By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The red-hot Washburn baseball team has earned the No. 5 seed for next weekend's MIAA Championship Tournament and will put a five-game winning streak on the line at No. 4 seed Pittsburg State in a best-two-of-three quarterfinal series starting at 6 p.m. Friday.
Washburn swept Northwest Missouri (20-14, 9-7) to end the regular season at 19-20 overall and 18-15 in the MIAA.
The Gorillas finished the regular season 26-13 overall and 21-12 in conference play to earn the No. 4 seed and have split four games. The Ichabods took two out of three in Pittsburg in March before falling in a single non-conference game at Falley Field on April 6.
The series will begin with Game 1 on Friday followed by Game 2 on Saturday at 3 p.m. If necessary the third game will be on Sunday, May 16 at 1 p.m.
Former Hayden standout Andrew Schmidtlein had four hits in Washburn's doubleheader sweep at Northwest Missouri Friday, including a 3-run homer and three doubles. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
This season the MIAA Tournament quarterfinals will played at the campus sites of the top-four seeded teams in a best two-out-of-three series.
The winners then advance to Warren Turner Field in Joplin, Mo. (May 20-22), where the semifinals and championship will take place in a double-elimination format.
Central Missouri won the regular season title and will host No. 8 seed Emporia State. Northeastern State finished second in the standings and will take on the seventh seed, Roger State, while No. 6 seed Central Oklahoma will travel to No. 3 seed Missouri Southern.
Washburn last competed in the MIAA Tournament in 2016 as the No. 3 seed and won three out of five games played, falling in the elimination game on championship Sunday.
The Ichabods scored a combined 29 runs in Friday's doubleheader games en route to sweeping Northwest Missouri to close out the regular season.
Four Ichabods recorded three hits in the first game as Washburn totaled 21.
Zion Bowlin and Kros Bay both went 3 for 3 and combined for five RBI. Parker Dunn finished with three hits, including a pair of home runs, while Brett Ingram was 3 for 5 with two runs scored and two RBI.
Former Hayden standout Andrew Schmidtlein entered the game as a defensive substitution and went 2 for 2 with a double and a three-run homer.
Shawnee Heights product Connor Bond earned his first career win in an Ichabod uniform after getting the last out of the seventh and working the eighth inning. He allowed one earned run and one single to go with one walk and one strikeout.
Washburn Rural grad Michael Schurig recorded the final out of the game on the mound with a strikeout.
The Ichabods fell behind 3-0 and 4-1 in the second game, but took the lead with four runs in the top of the fourth.
The Ichabods added some cushion to their lead with one run in the fifth, two in the sixth, and another in the seventh, giving Washburn a 9-4 advantage.
Bay had four total doubles over the twinbill, including two in the second game while Schmidtlein got the start in the second game and went 2 for 3 with two doubles, two walks, two RBI and a run scored. Xavier De Leon had two hits and drove in two runs.
