BY ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Washburn University baseball avoided a series sweep against Missouri Western by earning a much-needed 19-18 MIAA win on Sunday afternoon at Falley Field.
Washburn baseball snapped a four-game losing streak with Sunday's 19-18 win over Missouri Western. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods are headed back in the right direction after snapping its four-game losing streak.
In Friday’s game against the Griffons, Washburn was taken down 17-5 in seven innings of play. On Saturday, the Ichabods took a 5-4 loss after giving up a run in the top of the 12th inning to Missouri Western.
Although the team hasn’t been pleased with its latest performances on the field, Washburn can finally breathe a bit easier after surviving a back-and-forth marathon on Sunday.
“We’re fighting ourselves right now,” Washburn coach Harley Douglas said. “It’s really disheartening … This is a team that went out and won 30-plus games last year. You know, we felt like we bolstered up and got our pitching staff where we wanted it to be and we’re just not performing.
“We start putting the pressure on other people and your defense starts to weaken and you’re thinking too much and they might be thinking about hitting because they have to go out there and score 15, 17 runs… We’re making the game too hard.”
Offensive production has not been lacking for Washburn. The Ichabods scored 19 runs just to stay alive on Sunday. Leading the way at the plate were Darian Duhon and Jett Buck, who drove in 10 of the team’s 19 runs.
Buck credits the offensive power with good batting practices, focusing and elevating the baseball.
“I thought we did really good in (batting practice),” Buck said. “We focused on getting (the baseball) in the air, the wind was blowing out. I think we did a good job of doing that coming out early, putting good swings on the ball and elevating it early.”
The Ichabods started off the series finale white hot. Washburn (14-14 overall, 7-9 MIAA) tallied five runs in the first inning after Duhon crushed a two-run home run and Buck hit a bases-clearing triple to give the Ichabods a 5-0 lead to end the first inning.
Washburn pitcher Caleb Lunnon kept Missouri Western (5-20, 4-12) off the scoreboard for two innings despite having some traffic on the bases due to a runner reaching on an error and a pair of singles.
The Missouri Western offense made its presence felt in the top of the third inning, earning five runs off of six hits. In addition, Washburn’s defense gave up three errors in the inning.
Washburn’s comfortable five-run lead was erased after the Griffons tied the game, 5-5, in the third. The Ichabods didn’t get discouraged after a momentous swing by Missouri Western. Instead, Washburn answered back right away.
The Ichabod offense blasted seven runs off six hits in the bottom of the third inning. It was an assembly line effort from Washburn with heads-up baserunning, a walk, two singles, a double, a Connor Scott triple and a two-run home run from Payton McHarg.
“I don’t understand why our pitching struggles with what it is and throwing strikes because I feel like (Washburn) has the best offense in the conference,” Douglas said. “Top to bottom we put together a great lineup and we’ll go out and score some runs and put some good at-bats together. It’s a testament to those guys. The offensive guys is very strong-minded and really lock-in at the plate. We haven’t missed that all year. I think barring one weekend, we’ve been really good on the offensive side the whole time.”
Washburn’s offensive charge in the bottom of the third boosted them to a 12-5 lead.
“A lot of our practice… are offense-focused,” Buck said. “We do a lot more offensive (work) than defensive. (Coach Connor Crimmins) does a really good job and Coach Douglas does as well. They’re really good at just being able to talk to you and ask questions and have them help you out. They ask for our opinions on what we think about our swing.”
Missouri Western slowly chipped away at Washburn’s seven-run lead. The Griffons added one run in the fourth inning and three in the fifth to decrease Washburn’s lead to 12-9.
The Griffons prevailed in the top of the sixth inning after putting up three runs to tie the game 12-12.
After Missouri Western’s answer, Washburn countered with three more runs in the bottom of the sixth, scoring on three runs and three hits to give it a 15-12 lead heading into the seventh. The Washburn added four more insurance runs to increase the lead to 19-12 in the seventh.
The offensive power didn’t stop from Missouri Western. The Griffons punched Washburn in the top of the eighth, scoring five runs to bring the game within two. Washburn didn’t counter with runs in the bottom part of the eighth inning, so Washburn needed to hang on with a two-run lead which was an issue for most of Sunday’s contest.
Missouri Western earned one run and Keegan McDonald saved the game by holding a hot team off. Logan Bartlett (1-0) got the win for the Ichabods.
Washburn will travel to Warrensburg, Mo., on Wednesday to take on Central Missouri at 3 p.m. It’s a quick one-game series before the Ichabods travel to Arkansas for a weekend series against an unfamiliar Arkansas-Fort Smith program.
“We just need to get back,” Douglas said. “We got a couple days of practice to get in and kind of get back to the foundational pieces of what we try to do and be able to focus on UCM. We don’t know a lot about Arkansas-Fort Smith. And they’re a very good club. They did a great job last year. So we’ll get focused in with that, turn around and go to Hays and Alva (Oklahoma) the next time. We’re ready to go on another stretch of six games in eight days. We’ll see where we are quickly.''
