Washburn baseball drops road series to Newman

Washburn Ichabods baseball suffered a surprise series loss to the Newman Jets this weekend, dropping two out of three games on the road to the last-place team in the MIAA standings.

The lone win this weekend for Washburn came in a 21-16 slugfest in Sunday’s finale. That’s the second highest scoring game of the year for the Ichabods after their 29-19 win over the Rockhurst Hawks back on Feb. 27. The Ichabods scored three or more runs in five different innings and never trailed in the victory. Washburn mashed eight home runs in the game, including two apiece from junior shortstop Jett Buck and senior utilityman Cal Watkins. Junior pitcher Chase Torkelson earned the winning decision on Sunday, improving his record to 5-0 this season.

Washburn led 4-0 after two innings in the series opener Friday, but Newman took the lead by the end of the fourth and, after a back-and-forth battle for the rest of the game, the Jets pushed the game-winning run across with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning. The Ichabods are now 2-3 in extra-inning games this year after this loss. Junior third baseman Cash Jay, senior catcher Hayden Priest and senior designated hitter Otto Jones all hit home runs in the losing effort, while sophomore pitcher Fidel Hatch picked up the losing decision.

Saturday’s game was another high-scoring, one-run affair, with Newman against besting Washburn. This time it was the Ichabods mounting the comeback late, scoring six runs in the top of the eight to trim a seven-run deficit down to just one. But the Jets scored twice more in the eighth, barely hanging on to win after the Ichabods only scored two more of their own in the final frame. That six-run inning was headlined by junior outfielder Payton McHarg launching a grand slam, his Division II-best 18th home run of the season. Cooper Carlgren fell to 3-2 on the year after taking the loss in that game.

With the 1-2 performance this weekend, Washburn is now 13-10 in conference play, good for a virtual tie in fourth in the MIAA standings with the Pittsburg State Gorillas.

This week will be a busy one for the Ichabods, who will play five games in the span of six days. It starts with a home tilt against the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m., followed by a trip to face the Drury Panthers in a nonconference matchup Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. After that, it’s a three-game weekend set against the Fort Hays State Tigers at Falley Field. Those games will start at 5:00 p.m. Friday, 2:00 p.m. Saturday and 1:00 p.m. Sunday.