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Quick Hits
• The eighth-ranked Central Missouri Mules host Emporia State in the final regular season series of 2013. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m. and wrap up the series with a single game on Sunday at 1 p.m.
• The Mules are 31-9 overall and 25-8 in MIAA play following a weekend series at No. 6 Missouri Western in which UCM won two out of three.
• UCM is ranked No. 8 in this week's ABCA/Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Poll and the Mules are ranked in the top 15 in all four national polls.
• Central Missouri was the unanimous preseason favorite to win the MIAA as chosen by the league coaches.
• The Mules were 48-9 a season ago, their 14th consecutive season with 40 or more wins.

The Series
• Central Missouri and Emporia State have met 143 times on the diamond with the Mules holding a 100-43 lead in the all-time series.
• The Mules beat the Hornets in both meetings last year in Emporia. UCM won 6-0 and 4-1 in the first two games of the series, with the final two being rained out.
• The Mules are 20-10 against the Hornets during the Tom Myers era.

On the air
• All three games of this weekend's games against Emporia State will be broadcast on the UCM Sports Network. Saturday's games can be heard live on 1450 KOKO, 98.5 The Bar and warrensburgradio.com with Sunday's game being carried on 98.5 The Bar and warrensburgradio.com.
• Bob Jackson and Shawn Jones will be on the call with the Central Missouri School of Graduate and Extended Studies Dugout Show beginning 25 minutes prior to first pitch.

Emporia State
• The Hornets come into the series at 27-17 overall and 24-14 in MIAA play after splitting a doubleheader with Northeastern State on Wednesday. ESU won the opener 3-2, but fell 6-1 in the nightcap.
• The Hornets are batting .297 as a team and are led by Blake Sturgeon's .352 average. Todd Reller, the brother of UCM pitching coach Scott Reller, is hitting .351. Jordan Slade bats .344 and has a team-best five home runs. Aaron Rea and Eric Dawson are tied for the team lead with 31 RBI.
• The Hornet pitching staff has an 4.42 team ERA allowing 211 runs, 175 earned, in 356.0 innings. Dakota McKaskle leads the team with six wins (6-4) and sports a 2.97 ERA in 11 appearances with 10 starts. He has thrown three complete games. Kevin Shaffer is 3-2 with a team-low 2.36 ERA in 12 appearances. Keith Picht is 3-3 with a 4.15 ERA and leads the staff with four saves in 16 appearances. He's also struck out a staff-best 50 batters in 39.0 innings pitched.
• Opponents are batting .280 against Emporia State pitching.
• The pitching staff has issued 97 walks and struck out 299 in 356.0 innings pitched.
• The Hornets have committed 47 errors in the field and have a .970 team fielding percentage.

The Mules
• Central Missouri enters the final regular season series at 31-9 overall and 25-8 in MIAA play after taking two out of three games at sixth-ranked Missouri Western over the weekend.
• The Mules are batting .333 as a team and are led by Kevin Gratza's .405 average. Kyle Grieshaber is hitting .367 and leads the team with nine home runs and 49 RBI. John Oropeza is hitting .360 with 47 runs driven in, while Brad Wilson is batting .357 with three long balls and 47 RBI.
• The UCM pitching staff has an ERA of 3.94 and opponents are hitting .253 against them. Travis Higgs is 5-1 with a 3.48 ERA in nine starts and leads the team with 44 strikeouts in 51.2 innings. Jake Heissler is also 4-0 with a 2.93 ERA and 35 K's in 17 relief appearances. Kurtis Schuyler has recorded 41 K's in 45.2 innings pitched. Andrew Urban is 3-2 with a 2.75 ERA and five saves in 21 relief appearances, while Zach Davis also has five saves and 3.20 ERA in 15 appearances out of the bullpen.
• The Mules have a .972 fielding percentage and have turned 21 double plays on the year.

Worth Noting
• The Mules have scored at least one run in 338 of the 342 games played under head coach Tom Myers.
• The 26 runs scored in game one against Lincoln last week are the most ever in a game during the Tom Myers era and the most since UCM scored 32 runs in a 32-0 win over Washburn on April 26, 2004.
• The win over Nebraska-Kearney in game one of that series gave the Mules win No. 1,700 in program history.

Last time out
    April 21, 2013 - (ST. JOSEPH, Mo.) -- The eighth-ranked Central Missouri Mules rallied for two runs in the ninth inning to beat No. 6 Missouri Western 6-5 in the series finale on Sunday at the Missouri Western Baseball Field. The win gave the Mules the series win over the Griffons.
    The Mules (31-9, 25-8 MIAA) jumped on top with a pair of runs in the second inning. Kevin Gratza had an RBI single to score Brad Wilson to put UCM on the board and Seth Wheeler scored on an error to give UCM a 2-0 lead. The Griffons (32-7, 25-4 MIAA) came back with one run in the bottom of the inning on a Jake Schrader RBI double.
    UCM added two more in the third on a Kyle Grieshaber home run to left to open a 4-1 lead. Missouri Western battled back in the fourth with two runs to pull within 4-3. Jimmy Smelcer had an RBI single to score a run and Schrader brought home another run when he grounded into a double play.
    The Mules lead held until the eighth when the Griffons scored a pair to take a 5-4 lead. Bubba Dotson had an RBI triple to right to tie the game and he scored one batter later when Kyle Simpson singled past a drawn in infield to give the Griffs their first lead of the day.
    The Mules responded, however, scoring two runs in the ninth with two outs to regain the lead at 6-5. Barrett Noirfalise singled to start the rally and scored on Jon Cotter's double to right. Samuel Domingue reached on an infield single to keep the inning alive and after Trevor Jones was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Grieshaber drew a walk to force in the go ahead run.
    The first two batters in the bottom of the ninth reached base for MWSU, but Zach Davis came on and got Payton Scarbrough to pop out on a great diving play by John Oropeza on a sac bunt attempt. The next batter grounded out to Davis on a high chopper to move the runners up to second and third, but Davis struck out Michael Schulze to end the game and give UCM the win.
    Devon Brogan (5-1) earned the win in relief for Central Missouri. He allowed two hits in one plus inning of work. Davis earned his fifth save of the season recording the final three outs in the ninth after the Griffons had put two on to start the inning.
    Logan Hollinsworth (5-1) took the loss for MWSU giving up two runs on three hits in 0.2 innings. It was his first blown save of the season.

Mules in MIAA play
• Central Missouri is 25-8 this year and 183-42 overall in MIAA play under head coach Tom Myers after taking two of three from Missouri Western over the weekend.
• The Mules were 34-4 in conference play last season as they captured their third straight MIAA regular season crown and the 23rd title in school history.

Mules in non-conference action
• Central Missouri is 88-29 in non-conference games during the Tom Myers era and 6-1 this season after sweeping a three-game series at Henderson State April 6 and 7.

Mules at home
• The Mules are 6-2 at home this season after taking two out of three from Missouri Southern back on April 12 and 13 and 110-27 at the friendly confines of Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field under Tom Myers.
• Central Missouri was 20-5 at home last season. The Mules' best home record under Myers was a 23-3 mark during the 2011 campaign.
• The Mules are 693-136-1 (.836) in 830 games played during their 38th season playing home games at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field.

Mules on the road
• The Mules are 18-5 in road games this season after beating Missouri Western two out of three games in St. Joseph over the weekend.
• UCM is 127-32 in road games during the Tom Myers era.

Mules at neutral sites
• The Mules are 7-2 this year when playing at neutral sites and 34-12 overall during the Tom Myers era after taking two out of three from Washburn in St. Louis earlier this season.
• UCM opened the season 3-1 at the Astros In Action D-II Invitational and then swept a doubleheader from Truman State in Bolivar.

Regional Rankings
• Central Missouri is ranked No. 1 in the first NCAA-II Central Region Rankings released on Wednesday. The top six teams in the final rankings will qualify for the NCAA-II Central Region Tournament May 16-19 at a campus site to be determined.
• Missouri Western was ranked No. 2 in the poll followed by Minnesota State, Southern Arkansas, St. Cloud State and Arkansas Tech rounding out the top six.
• The complete Central Region rankings can be found on page five of the notes.

Mules in the Polls
• Central Missouri stayed at No. 8 in the country in this week's ABCA/Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Poll. The Mules are ranked in the top eight in all four publications including fourth in the NCBWA poll, fifth in the College Baseball Lineup poll and sixth in the D2BaseballNews.com poll.
• The Mules have been ranked in the Collegiate Baseball News Top 25 for 88 consecutive weeks with their No. 5 ranking this week. The Mules have been ranked, in order, 4, 7, 9, 9, 8, 5, 4, 3, 5, 7, 5, 8 and 8 so far this season by CBN.
• The last time UCM was unranked was April 21, 2008, but the Mules finished that season ranked No. 4 in the nation.
The Myers way
• Central Missouri head coach Tom Myers has a 271-71 (.792) record in his sixth season leading the Mules' program.
• The Mules have won at least 44 games in each of his first five seasons and recorded 52 wins during the 2010 campaign.
• The Mules have had 20 first team All-MIAA selections and 11 All-Americans during Myers' tenure.

Mules Baseball history
• In the 57th season of UCM baseball the Mules have compiled a 1,719-666-9 (.720) record in 2,394 games played.
• The Mules have won 40 or more games 17 times, including 14 straight seasons and have won 50 or more games nine times.
• The Mules have won or shared 23 MIAA championships, 16 regional titles and two national championships.

Martinez Watch List
• Prior to the season, over 150 players from across the country were named to the Tino Martinez Award Watch List for the most outstanding player in Division II baseball. Central Missouri senior infielder John Oropeza, senior outfielder Kyle Grieshaber and junior shortstop Samuel Domingue were among the names selected for consideration for the award. Junior outfielder Kevin Gratza was added to the list midseason. The award is named after Tino Martinez, former Olympian and MLB All-Star, who played collegiately at Division II University of Tampa.

New region for the Mules in 2013
• As has been the case for all UCM sports this year, the MIAA has moved into a new region for postseason play in 2013.
• The MIAA, the Northern Sun and Great American Conferences now make up the NCAA-II Central Region.
• This year's regional will take place at a campus site to be determined May 16-19.

Mules Baseball by the Numbers
• 26 NCAA Regional Appearances (last 19 in a row)
• 23 MIAA Titles (15 of the last 19)
• 20 MIAA Tournament Titles (16 of the last 19)
• 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 Millenium
• The Central Missouri baseball program has had unprecedented success in the last 20 years and has been even more impressive since the year 2000.  The Mules have a 688-154 (.817) record since 2000, the most wins of any program in NCAA Division I, II, or III. That is an average of 49 wins per season over the last 13-plus years.

A Tradition of Excellence in the Athletic Arena
• At the conclustion of the winter 2012-13 athletic season, Central Missouri has won a combined 193 MIAA regular-season conference championships in 14 league sports to lead all schools.
• During the 2011-12 school year UCM captured seven MIAA regular season and three tournament championships.
• Since 1983, the tenure of Athletic Director Jerry Hughes, UCM has won or shared 139 MIAA championships, more than any other league school.
• Central Missouri has won five national championships since 1980 (men's and women's basketball in 1984, baseball in 1994 and 2003, and women's bowling in 2003) and seven national championships overall.

A Tradition of Excellence in the Classroom
• The 500+ Central Missouri student-athletes received 245 Academic Awards from the MIAA office for the 2011-12 academic year.
• 195 UCM student-athletes were named to the MIAA Academic Honor Roll with a 3.0 GPA or higher.
• 32 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.
• 18 UCM student-athletes were named MIAA Academic Excellence Award winners with a 4.0 GPA.
• UCM had 10 student-athletes earn Academic All-America honors, including Shawn Boss being named the CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year for Track & Field.

Up next
• The Mules will host a MIAA Tournament first round best of three series beginning on Thursday, May 2 at 6 p.m. against an opponent still to be determined. Friday's game will also be a 6 p.m. start and Saturday's “if necessary” game will start at 1 p.m.
• The winners of the four first round series will move on to Community America Ballpark in Kansas City, Kan. for games beginning on Thursday, May 9.
• The NCAA Division II Central Regional will take place May 16-19 at a campus site still to be determined.