First Pitch
• The 26th-ranked Central Missouri Mules welcome No. 11 Emporia State to Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field for a key three-game series.
• The series gets underway on Friday night at 6 p.m. with first pitch on Saturday and Sunday slated for 1 p.m.
• 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 Emporia State 103-47, but are 0-2 under Kyle Crookes.
• ESU won both meetings last season, a 6-3 non-conference win in Warrensburg and a 6-3 win in the semifinals of the MIAA Tournament.
• The teams have not met for a designated MIAA game since the 2013 season when UCM swept a three-game series in Warrensburg.
• ESU won two midweek non-conference games during the 2014 season.

Emporia State
• Emporia State enters the weekend series at 25-7 overall and 17-4 in MIAA play after beating Missouri Western 12-2 on Tuesday night.
• The Hornets are 13-5 at home this season.
• Emporia State is led by 13th-year head coach Bob Fornelli. He has a 517-205 mark while leading the Hornets and a 815-328 record in his 20th season as a head coach.
• Emporia State is hitting .353 as a team, tops in the MIAA, with 88 doubles, 13 triples, 47 homers and 278 RBI.
• Tucker Perkins leads the team with a .425 batting average to go along with one home run and nine RBI.
• Daniel LaMunyon is batting .388 with 10 doubles, three home runs and 19 driven in.
• Evan Koehler leads the team with 16 home runs and 48 RBI while batting .361.
• Derek Francis is hitting .370 with seven doubles, five homers and 23 RBI.
• Eleven Hornets are batting .325 or better. Four ESU players have double digit double totals and 10 players have driven in at least 12 runs.
• The Emporia State pitching staff has an 3.88 ERA in 32 games and 269.1 innings pitched. The staff has walked 94 and struck out 275 during that span. Opponents are hitting .263 against ESU.
• Tyler Stubblefield is 7-0 with a 1.73 ERA in nine appearances and eight starts. He leads the staff with 65 strikeouts in 57.1 innings pitched and is limiting opponents to a .193 batting average.
• Jordan Plank is 5-1 with a 5.30 ERA in 12 appearances and six starts.
• Shane Davies has a 0.64 earned run average in 10 relief appearances.
• Garrett Brummett is 3-1 with a 2.39 ERA and five saves in 14 appearances. He has 39 K's in 26.1 innings pitched.
• Nineteen different pitchers have made appearances for Emporia State this season.
• The Hornets have a .971 team fielding percentage. They've committed 33 errors and have turned 19 double plays on the year.

The Mules
• Central Missouri enters the midweek game at 20-8 overall and 18-3 in MIAA play after beating Lindenwood 6-4 on Tuesday night.
• The Mules are hitting .284 as a team with 43 doubles, 11 triples, 32 home runs and 187 RBI.
• Dylan Farrell is hitting .372 with six doubles, a triple and six home runs and 26 RBI. He leads the team in batting avg. and runs batted in.
• Jake Alexander is hitting .358 with seven doubles, a triple, two home runs and 22 RBI. He has a .438 on-base percentage.
• Derek Cornell is hitting .333 with eight extra-base hits, including three home runs and 25 RBI.
• Bennett Oliver leads the team in home runs with eight and has knocked in 23 runs, while hitting .304.
• The pitching staff has a 3.39 team ERA through 28 games and 244.1 innings pitched. The staff has 259 strikeouts and 100 walks during that span.
• Ethan Westphal is 4-1 with a staff-leading 2.06 ERA in seven appearances and six starts. He leads the team with 53 strikeouts in 43.2 innings pitched and is holding opponents to a .187 batting average.
• Tyler House is 5-0 with a 3.07 ERA in eight starts. He's struck out 41 batters in 44.0 innings pitched and is holding opponents to a .210 batting average.
• Carlos D'Armas is 2-1 with a 4.29 ERA in eight starts. He's fanned 46 batters in 42.0 innings pitched.
• Andy Muehlberger is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in seven relief appearances. He has seven strikeouts in 6.1 innings pitched and has allowed three hits.
• Grant Gavin leads the team with five saves to go along with a 1-2 record and a 4.11 ERA in 13 relief appearances. He has struck out 19 batters in 15.1 innings pitched.
• Lucas Williams is 2-1 with a 2.84 earned run average in nine appearances. He has 18 K's in 19 innings pitched.
• The UCM defense has a .967 fielding percentage and has committed 34 errors on the season. The Mules have turned 19 double plays on the year.

Worth Noting
• The Mules hit .438 with runners in scoring position against Lincoln, and .760 with runners on third and less than two outs in the series.
• During MIAA play, the Mules are hitting .335 with runners in scoring position and .653 with runners on third and less than two outs.
• The Mules currently rank 11th in the MIAA in batting with a .284 team average, but they are first in pitching (3.39 ERA) and fourth 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 11 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 5, 2016 - (ST. CHARLES, Mo.) -- The 26th-ranked Mules overcame five errors on defense and rallied for a 6-4 win at Lindenwood on Tuesday night to complete the season sweep of the Lions. The Mules out-hit LWU 12-6 en route to their ninth straight win.
    The Mules (20-8, 18-3 MIAA) jumped in front 1-0 in the top of the first. Matt Elliott led off with a walk, went to second on a sac bunt and scored on Jake Alexander's single to put UCM in front.
    The lead didn't last long as Lindenwood (13-16, 7-14 MIAA) took advantage of a UCM error to tie the game on Drew Quinones' RBI single. The Lions went in front 2-1 in the third thanks to another UCM fielding error.
    The Mules regained the lead with a pair of runs in the sixth. Bennet Oliver's sacrifice fly brought home Dylan Farrell to tie the game and Miles Orscheln singled home Alexander to put UCM back in front 3-2.
    Central Missouri missed out on an opportunity to pad the lead in the top of the seventh. Blake Wilfong tripled with one out in the inning, but a pair of pop-ups kept UCM off the board.
    The Lions took advantage to regain the lead in the bottom of the seventh. A pair of walks to start the inning led to a pair of runs, one on a Ryan Sosnowski sacrifice bunt and the go-ahead score on a Quinones RBI single and LWU led 4-3.
    The Mules answered back in the eighth with two runs of their own to retake the lead, 5-4. Oliver singled and went to third on Derek Cornell's fielder's choice and an LWU error. Orscheln singled home the tying run and Matt Safranek's sac bunt brought home Cornell with the go-ahead score.
    The Mules added one run in the top of the ninth to make the lead 6-4. Wilfong led off with a double, went to third on a groundout and later scored on a wild pitch.
    The Lions got one runner on in the ninth on a one-out error, but Grant Gavin came up with two big strikeouts to close out the game and earn his fifth save of the season.
    Ross Juliana (2-1) picked up the win in relief for UCM, tossing one inning of one-hit relief. Ben Kelsch allowed two unearned runs on three hits in 3.1 innings of his first collegiate start. Tayler Ross tossed 2.2 innings of two-hit relief, while Andy Muehlberger and Gavin each tossed a scoreless inning as well with Muehlberger striking out the side in the eighth.
    Brendan Kleekamp (1-4) took the loss for Lindenwood after allowing five runs, three earned, on 11 hits in eight innings of work.
    Orscheln finished the day 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI, while Wilfong went 3-for-4 with a double, triple and a run scored. Alexander, Farrell, and Oliver each finished with two hits apiece as well.

Mules in MIAA play
• The Mules are 18-3 in MIAA play this season after rallying to beat Lindenwood 6-4 on Tuesday night.
• 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 10-1 at home after beating Lindenwood last Tuesday night. UCM has won four straight at Crane Stadium.
• Central Missouri was 15-5 at home during the 2015 season.
• The Mules are 765-150-1 (.836) in 916 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 in to the national rankings for the first time this season. UCM is ranked No. 26 in the ABCA/Collegiate Baseball Top 30 poll.
• The Mules are ranked No. 5 in this week's NCBWA Central Region Poll.

Mules vs. ranked opponents
• The Mules are 0-3 this season when facing a ranked opponent with all three losses coming by one run.
• Two of the losses happened at the season-opening Houston Winter Invitational with the third happening the following week at Southern Arkansas.

UCM during the Crookes era
• Kyle Crookes has a 50-30 (.625) 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 1,809-716-9 (.716) record in 2,534 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 778-205 (.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 Southwest Baptist on Wednesday, April 13 for the first game of a three-game midweek series. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Crane Stadium.
• UCM hosts 19th-ranked Missouri Southern for a three-game series beginning on Friday, April 15.