WARRENSBURG, Mo. (April 29, 2021) - This weekend Central Missouri Mules Baseball goes on the road for their final road trip of 2021. With one more win, the Mules can clinch the MIAA regular season and with two more they'll get to 2,000 program wins.
Opponent
Northeastern State RiverHawks (23-11, 20-7 MIAA)
Where
Tahlequah, Okla. (Rousey Field)
When
Saturday-Sunday, May 1-2
Saturday, May 1 - 11 a.m. (DH)
Sunday, May 2 - 1 p.m.
On the Air
• All three games of the series will be avialable on the MIAA Network. Live stats will also be provided and can be found at ucmathletics.com
First Pitch
• Central Missouri hits the road for the first time in three weeks as they head to Tahlequah, Okla. to take on second-place Northeastern State.
• This will be the final regular season road trip for the Mules and penultimate series before the MIAA Championship. They'll wrap up the regular season next week vs. Missouri Western.
• Last year, the Mules played just eight conference games and won them all before the season was shut down due to COVID-19.
• 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 in 2019 The Mules have won at least 30 games in all five full seasons under Coach Crookes. They won 20 of 23 games in 2020 before the season was cut short.
• The team made their first trip to the NCAA Division II World Series since 2016 in 2019 and their 18th overall.
• The Mules have finished with a winning record in each of the last 33 seasons.
• The Mules have won back-to-back MIAA Tournament Championships.
The Series
• All-time against Northeastern State the Mules are 26-11.
• The two teams last met in 2019 with the Mules sweeping at home.
• The last time UCM was in Tahlequah, the RiverHawks won two of three.
• Under Coach Crookes, the Mules are 12-4 against the RiverHawks but just 2-4 on the road.
Northeastern State
• Northeastern State is 4-4 in their last eight games, but 10-2 in their last 12 conference games and have climbed into second place in the MIAA standings.
• The RiverHawks are a much better team at home, playing to an 11-2 record while they're just 10-8 on the road.
• NSU is the only team in the MIAA with more home runs than the Mules. They've hit 66, including six in their most recent game.
• The RiverHawks are prone to strikeout, fanning 305 times, second-most in the league.
• They're led offensively by C.D. White who's hitting .378 with seve home runs and 35 RBI. Brayden Rodden has a team-high nine homers and 35 runs batted in.
• The NSU pitching staff is led by Nic Swanson who's 9-0 this season with a 1.33 ERA and 84 strikeouts.
• Dakodah Jones has seven saves on the year with a 3.42 ERA.
• Northeastern is near the top of the league in defense as well with a .970 fielding percentage.
Individual Milestones
•
Erik Webb is tied for second all-time at UCM in hits. He stands at 306, and is 6 behind the all-time record. He set the all-time MIAA career home run record and RBI record earlier this season He is also the Mules all-time leader with 19 career triples and 75 doubles. With 241 runs scored, Webb is second all-time at UCM. The same UCM records Webb is chasing in career hits and runs are also MIAA records.
•
Mason Green is third all-time at UCM with 215 strikeouts and is 21 behind second place. At 20-0, he has the most wins without a loss in Mules history and is two away from the all-time top-10 win list.
•
Conor Dryer is seven strikeouts away from 100 for his career.
•
Dusty Stroup needs two more home runs to get into the Mules all-time top-10.
•
Micah Evans needs 12 more runs to score 100 and 16 more hits to get to 100.
• With two more saves,
Evan Rathburn will enter both the single-season and career top-10 lists.
•
Cole Taylor is three runs and one RBI away from 100 in his career.
•
Alex Madera is five RBI away from 100 for his career.
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 in 2019.
• Following 2020, Mule pitchers
Jordan Fowler,
Jonathan Sprinkle and
Evan Reifert all signed minor league free agent contracts with MLB clubs.
• Grant Gavin was selected in the 29th round of the 2016 draft and will begin 2021 at the Kansas City Royals Triple A affiliate in Omaha, Neb.
Mules in Non-Conference Action
• Central Missouri had seven nonconference games on their schedule. They finished their slate with a 4-3 record.
• The Mules are 72-38 overall in non-conference action during Crookes' six-plus seasons.
• UCM went 12-3 in nonconference games in 2020.
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 165-56 in conference play under
Kyle Crookes.
• At 25-2 the Mules are well atop the MIAA standings. They'll clinch a share of the MIAA Championship with one more win and will have it outright with two more.
Mules at Home
• Last season, UCM was 13-2 in 15 games played at home. They are off to a 15-3 start so far in 2021.
• UCM went 27-5 in 2019 when playing at Crane Stadium.
• Central Missouri is 127-26 at home under Crookes.
• The Mules are 866-170-1 (.838) in 1,034 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 weren't on the road much in 2020, just five games, but they won all five averaging 18.2 runs per game.
• The Mules are 82-46 on the road under head coach
Kyle Crookes.
• Central Missouri has started out 11-1 on the road in 2021. They are averaging more than 11 home runs per game with 35 home runs, nearly three home runs per game.
Mules in Neutral Site Games
• In 16 games in 2019, UCM went 11-5 at neutral sites.
• The Mules went 2-1 in neutral site games in 2020 and are 3-1 in 2021.
• The Mules are 39-24 in neutral site games under Crookes.
Mule Streaks
• Last week, Central Missouri lost a 24-game winning streak. It will go down as the second longest winning streak in team history behind 27 consecutive wins in 1996.
• In that same loss,
Erik Webb lost his 29 game hitting streak. Webb was just three games shy of matching the Mules longest hitting streak of 32 straight games. It's the longest hitting streak of Webb's career, besting his 2019 hitting streak by one game.
•
Alex Madera now has the Mules longest hitting streak, hitting safely in 10 straight.
Micah Evans has a team-high 26-game reached base streak.
Do It With Two
• Central Missouri has been getting plenty of production with two-outs in an inning. They're hitting .322 and have 97 two-out RBI.
Micah Evans leads the team with 17 two-out RBI. Evans,
Alex Madera and
Josh Schumacher are each hitting over .400 with two outs with at least 30 at bats.
• Mule pitchers are holding opponents to just a .237 batting average with two outs.
Hunter Little has been the arm to get the Mules out of jams. He's given up just 2 hits in 15 at bats with two outs.
Defense First
• Central Missouri has turned themselves into an excellent defensive ballclub. The Mules are climbing up the NCAA rankings in fielding percentage and currently lead the MIAA and are third in the country.
• The Mules have made just four errors in their last 14 games.
UCM During the Crookes Era
•
Kyle Crookes has a 239-96 (.713) record now in his seventh season as head coach at Central Missouri.
• Crookes is currently fourth all-time in coaching wins at UCM and is the fifth head coach to ever win 200 games. Crookes is currently 18 wins behind Bob Tompkins for third 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 six+ 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 2021 season marks the 65th in the storied history of Mules Baseball. During that span the Mules have compiled a 1,998-782-9 (.718) record in 2,789 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 968-268 (.783) since the year 2000. An average of almost 47 wins per season over the last 20 years, the most of any team in Division II.
A Tradition of Excellence in Athletics
• Central Missouri has won a combined 225 MIAA conference championships in 14 league sports entering 2020-21 to lead all schools.
• The first MIAA trophies of 2020-21 were handed out at the MIAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. The Jennies won their ninth in team history. Mules Golf picked up their 23rd MIAA Championship trophy this spring.
• Central Missouri Jennies Basketball added the first NCAA Regional Championship in 2020-21, their 8th in team history as they advanced to the Final 4.
• 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 171 MIAA championships, more than any other league school during that time.
• 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 and the Commissioner's Cup for 2019-20 as well.
A Tradition of Excellence in the Classroom
• Central Missouri had 275 student-athletes named to the 2019-20 MIAA Academic Honor Roll with grade point averages of 3.0 or higher.
• 31 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.
• 28 UCM student-athletes were named MIAA Academic Excellence Award winners with a 4.0 GPA.
• 4 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 122 Academic All-Americans.
•
Mason Janvrin became the sixth CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year in 2019.
• Before the 2019 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.
