By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After putting up a spirited fight in a 14-11 loss at Division I Wichita State on Tuesday, Washburn returns to MIAA action with an important three-game road series at Missouri Western Thursday through Saturday in St. Joseph, Mo.
Washburn junior third baseman Trenton Barry (4) and the Ichabods will face Missouri Western in an MIAA road series Thursday through Saturday. [File photo/TSN]
The Ichabods will begin the series at 6 p.m. Thursday, followed by a 3 p.m. game on Friday and a 1 p.m. series finale on Saturday.
Washburn, 12-20 overall and 9-10 in the MIAA, gave a good accounting of itself in Tuesday's 14-11 loss at Eck Stadium to Wichita State, 20-10 on the year, including a five-run rally in the top of the ninth in the three-run loss.
"I felt like we came out right away with a lot of fire and nothing really to lose, playing up a division,'' Washburn junior third basemen Trenton Barry said. "We came out with fire and I think we carried it out. We made our mistakes here and there and that obviously cost us the game in the end.
"But that late run that we had, that showed that fight that we have. We've just got mistakes here and there that we've got to clean up. That's kind of been what the story's been all year and it's all going to be about fixing those and carrying on.''
And Barry, who is hitting .300 with two home runs, a team-high three triples and 19 RBI, said that it's time to get that done, beginning with the Missouri Western series.
"There's not much time to figure it out,'' he said. "Either you do it or you don't and that's going to be your wins and your losses. We showed (against Wichita State) that we are capable of playing with anybody in this country and I feel like we know that now.
"There should be no doubt in our mind going into every day that we should go win the game. We just need to put it all together now.''
Washburn is scoring 7.94 runs per game on the season while opponents are averaging 8.75 runs per game.
At the plate the Ichabods are hitting .288 and have tallied 23 home runs with 169 total walks.
The pitching staff has a 7.29 earned run average with 250 strikeouts across 279.0 innings. The Ichadobds have allowed 350 hits and issued 187 walks.
Washburn has a .964 fielding percentage as a team with 44 errors and 16 turned double plays.
WU's Ian Luce has the longest current hitting streak at 11 games heading into the weekend, the longest hitting streak of any player this season.
Luce is hitting a team-high .404 with 31 runs batted in and has reached base in all 32 games, the only Ichabod player to do so, and has a team-high 18 games with multiple hits.
Levi Risenhoover is hitting .317 and leads the team with seven home runs and 36 RBI.
Brandt Beeby is hitting .319, second-best on the team, in 16 stars.
Former Seaman standout Maclane Finley has thrown a team-high 42.0 innings across his eight starts this season.
He has struck out 31 batters and has a 6.86 ERA and 3-3 record, a team-high in victories. He has thrown into the fifth inning in every start.
Missouri Western fell to 15-17 overall and 10-11 in the MIAA with an 8-3 loss on the road to Emporia State on Tuesday.
Miguel Cantu is hitting .256 for the Griffons with eight home runs and a team-high 38 RBI while going 5-5 in stolen base attempts. He ranks sixth in the MIAA in home runs, slugging percentage and seventh in RBI.
Ben Waliczek leads Western with a .364 batting average.
The Griffons' pitching staff has a 6.88 ERA as a team across 266.2 innings. They have struck out 203 batters while walking 165 and allowing 323 total hits.
Cole Evans has appeared in 10 games with nine starts, throwing a team-high 58.2 innings. He has a 6-1 record and 3.37 ERA with 47 strikeouts, all team-highs.
Washburn leads the all-time series between the two teams, 79-74. The Ichabods are 39-36 against the Griffons on the road.
The Griffons took two out of three games in the season series last season in Topeka.
Washburn will host Northwestern Oklahoma next Tuesday and will stay at home to hosting Arkansas-Fort Smith for a three-game series beginning Friday, April 10.
