By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
MAGNOLIA, Ark. -- It was a long time coming, but Washburn University baseball is finally in the NCAA Division II Baseball Tournament field.
Now the Ichabods just want to take advantage of that opportunity.
"I've had confidence in these guys all year,' and we've got a great team,'' Washburn senior standout Brett Ingram said. "I think the last couple of weeks we really got tested against some really really good teams. We took care of business against all the teams we knew we had to take care of and I think nobody's more deserving of this than us.''
Washburn's baseball team reacts to its first-ever selection to the NCAA Baseball Tournament during Sunday's selection show. The Ichabods open their tourney bid at 6 p.m. Thursday in Magnolia, Ark. against Southern Arkansas. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn had to wait until late in Sunday night's selection show to see its name pop up on the screen, which was a relief to Ichabod coach Harley Douglas, whose team had narrowly missed the field in previous seasons.
"My first two years here and my last year playing we were right there,'' Douglas said. "We finished fifth (in the region) and they only took four and we finished seventh when they only took six and we finished ninth when they took eight. But I felt like we played ourselves into it (a national bid) over the last couple of weeks.''
Washburn will play its first-ever NCAA postseason game at 6 p.m. Thursday as the No. 7 seed in the Central Region tournament and will take on the host team, No. 2 seed and No. 8-ranked Southern Arkansas at Walker Stadium.
"I don't think our guys are really scared of anybody,'' Douglas said. "I think they really embrace the opportunity to compete with anybody in the country.''
The NCAA Central Region No. 2 bracket consists of Southern Arkansas, No. 3 seed Henderson State, No. 6 seed Northeastern State and Washburn. It is a double-elimination tournament with the winner moving on to play a best-of-three series against the winner of the Central Region No. 1 bracket.
Washburn is 33-20 on the season and went 4-2 in the MIAA Tournament.
Washburn is hitting .301 and has outscored its opponents, 426-355, and also leads in hits (562-466), doubles (121-90) and home runs (73-54) this year.
The Ichabods, who were picked sixth in the MIAA Preseason Poll, reached the MIAA Tournament championship game last Saturday for the first time since 2000.
Washburn opened the MIAA Tournament with a 15-13 win over Central Missouri before the Mules came back to top the Ichabods twice in the championship round, earning their fourth straight conference tournament title with a 10-5 win.
Washburn's John Cross, Parker Dunn, Easton Bruce, Tyler Clark-Chiapparelli, Ingram and Connor Scott were all named to the MIAA All-Tournament Team.
Ingram leads the Ichabods in batting average (.365), hits (80), runs (56), doubles (20) and multi-hit games (27). Ingram was named to the All-MIAA second team for the second consecutive season.
Dunn leads the team with 17 home runs, which is the fourth-most an Ichabod has hit in a single season. He also has driven in a team-best 59 runs to rank seventh on WU's single season chart.
The Ichabods pitching staff has a 5.78 earned run average and has recorded the most strikeouts of any MIAA team, tallying 517.
Casey Steward is 5-2 in 15 starts and has thrown a team-high 72 innings. He has a 6.38 ERA and 77 strikeouts while holding opponents to a .264 batting average.
In his first year with the Ichabods, Charlie Kiefer he has made 14 total appearances with six starts and is 3-1 with one save. He has a 5.15 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 36 and 2/3 innings of work.
Washburn Rural product Dalton Huggins is Washburn's all-time career saves leader and leads the squad in strikeouts, appearances (28) and saves (five).
Huggins is 5-1 and has a 3.82 ERA to go with a team-leading 82 strikeouts (fourth in MIAA) and he's held opponents to a .242 batting average (fifth)
Southern Arkansas is 41-11 and swept through the GAC tournament to claim its sixth championship.
CENTRAL REGION NO. 2 BASEBALL
Thursday
2 p.m. -- No. 3 Henderson State vs. No. 6 Northeastern State
6 -- No. 2 Southern Arkansas vs. No. 7 Washburn
Friday
2 p.m. -- Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2
6 -- Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2
Saturday
2 p.m. -- Loser of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 3
6 -- Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 5
Sunday
2 p.m. -- Game 7 if necessary. Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 5
TAKE A LOOK AHEAD
>> A win on Thursday would mean Washburn would play at 6 p.m. on Friday against the winner of Henderson State/Northeastern State. If the Ichabods lose, they will play Friday at 2 p..m. against the loser in the HSU/NSU game one matchup.
