First Pitch
• The 21st-ranked Central Missouri Mules head to Bolivar on Tuesday afternoon to take on Southwest Baptist at 2 p.m. at Dodson Field.
• Because of the schedule change last week, UCM will 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 98-12-1, including a 4-2 mark under
Kyle Crookes.
• UCM has won the first two meetings this season, 5-1 and 12-10, both games were played 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 19-23 overall and 14-18 in MIAA play after taking two of three from Pittsburg State last weekend.
• The Bearcats are 12-8 at home this season.
• Southwest Baptist is led by fifth-year head coach Chris Martin. He has a 109-129-1 record leading the Bearcat program.
• SBU is hitting .321 as a team with 95 doubles, 14 triples, 39 homers and 294 RBI.
• Sean Murley leads the team with a .406 batting average and has 25 RBI.
• Caleb Sneed is second on the squad with a .403 average. He has 12 doubles to go along with five home runs and 37 RBI.
• Carter Sherban is batting .322, is second on the team with eight homers and 38 RBI.
• Trevor Bowling leads the team in home runs with nine and in RBI with 38 and bats .317.
• The Southwest Baptist pitching staff has an 6.55 ERA in 42 games and 354.2 innings pitched. The staff has walked 186 and struck out 257 during that span. Opponents are hitting .304 against SBU.
• Carter Sherban is 2-0 with a 2.70 ERA in five relief appearances. He has 12 K's in 10 innings pitched.
• Cory Borsh is 2-3 with a 6.20 earned run average in 10 appearances and nine starts.
• Brandon Chernoff is 4-4 with a 5.89 ERA in 12 appearances and 10 starts. He leads the team with 43 strikeouts in 55.0 innings.
• Miles Kilgore has started both games against UCM this season. He is 3-2 with a 9.77 ERA in 10 appearances and seven starts. Opponents bat .364 against him.
• The Bearcats have a .966 team fielding percentage. They've committed 52 errors and have turned 34 double plays on the year.
The Mules
• Central Missouri enters the final midweek game of the season at 27-12 overall and 25-7 in MIAA play after dropping two of three at Northeastern State.
• The Mules are hitting .293 as a team with 61 doubles, 20 triples, 51 home runs and 249 RBI.
•
Jake Alexander leads the team with a .360 batting average with 10 doubles, a triple, three home runs and 26 RBI. He has a .444 on-base percentage.
•
Derek Cornell is hitting .346 with 14 extra-base hits, including five home runs and has 29 RBI.
•
Bennett Oliver leads the team in home runs with 17 and RBI with 38, while hitting .338.
•
Dylan Farrell is hitting .324 with seven doubles, a triple and nine home runs and is second on the team with 35 RBI.
• Ten Mules have double figure RBI on the season.
• The pitching staff has a 4.10 team ERA through 39 games and 342.1 innings pitched. The staff has 339 strikeouts and 135 walks during that span.
•
Ethan Westphal is 6-2 with a staff-leading 3.13 ERA in 10 appearances and nine starts. He leads the team with 69 strikeouts in 63.1 innings pitched and is holding opponents to a .205 batting average.
•
Carlos D'Armas is 2-2 with a 4.60 ERA in 11 starts. He is second on the team with 67 strikeouts in 58.2 innings pitched. Opponents are batting .256 against him.
•
Tyler House is 5-2 with a 4.76 ERA in 11 starts. He's struck out 50 batters in 56.2 innings pitched and is holding opponents to a .253 batting average.
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Andy Muehlberger is 1-0 with a 1.86 ERA and two saves in 12 relief appearances. He has nine strikeouts in 9.2 innings pitched.
•
Grant Gavin leads the team with eight saves to go along with a 3-2 record and a 3.05 ERA in 18 relief appearances. He has struck out 25 batters in 20.2 innings pitched.
•
Lucas Williams is 2-1 with a 3.12 earned run average in 14 appearances. He has 25 K's in 26 innings pitched.
• The UCM defense has a .970 fielding percentage and has committed 44 errors on the season. The Mules have turned 27 double plays on the year.
Worth Noting
• The Mules hit just .222 (4-for-18) with runners in scoring position during the Northeastern State series.
• During MIAA play, the Mules are hitting .311 with runners in scoring position and .624 with runners on third and less than two outs.
• The Mules currently rank 10th in the MIAA in batting with a .293 team average, but they are first in pitching (4.10 ERA) and third in fielding (.970 fld%).
Saving his way in to the record books
• With his save on Friday against Northeastern State,
Grant Gavin moved in to a tie for sixth place on the UCM single-season saves list with eight and in to a tie for ninth place on the career saves list with 11.
• He is two saves shy of fifth place on the single-season chart and one shy of eighth place on the career list.
Streaking Mules
• During his current 17-game hitting streak,
Bennett Oliver is batting .418 with 15 extra-base hits, including 10 home runs, and 22 RBI. He's slugging .955 and has a .474 on-base percentage.
• During that same span,
Derek Cornell is hitting .373 with three home runs and a .506 on-base percentage; and
Dylan Farrell has six home runs and 20 RBI.
• Cornell has reached base safely in 31 of his last 32 games.
Blasting up the charts
• Senior
Bennett Oliver hit five home runs in four games last week, giving him 17 home runs on the season.
• That number puts him in a tie for fifth place on UCM's single-season home runs list, just one shy of second place and three shy of the all-time record of 20, set by Ben Slemmer in 1998.
• His 17 home runs are the most by a Mule since Nick DeBiasse hit 17 in 2010.
Single-game tickets available online
• 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.
• 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
April 24, 2016 - (TAHLEQUAH, Okla.) -- Northeastern State broke open a close game wth five runs in the seventh inning and the 12th-ranked Mules couldn't recover as they fell 10-6 on Sunday afternoon. The Mules dropped the final two games of the series, after rallying to win the series opener.
   NSU (23-18, 17-14 MIAA) struck first in the bottom of the first. Two walks, a balk, and a sac fly led to a run and a 1-0 lead for the RiverHawks. The Mules (27-12, 25-7 MIAA) tied the game in the top of the second when
Jackson Schnurbusch singled to left with runners and second and third.
Derek Cornell scored the tying run, but
Matt Safranek was cut down at the plate trying to score from second.
   UCM went in front 3-1 in the fourth when
Bennett Oliver reached on an error leading off and
Derek Cornell hit the next pitch over the wall in right for a two-run home run. The lead grew to 4-1 in the top of the fifth.
Blake Wilfong led off with a triple and scored on
Matt Elliott's sacrifice fly.
   The lead quickly went away as the RiverHawks scored three times in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at four.
   Cody Begovich led off the sixth inning for NSU with a home run and the RiverHawks took the lead for good, 5-4. They blew the game open in the seventh scoring five runs on four hits and a pair of walks.
   The Mules got two runs back in the eighth on Oliver's two-run home run, his fourth of the series, but they would get no closer.
   Oliver and Cornell each finished with a home run and two RBI in the game for UCM.
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Carlos D'Armas (2-2) took the loss for the Mules after allowing five runs on six hits in five-plus innings. He struck out three and walked four. Four UCM pitchers combined for six strikeouts, but seven walks.
   Daniel Faulk (1-1) earned the win for NSU. He allowed four runs, three earned, on six hits over five innings.
Mules in MIAA play
• The Mules are 25-7 in MIAA play this season after dropping two out of three at Northeastern State 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 16-3 at home after beating Southwest Baptist 12-10 on Tuesday afternoon.
• Central Missouri was 15-5 at home during the 2015 season.
• The Mules are 771-152-1 (.835) in 924 games played in this, their 41st season playing home games at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field.
Mules on the road
• The Mules are 10-5 on the road this season after going 1-2 at Northeastern State.
• 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 dropped nine spots this week to No. 21 in the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball Top 30 poll.
• UCM moved up three spots in last week's NCBWA National Poll to No. 13. The Mules are ranked No. 2 in the NCBWA Central Region Poll.
• The Mules dropped two spots in the D2Baseball.com poll to No. 30 and moved up two spots to No. 22 in the Perfect Game Baseball 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 57-34 (.626) 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 1,816-720-9 (.715) record in 2,545 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 785-209 (.790) 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 return to take on Missouri Western in the final regular season home series beginning on Friday, April 29 at 6 p.m.
• UCM closes out the regular season May 6-8 at Washburn.
