.791) since the year 2000. An average of nearly 46 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 head to Southwest Baptist for the second game of the three-game series on Tuesday, April 19. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
• UCM travels to Tahlequah, Oklahoma for a three-game series with Northeastern State beginning on Friday, April 22 at 2 p.m.
