WARRENSBURG, Mo. – For the third consecutive season and the 22nd time in program history, University of Central Missouri Mules Baseball is NCAA Division II Regional Champions.
The No. 3-seeded Mules rolled to a 10-1 victory over the No. 5-seeded Augustana (S.D.) Vikings in game two of a best-of-three super regional series on Friday, May 22, at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field to secure the Central Region Championship and punch their ticket to the NCAA Division II College World Series in Cary, North Carolina.
The Central Regional Title is the sixth for Mules Baseball 12th season head coach
Kyle Crookes (2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, 2025, 2026).
Central Missouri (39-15) scored seven runs in the opening two innings of the game to jump out to a 7-0 lead and never looked back.
Chase Wilcox drove in the first two runs of the game on an RBI single to left field in the first inning. A two-run single down the right field line from
Grant Hollister and an RBI single to left field from
Cole Funkhouser, and back-to-back bases-loaded walks added five more runs for UCM in the second.
Evan Vienhage hit a towering solo homer to left field, his second of the season, to increase the Mules' advantage to 8-0 in the fourth, before Wilcox crushed a solo home run into the woods in right field in the fifth, ballooning the Central Missouri lead to 9-0. It was Wilcox's fifth round-tripper of 2026.
Funkhouser provided UCM's final run of the game, belting a solo home run down the left field line in the seventh inning, his fifth of the season, for run number 10.
Vienhage was 3-for-4 with a homer and RBI, Wilcox was 3-for-5 with a home run, three runs batted in, and two runs,
Cole Kreisel was 3-for-5 with a double and two runs, Hollister was 2-for-6 with a double, two runs, and two RBI, and Funkhouser was 2-for-6 with two runs, a home run, and two RBI, leading UCM at the plate.
Central Missouri right-handed relief pitcher
Sam Wyrick (3-1) earned the win on the mound after allowing zero earned runs on just one hit with two strikeouts and one walk in 4 1/3 innings. Left-handed starting pitcher
Treyton DesLauriers gave up just one unearned run on two hits with three strikeouts and two walks in 4 2/3 innings.
For the game, the Mules held the Vikings (45-16) to just three hits while tallying 14 of their own in the victory.
The World Series is scheduled for May 29-June 6 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary. More information regarding UCM's opening game will be announced later.
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