Baseball Looks to Stay Hot on the Road

WARRENSBURG, Mo. (March 6, 2020) - Central Missouri Mules Baseball can make it 10 straight this weekend when they go on the road for the first time in 2020.

Opponent
Newman Jets (6-12, 1-2 MIAA)

Where
Wichita, Kan. - McCarthy Field

When
Friday-Sunday, March 6-8
Friday, March 6 - 3 p.m.
Saturday, March 7 - 3 p.m.
Sunday, March 8 - 1 p.m.

First Pitch
• Central Missouri will play their first road games of 2020 this weekend when they take on MIAA newcomers Newman in Wichita, Kan.
• The Mules went 3-0 last week in their MIAA opening series against Rogers State. They then defeated Drury in extra innings to wrap up their 15 game homestand with a 13-2 record.
• Last year, the Mules went 24-9 during conference play and won both the MIAA regular season and tournament. 
• Central Missouri won their 26th MIAA regular season championship in 2019, going 24-9 in the league. 
• They followed that by winning their 23rd MIAA Tournament Championship going 4-1 in Pittsburg, Kan.
• UCM then went on to win the 2019 Central Region Championship. They went 3-0 in Warrensburg with all three wins coming over MIAA teams. They defeated Augustana two games to none in a best two-of-three series to advance to 2019 National Championship where they finished third.

Quick Hits
• Central Missouri totaled 46 wins last year. The Mules have won at least 30 games in all five seasons under Coach Crookes.
• The team made their first trip to the NCAA Division II World Series since 2016 and their 18th overall.
• The Mules 46 wins last season marked the 26th straight season UCM has won at least 30 games and was the most under Coach Kyle Crookes in his five years at the helm.
• The Mules have finished with a winning record in each of the last 32 seasons. 
• The Mules have won back-to-back MIAA Tournament Championships.

On the Air
• Live stats will be available at www.ucmathletics.com
• There will also be video of all three games in Wichita available for free on the MIAA Network at the Mules Blueframe Portal Page at www.themiaanetwork.com/ucmmules

The Series
• The Mules and Jets have never met before.
• 2020 is the first season that Newman has joined the MIAA.

Newman
• In their first year in the MIAA, Newman started conference play going 1-2 against Central Oklahoma. The Jets are 6-12 to start the year.
• Pitching has been the issue for Newman with an 8.13 staff ERA. Ryan Boaz has been their best started with a 3.69 ERA in 31.2 inning and carries a 20 strikeout to 6 walk ratio. However he is just 1-4 on the year with that one win being a complete game shutout.
• Crae Pfannenstiel is the team's closer with both saves. He has a 7.36 ERA in four appearances spanning 7.1 innings. 
• The Jets don't walk a lot, but have given up a ton of hits, 191 hits, almost 11 hits per game. They've given up 76 extra-base hits with 48 doubles, five triples and 23 home runs. 
• At the plate, Newman has a .249 team batting average. Kyle Koch leads the team hitting .327. Dalton Dinkel has a team-high 19 hits. Tylre Push has a .461 on base percentage with 18 hits and 13 walks.
• Hayden VanDePol has been the team's leading RBI man driving in 17 with two home runs. Devin Bears has 17 hits with eight doubles and three home runs.
• Jet games feature lots of stolen bases. Newman has swiped 28 while opponents have taken 25. Newman also has 24 wild pitches and 16 passed balls.
• The Jets have a .969 fielding percentage and their pitcher's have given up 12 unearned runs.

Individual Milestones
• Donovan Ditto is six hits away from 100.
• Erik Webb is tied for eighth all-time in hits. He stands at 244, and three behind seventh place. Webb is currently second in career doubles with 63, just three off the all-time mark. He is just one triple away from the UCM career record and needs two more home runs to tie the UCM record. He is now ninth at UCM in RBI with 167 and five behind eighth place. 
• Collin Jones is one win away from 10.
• Evan Rathburn needs six more strikeouts for 50. 
• Harrison Schnurbusch needs one more hit for 150 and seven RBI for 100. 

Mules in the Pros
• Mason Janvrin became the 34th Mule to be drafted and the third under Coach Crookes. Janvrin was taken with the first pick in round 14, pick number 408 by the Baltimore Orioles. 
• Janvrin has seen time in MLB spring training split squad games with the Orioles. 

Mules in Non-Conference Action
• The Mules played to a 10-4 non-conference regular season record in 2019. They went 12-3 in nonconference postseason games. 
• The Mules are 68-35 overall in non-conference action during Crookes' five-plus seasons.
• UCM is 12-3 in non-conference action to start 2020. They have just two games left in the regular season, one at home against Maryville and one on the road against Drury. 

Mules in MIAA Play
• The Mules won the MIAA with a 24-9 record in 2019. It was their 26th MIAA Regular Season Conference Championship. They also have 23 MIAA Conference Tournament Championships with back-to-back Tournament Championships in 2018-19. 
• The Mules are 124-53 in conference play under Kyle Crookes.
• UCM is off the a 3-0 start in the MIAA in 2020 after a sweep of Rogers State last weekend. 

Mules at Home
• UCM went 27-5 last season when playing at Crane Stadium.
• The Mules went 24-4 in home games during the 2018 season.
• Central Missouri is 112-23 at home under Crookes.
• The Mules are 851-167-1 (.836) in 1,017 games played in 43 seasons playing home games at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field.
• Central Missouri was the host and winner of the 2018 MIAA Championship Tournament and hosted half of the NCAA Central Region Tournament where they went 3-0.

Mules on the Road
• The Mules were 14-7 this season in true road games.
• They went 12-9 on the road in 2018.
• The Mules are 66-45 on the road under head coach Kyle Crookes. 
• This weekend will be the first road games of the season for the Mules. They have not taken a turn at bat in the top of the first in any game this season. 

Mules in Neutral Site Games
• In 16 games last season, UCM went 11-5 at neutral sites. 
• The Mules are off to a 2-1 start in neutral site games in 2020.
• UCM went 3-4 in neutral site games in 2018
• The Mules are 36-23 in neutral site games under Crookes.

National Leaders (As of Mar. 4, 2020)
• As a team, the Mules rank seventh in the country with a 2.56 ERA and their 1.04 WHIP is fourth-best.
• The four shutouts the Mules have thrown are tied for the Division II lead.
• The Mules are allowin 5.84 hits per game, third fewest in the NCAA. 
• UCM has stolen 40 bases, 10th most in Division II.
• The Mules 12 triples leads all of Division II. Cole Taylor and Josh Schumacher each have three three-baggers which is tied for third in Division II. 
• Dusty Stroup is seventh in the NCAA in doubles with nine.
• Jordan Fowler's four wins are tied for fifth in the NCAA. 

Defense First
• Central Missouri's defense has come a long way. Through 17 games they have a .979 fielding percentage which ranks 10th in Division II and second in the MIAA. 
• The Mules' 13 double plays turned is ranked 11th in Division II. 
• UCM has not made more than two errors in a game this season.

Close Calls
• So far this season the Mules are excelling in close games, going 5-1 in one-run games.
• They are also 3-0 in extra inning games with three walk-off wins. 

Scoring Early
• The Mules have scored 15 runs in the first inning so far this season. They have scored in the opening inning in nine of 18 games and are 7-2 when scoring in the first.
• In 12 of 15 wins, the Mules put the first run on the board. 
• In the first three innings, UCM has scored a total of 52 runs.
• On the flip side, UCM pitchers have allowed three five-inning runs and just 13 total runs in the first three innings. 

Situational Baseball - Hitter's Edition
• The Mules have put the leadoff runner on in 42.6% of their trips to the plate.
• That has given UCM plenty of RBI opportunities and the Mules are hitting .321 as a team with runners in scoring position.
• Against left-handed pitching, the Mules are red-hot with a .413 team average.

Situational Baseball - Pitcher's Edition
• Mule pitchers have gotten a lot of outs, but the first of the inning seems to be troublesome as 35.8% of leadoff batters have reached.
• However with runners on base, teams are hitting just .187 against the Mules.

UCM During the Crookes Era
• Kyle Crookes has a 205-91 (.692) record now in his sixth season as head coach at Central Missouri.
• Crookes is currently fifth all-time in coaching wins at UCM and is the fifth head coach to ever win 200 games. Crookes is currently four wins behind Darin Hendrickson for fourth at Central Missouri.
• In 2016, he won his first conference championship as head coach at UCM. He added a tournament title in 2018 and his second regular season championship in 2019.
• Crookes is up to four MIAA Championships, two regular season and two tournament following 2019.
• He also has two regional championships to his credit in 2016 and 2019.
• During his five+ seasons at the helm, 52 players have earned All-MIAA honors, including 11 First Team nods and Player of the Year Erik Webb in 2019. Ten players have earned All-Region honors, three All-American and three players have been selected in the MLB Draft.
• 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 2020 season marks the 64th in the storied history of Mules Baseball. During that span the Mules have compiled a 1,964-777-9 (.716) record in 2,750 games played.
• The Mules have won 40 or more games 19 times, including 14 straight seasons from 1999-2012, and have won 50 or more games nine times.
• The Mules have won or shared 26 MIAA regular season championships, 23 MIAA tournament championships, captured 18 regional titles and two national championships.

Mules Baseball by the Numbers
• 30 NCAA Regional Appearances (23 of the last 26 years)
• 26 MIAA Regular Season Titles (18 of the last 26)
• 23 MIAA Tournament Titles (19 of the last 26)
• 18 Regional Championships
• 16 Regionals as host site
• 16 Top Five national finishes
• 5 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 30 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 930-265 (.778) since the year 2000. An average of 46 wins per season over the last 20 years.

A Tradition of Excellence in Athletics
• Central Missouri has won a combined 220 MIAA conference championships in 14 league sports entering 2019-20 to lead all schools.
• UCM has since added three more MIAA Championships trophies thus far in 2019-20 with the Mules Football, Jennies Soccer and Jennies Basketball regular season titles.
• The Mules Baseball MIAA Tournament Championship in 2019 was their 23rd in program history along with 26 regular season, and they have now won back-to-back MIAA Tournament Championships. 
• In 2017-18, Central Missouri won two National Championships. Jennies Soccer won their first NCAA Division II National Championship with a 1-1 (5-3 PK) win over Carson-Newman. Jennies Basketball then captured their 11th MIAA regular season championship and seventh Central Region crown. They defeated Ashland, 66-52, to win the 2018 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championship, the second in program history.
• Since 1983, the tenure of Athletic Director Jerry Hughes, UCM has won or shared 165 MIAA championships, more than any other league school entering the 2019-20 year.
• Central Missouri has won 10 national championships during Hughes' tenure (men's and women's basketball in 1984, baseball in 1994 and 2003, women's bowling in 2003, men's basketball in 2014, women's indoor and outdoor track & field in 2015, women's soccer in 2017 and women's basketball in 2018, and 12 national championships overall.
• In 2016-17, Central Missouri won the inaugural MIAA's Commissioner's Cup trophy for the conference's top overall athletic department. They followed that up by winning the 2017-18 Commissioner's Cup as well.

A Tradition of Excellence in the Classroom
• Central Missouri had 350 student-athletes named to the 2018-19 MIAA Academic Honor Roll with grade point averages of 3.0 or higher.
• 33 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.
• 23 UCM student-athletes were named MIAA Academic Excellence Award winners with a 4.0 GPA.
• 5 had student-athletes earn CoSIDA Academic All-District honors in their respective sports and 3 Academic All-Americans.
• All-time UCM is third in NCAA-II with 119 Academic All-Americans.
• Mason Janvrin became the sixth CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year in 2019. 
• Before the NCAA Championship, Mason Janvrin was named the NCAA Elite 90 Award winner as the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA at the NCAA finals site.