First Pitch
• The 16th-ranked Central Missouri Mules welcome Southwest Baptist to Warrensburg on Wednesday night at 6 p.m. for the first game of a three-game midweek series.
• Central Missouri was picked to finish third in the MIAA's Preseason Coaches' poll.
• The Mules were 30-22 a season ago and finished in third place in the MIAA with a 23-13 conference mark. It was the 22nd consecutive season with at least 30 wins for UCM.

On the air
• All of this season's home games and select road games can be heard live on 1450 KOKO and warrensburgradio.com.
• Bob Jackson and Ricky Rivera will be on the call with the Lotspeich Automotive Dugout Show beginning 25 minutes prior to first pitch.

The Series
• The Mules lead the all-time series with Southwest Baptist 96-12-1, including a 2-2 mark under Kyle Crookes.
• The teams split a four-game series last year in Bolivar. The Bearcats won the first two games of the series 6-5 and 6-2 with the Mules capturing the last two games 6-1 and 11-6.

Southwest Baptist
• Southwest Baptist enters the Wednesday night matchup at 17-17 overall and 12-12 in MIAA play after dropping two of three games to Washburn last weekend.
• The Bearcats are 7-10 on the road this season.
• Southwest Baptist is led by fifth-year head coach Chris Martin. He has a 107-123-1 record leading the Bearcat program.
• SBU is hitting .335 as a team with 79 doubles, 14 triples, 37 homers and 261 RBI.
• Caleb Sneed leads the Bearcats and ranks second in the MIAA in hitting with a .431 average. He is tied for the team lead with 12 doubles to go along with five home runs and 33 RBI.
• Sean Murley bats .405 with 10 extra-base hits and 25 driven in.
• Carter Sherban is batting .365, is second on the team with eight homers and is tied for the team lead with 35 RBI.
• Trevor Bowling leads the team in home runs with nine, is tied for the lead in RBI and bats .316.
• Seven qualified players are hitting .313 or better and nine players driving in at least 16 runs. Eight players have at least 24 RBI and four have 30 or more.
• The Southwest Baptist pitching staff has an 6.64 ERA in 34 games and 286.0 innings pitched. The staff has walked 158 and struck out 212 during that span. Opponents are hitting .304 against SBU.
• Carter Sherban is 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA in four relief appearances. He has seven K's in seven innings pitched.
• Cory Borsh is 2-2 with a 4.97 earned run average in eight appearances and seven starts.
• Brandon Chernoff is 4-2 with a 5.24 ERA in 10 appearances and eight starts. He leads the team with 33 strikeouts in 46.1 innings.
• The Bearcats have a .962 team fielding percentage. They've committed 47 errors and have turned 24 double plays on the year.

The Mules
• Central Missouri enters the midweek game at 22-9 overall and 20-4 in MIAA play after taking two out of three from No. 11 Emporia State last weekend.
• The Mules are hitting .287 as a team with 48 doubles, 14 triples, 36 home runs and 201 RBI.
• Jake Alexander is hitting .393 with eight doubles, a triple, three home runs and 25 RBI. He has a .468 on-base percentage.
• Derek Cornell is hitting .351 with 10 extra-base hits, including four home runs and 27 RBI.
• Dylan Farrell is hitting .346 with six doubles, a triple and six home runs and 27 RBI.
• Bennett Oliver leads the team in home runs with 10 and has knocked in 26 runs, while hitting .319.
• The pitching staff has a 3.62 team ERA through 31 games and 271.1 innings pitched. The staff has 281 strikeouts and 107 walks during that span.
• Ethan Westphal is 5-1 with a staff-leading 2.17 ERA in eight appearances and seven starts. He leads the team with 58 strikeouts in 49.2 innings pitched and is holding opponents to a .184 batting average.
• Carlos D'Armas is 2-1 with a 3.97 ERA in nine starts. He's fanned 52 batters in 47.2 innings pitched.
• Tyler House is 5-1 with a 4.01 ERA in nine starts. He's struck out 44 batters in 49.1 innings pitched and is holding opponents to a .230 batting average.
• Andy Muehlberger is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in eight relief appearances. He has seven strikeouts in 6.2 innings pitched and has allowed three hits.
• Grant Gavin leads the team with six saves to go along with a 2-2 record and a 3.57 ERA in 15 relief appearances. He has struck out 21 batters in 17.2 innings pitched.
• Lucas Williams is 2-1 with a 3.68 earned run average in 11 appearances. He has 21 K's in 22 innings pitched.
• The UCM defense has a .967 fielding percentage and has committed 38 errors on the season. The Mules have turned 21 double plays on the year.

Worth Noting
• The Mules hit .625 with runners on third and less than two outs in the Emporia State series.
• During MIAA play, the Mules are hitting .326 with runners in scoring position and .651 with runners on third and less than two outs.
• The Mules currently rank 12th in the MIAA in batting with a .287 team average, but they are first in pitching (3.62 ERA) and third in fielding (.967 fld%).

Season and single-game tickets available online
• All-season passes and single-game tickets for Mules Baseball are available online at UCMathletics.com/tickets or at the UCM Athletic Ticket Office in room 101 of the Multipurpose Building.
• Season passes for all eight remaining regular season home games are $20 for adults and $10 for youth.
• Single-game tickets are $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and $3 for youth. UCM students get in free with their student ID's.

Last time out
April 10, 2016 - (WARRENSBURG, Mo.) -- The Mules used a trio of triples to top No. 11 Emporia State, 7-5 Sunday afternoon at home.
    Central Missouri got on the scoreboard in the first inning when Jake Alexander brought home Matt Elliott on a single to right field.
    The Hornets responded in the top of the fourth inning with a pair of runs to take a 2-1 lead. The Mules retook the lead in the bottom half of the inning on a two-run home run by Derek Cornell, his fourth of the year. The Mules added to their lead in the bottom of the seventh when the Hornet pitcher walked Cole Distler, bringing home Elliott.
    Emporia State took a 5-4 lead with a three-run eighth inning. Central Missouri retook the lead for good in the bottom half of the inning. Jackson Schnurbusch singled to center field to start the inning. Elliot hit his second triple of the game later in the inning to score Schnurbusch to tie the game at five. Dylan Farrell followed Elliot's hit with a single of his own, scoring Elliot to take a 6-5 lead. The Mules added another run later in the inning to take a 7-5 lead into the ninth inning.
    In the bottom of the ninth, Grant Gavin struck out one and forced two groundouts to seal the victory. The win moves Gavin to 2-2 on the season.
    The Mules improve to 22-9 overall and 20-4 in the MIAA with the win, while Emporia State falls to 26-9 overall and 18-6 in the MIAA.

Mules in MIAA play
• The Mules are 20-4 in MIAA play this season after taking two out of three from 11th-ranked Emporia State over the weekend.
• The Mules finished 23-13 in MIAA play last season and finished in third place in the conference's regular season standings.

Mules in non-conference action
• The Mules are 2-5 in non-conference action this season after beating Drury 4-3 on March 16.
• The Mules were 7-9 in non-conference games last season.

The Mules at home
• The Mules are 12-2 at home after taking two out of three games from Emporia State over the weekend.
• Central Missouri was 15-5 at home during the 2015 season.
• The Mules are 767-151-1 (.835) in 919 games played in this, their 41st season playing home games at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field.

Mules on the road
• The Mules are 9-3 on the road this season after the Tuesday night win at Lindenwood.
• The Mules were 12-13 on the road last season.

Mules in neutral site games
• The Mules are 1-4 in neutral site games after going 1-1 against Oklahoma Christian and Central Oklahoma at the Southern Arkansas Invitational in Magnolia, Arkansas.
• UCM was 3-4 in neutral site games last season.

Mules in the rankings
• The Mules moved up 10 spots this week to No. 16 in the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball Top 30 poll. The Mules' No. 26 ranking was their first this season.
• The Mules were ranked No. 5 in last week's NCBWA Central Region Poll.

Mules vs. ranked opponents
• The Mules are 2-4 this season when facing a ranked opponent after beating No. 11 Emporia State in two out of three games last weekend.
• Two of the losses happened at the season-opening Houston Winter Invitational with the third happening the following week at Southern Arkansas and all three were by one run.

UCM during the Crookes era
• Kyle Crookes has a 52-31 (.627) record in his second season as head coach at Central Missouri.
• The Mules went 30-22 during Crookes' first season as head coach. Ten Mules earned All-MIAA honors, including First Team honors for outfielder Trevor Jones, who went on to earn Second Team All-Region honors as well.
• The Mules were 71-29 in Crookes' two seasons as an assistant coach and captured the 2014 MIAA Regular Season Championship. The Mules garnered five First Team All-MIAA selections and three All-America honors during his two years as an assistant.
• Crookes compiled a 292-164 overall record in eight seasons as the head coach at Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College before taking over as an assistant coach at UCM.

Mules Baseball History
• The 2016 season marks the 61st in the storied history of Mules Baseball. During that span the Mules have compiled a 1,811-717-9 (.716) record in 2,537 games played.
• The Mules have won 40 or more games 17 times, including 14 straight seasons from 1999-2012, and have won 50 or more games nine times.
• The Mules have won or shared 24 MIAA championships, captured 16 regional titles and two national championships.

Mules Baseball by the Numbers
• 27 NCAA Regional Appearances (20 of the last 22 years)
• 24 MIAA Titles (16 of the last 22)
• 20 MIAA Tournament Titles (16 of the last 22)
• 16 Regional Championships
• 15 Regionals as host site
• 13 Top Five national finishes
• 4 Third place finishes
• 1 National Runner-Up
• 2 National Championships

Mules Baseball: Winningest Team of the 2000s
• The Central Missouri baseball program has had unprecedented success in the last 25 years and has been even more impressive since the year 2000. The Mules were the winningest team in all divisions of the NCAA by victories (508) and percentage (.814, 508-116) from 2000-09. That success has continued through the 2010s.
• The Mules are 780-206 (.791) since the year 2000. An average of 45 wins per season over the last 17 years.

A Tradition of Excellence in Athletics
• Entering the 2015-16 academic year, Central Missouri had won a combined 205 MIAA regular season conference championships in 14 league sports to lead all schools.
• Last season, UCM captured five MIAA regular season titles, and three MIAA Tournament crowns.
• Since 1983, the tenure of Athletic Director Jerry Hughes, UCM has won or shared 151 MIAA championships, more than any other league school.
• Central Missouri has won eight national championships since 1980 (men's and women's basketball in 1984, baseball in 1994 and 2003, women's bowling in 2003, men's basketball in 2014, and women's indoor and outdoor track & field in 2015) and 10 national championships overall.

A Tradition of Excellence in the Classroom
• Central Missouri had 218 student-athletes named to the 2014-15 MIAA Academic Honor Roll with grade point averages of 3.0 or higher.
• 29 UCM student-athletes were named MIAA Scholar Athletes with at least a 3.5 GPA and having earned all-MIAA honors in their respective sport.
• 17 UCM student-athletes were named MIAA Academic Excellence Award winners with a 4.0 GPA.
• UCM had six student-athletes earn Academic All-Region awards in their respective sports with three of those earning CoSIDA Academic All-America honors.
• Since the year 2000, UCM is tied for sixth in NCAA-II with 49 Academic All-Americans.

Upcoming
• The Mules host Missouri Southern for a three-game series beginning on Friday, April 15 at 6 p.m. at Crane Stadium.
• Before Friday's game against MSSU fans can receive a FREE Coca-Cola UCM Athletics t-shirt. Gates open at 5 p.m. and sizes and supplies are limited.
• Following Sunday's game, Warrensburg Parks & Rec will be hosting the MLB Pitch, Hit and Run competition on the field.
• UCM heads to Southwest Baptist for the second game of the three-game series on Tuesday, April 19. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.