First Pitch• The 12th-ranked Central Missouri Mules host Southwest Baptist on Tuesday afternoon at 1 p.m. at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field.
• The game was originally scheduled for Bolivar, but was moved due to heavy amounts of rain at SBU. The Bearcats will still be the home team in the game.
• 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.
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 Southwest Baptist 97-12-1, including a 3-2 mark under
Kyle Crookes.
• UCM won the first meeting this season, 5-1, last Wednesday in Warrensburg.
• The teams split a four-game series last year in Bolivar. The Bearcats won the first two games of the series 6-5 and 6-2 with the Mules capturing the last two games 6-1 and 11-6.
Southwest Baptist• Southwest Baptist enters the matchup at 17-21 overall and 12-16 in MIAA play after being swept at Northwest Missouri last weekend.
• The Bearcats are 7-14 on the road this season.
• Southwest Baptist is led by fifth-year head coach Chris Martin. He has a 107-127-1 record leading the Bearcat program.
• SBU is hitting .319 as a team with 85 doubles, 14 triples, 37 homers and 271 RBI.
• Caleb Sneed leads the Bearcats with a .415 average. He has 12 doubles to go along with five home runs and 34 RBI.
• Sean Murley bats .405 with 10 extra-base hits and 25 driven in.
• Carter Sherban is batting .343, is second on the team with eight homers and leads with 37 RBI.
• Trevor Bowling leads the team in home runs with nine, and is second on the team in RBI with 35 and bats .290.
• The Southwest Baptist pitching staff has an 6.50 ERA in 38 games and 319.2 innings pitched. The staff has walked 174 and struck out 234 during that span. Opponents are hitting .301 against SBU.
• Carter Sherban is 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA in four relief appearances. He has seven K's in seven innings pitched.
• Cory Borsh is 2-3 with a 5.75 earned run average in nine appearances and eight starts.
• Brandon Chernoff is 4-3 with a 5.68 ERA in 11 appearances and nine starts. He leads the team with 40 strikeouts in 50.2 innings.
• The Bearcats have a .965 team fielding percentage. They've committed 48 errors and have turned 27 double plays on the year.
The Mules• Central Missouri enters the midweek game at 25-10 overall and 23-5 in MIAA play after taking two of three from Missouri Southern last weekend.
• The Mules are hitting .287 as a team with 54 doubles, 16 triples, 40 home runs and 216 RBI.
•
Jake Alexander leads the team with a .364 batting average with nine doubles, a triple, three home runs and 25 RBI. He has a .444 on-base percentage.
•
Derek Cornell is hitting .339 with 10 extra-base hits, including four home runs and has 28 RBI.
•
Bennett Oliver leads the team in home runs with 12 and is tied for the team lead with 28 RBI, while hitting .326.
•
Dylan Farrell is hitting .317 with seven doubles, a triple and six home runs and is tied for the team lead with 28 runs batted in.
• Ten Mules have double figure RBI on the season.
• The pitching staff has a 3.56 team ERA through 35 games and 308.1 innings pitched. The staff has 312 strikeouts and 118 walks during that span.
•
Ethan Westphal is 6-1 with a staff-leading 2.26 ERA in nine appearances and eight starts. He is second on the team with 63 strikeouts in 55.2 innings pitched and is holding opponents to a .184 batting average.
•
Carlos D'Armas is 2-1 with a 4.19 ERA in 10 starts. He leads the team with 64 strikeouts in 53.2 innings pitched. Opponents are batting .249 against him.
•
Tyler House is 5-2 with a 4.42 ERA in 10 starts. He's struck out 46 batters in 53.0 innings pitched and is holding opponents to a .252 batting average.
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Andy Muehlberger is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in nine relief appearances. He has seven strikeouts in 7.1 innings pitched and has allowed three hits.
•
Ross Juliana is 2-1 with a 1.17 ERA and two saves in nine relief outings. He's struck out 12 in 15.1 innings pitched.
•
Grant Gavin leads the team with seven saves to go along with a 3-2 record and a 3.20 ERA in 17 relief appearances. He has struck out 23 batters in 19.2 innings pitched.
•
Lucas Williams is 2-1 with a 3.24 earned run average in 13 appearances. He has 24 K's in 25 innings pitched.
• The UCM defense has a .970 fielding percentage and has committed 40 errors on the season. The Mules have turned 26 double plays on the year.
Worth Noting• The Mules hit just .250 with runners on third and less than two outs and .200 with runners in scoring position during the Missouri Southern series, but still took two out of three games.
• During MIAA play, the Mules are hitting .309 with runners in scoring position and .632 with runners on third and less than two outs.
• The Mules currently rank 11th in the MIAA in batting with a .287 team average, but they are first in pitching (3.56 ERA) and third in fielding (.970 fld%).
Saving his way in to the record books• With his save on Sunday against Missouri Southern,
Grant Gavin moved in to a tie for ninth place on the UCM single-season saves list with seven and in to a tie for 10th place on the career saves list with 10.
• His next save will move him in to a tie for sixth on the single-season list (8) and ninth on the career list (11).
Streaking Mules• During his current 13-game hitting streak,
Bennett Oliver is batting .426 with nine extra-base hits, including five home runs, and 12 RBI. He's slugging .851 and has a .472 on-base percentage.
• During that same span,
Derek Cornell is hitting .390 with a pair of home runs and a .537 on-base percentage; and
Dylan Farrell has three home runs and 10 RBI.
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 four 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 17, 2016 - (WARRENSBURG, Mo.) --
Bennett Oliver hit a walk-off home run leading off the 10th inning and 16th-ranked Central Missouri rallied for a 5-4 win over Missouri Southern on Sunday afternoon at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field. With the win, the Mules win the series 2-1.
   Leading off the 10th, Oliver hit an 0-1 pitch deep over the wall in right to send the Mules (25-10, 23-5 MIAA) and fans in to a frenzy and capped a late comeback by the Mules. The Mules had tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning to force extras.
Blake Wilfong singled to right with one out and with the Mules down to their final out, scored on
Dylan Farrell's double off the wall in right center.
   The Lions (26-13, 16-12 MIAA) jumped on top 1-0 in the first inning. Chris Hoffman tripled to right and later scored on a wild pitch. Missouri Southern pushed the lead to 3-0 in the third inning on Jesse Rall's two-run home run.
   UCM got on the board in the fourth when
Matt Safranek singled home
Jake Alexander to make it 3-1. MSSU pushed the lead back to three in the sixth on Danny Biggs' RBI single to center.
   The Mules kept fighting back and plated two more runs in the sixth to pull within a run.
Miles Orscheln had an RBI single to left and Safranek added an RBI sac bunt to get the Mules within striking distance for the ninth.
  Â
Grant Gavin (3-2) picked up the win in relief, tossing a perfect top of the 10th inning.
Ross Juliana,
Andy Muehlberger and
Lucas Williams combined for three innings of one-hit relief. Starter
Carlos D'Armas allowed four runs on nine hits over six innings. He struck out a season-high 12 batters.
   Kyle McCulloch (2-1) took the loss for Missouri Southern, allowing two runs on five hits over 3.2 innings. Starter Zach Litchen allowed three runs on four hits in 5.1 innings.
Mules in MIAA play• The Mules are 23-5 in MIAA play this season after taking two out of three games from Missouri Southern last 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 15-3 at home after taking two out of three from Missouri Southern last weekend.
• Central Missouri was 15-5 at home during the 2015 season.
• The Mules are 770-152-1 (.835) in 923 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 four spots this week to No. 12 in the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball Top 30 poll.
• UCM moved in to the NCBWA National Poll at No. 16 last 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 and appeared in the D2BaseballNews.com poll for the first time this season at No. 28.
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 55-32 (.632) 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 1,814-718-9 (.716) record in 2,541 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 783-207 (.791) since the year 2000. An average of 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 Tahlequah, Oklahoma for a three-game series with Northeastern State beginning on Friday, April 22 at 2 p.m.
• UCM will now travel next Tuesday, April 26 to Southwest Baptist for the final game of their three-game midweek series.
• UCM will host Missouri Western in the final regular season home series beginning on Friday, April 29.
