FHSU Athletics
Fort Hays State (7-5)
vs Washburn (6-7)
Saturday-Sunday, February 25-26, 2023
Hays, Kan. • Larks Park
Due to low temperatures in the forecast for Friday, the home opener for the Fort Hays State baseball team has been pushed back to Saturday at Larks Park. The Tigers will now host Washburn in a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at noon before wrapping up the series Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.
Fort Hays State wrapped up its long road stretch by splitting a four-games set at Regis last weekend. The Tigers continue to clean up at the plate, leading the MIAA in multiple offensive categories, including batting average (.376), runs (131), runs per game (10.9), hits (148), RBI (115), sacrifice bunts (16), slugging percentage (.607) and on-base percentage (.479).
The Tigers continue to lead all Division II in sacrifice bunts while ranking second in runs scored and hits, seventh in batting average, eighth in doubles and triples, and ninth in on-base percentage, slugging percentage and home runs per game.
Zane Knox leads the team and ranks third in the league with a batting average of .464, followed by Elliott Herrmann (.457) and Mikey Felton (.455) who rank fourth and fifth in the league, respectively. Herrmann leads all of DII with 27 RBI while also leading the team with five home runs, seventh-most in Division II. Trey DeGarmo leads the MIAA with 20 runs, which ranks fifth in DII. He is also tied for the ninth in the country with six doubles.
Jake Campbell collected his first win of the season last weekend giving up only one run on four hits through 4.1 frames giving him a team best 1.42 ERA and 1.11 WHIP. Connor Holle continues to lead the team with 14 strikeouts through 9.1 innings of work, while Cade Flaherty averages a team-high 17.4 strikeouts per nine innings. Spencer Maley has limited opponents to a batting average of .250, best on the pitching staff. Emile Boies has two saves in four appearances on the rubber.
The Tigers lead the all-time series with the Ichabods 101-81 dating all the way back to 1966. Washburn swept Fort Hays State in Topeka last season and won two out of three in Hays in 2021. The Tigers are 53-33 against the Ichabods at home.
Washburn (6-7) is fresh off of a series sweep of Concordia-St. Paul, outscoring them 38-25. The Ichabods dropped seven of their first nine games before the sweep of CSP. The Ichabods are batting .290 while scoring 91 runs over 13 games. Cal Watkins leads WU at the plate, posting a .426 average and a .611 slugging percentage while clubbing five doubles, one triple and one home run. Cole Warner leads the MIAA with a 0.65 ERA out of the pen for the Ichabods and ranks second with a .116 opposing batting average. Casey Steward has a 1-0 record through three starts, posting a 2.93 ERA and punching out 25 batters, second-most in the MIAA.