- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University men's tennis finished out its regular season with a 7-0 Senior Day sweep over Nebraska-Kearney on Friday morning at Genesis Tennis Center, with the Ichabods capturing the MIAA/GAC North Division regular-season title.
Washburn will be the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament next week.
Washburn's men's tennis team wrapped up a regular-season conference title with Friday's 7-0 sweep over Nebraska-Kearney. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The North Division championship is the first in the regular season for the Ichabods since the 2020-21 season, the first full season since the league split into divisions.
Doubles play began on the top court with No. 22 Tim Hammes and Matthew Earle securing a 6-4 win over No. 11-ranked Aaron Osmond and Tom van den Dungen to give Washburn (17-4 overal, 5-0 MIAA/GAC) an edge over the Lopers (13-10, 3-2).
Santiago Rendon and Pavlos Parsons followed closely behind with a 6-3 win at No. 3 to take the first point of the match.
No. 39 Sebastian Pjontek and Daniel Bird led 4-2 at No. 2 when the point was decided.
No. 69 Parson began singles play with a two-set win at No. 3 by scores of 6-3 and 6-2. After cruising to a 6-1 first set win on the first court No. 10 Hammes won 6-4 in the second to set up match point.
Tommy Cecchetti clinched the match with a swift 6-2 win in the first set and a 6-4 victory in the second set at No. 5.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University's Payton McHarg slugged a grand slam in the second inning to give the Ichabods a 4-0 lead and WU didn't look back, taking a relocated Game 1 over Northeastern State, 13-7, in Broken Arrow, Okla.
Junior Payton McHarg had two home runs, including a grand slam, with six RBI in Friday's 13-7 Washburn win over Northeastern State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods will play Game 2 in the same spot at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
In the top of the first inning Washburn (27-19 overall, 19-12 in the MIAA) threatened, but left two on base.
WU starting pitcher Caden Bressler sat Northeastern State down in order in the bottom of the opening inning and in the second the bases were loaded for the Ichabods after Blake Scott singled, Jett Buck was was hit by a pitch and Grant Jones worked a walk.
That set the stage for McHarg, who broke the game open with his second grand slam of the season.
Washburn got another run across in the top of the third after back-to-back singles from Connor and Blake Scott.
Buck was hit again to load the bases and Jones hit an RBI groundout to make it 5-0.
The RIverHawks got on the board in the third with a single and three straight walks, followed by a hit batter to score two runs. An RBI groundout brought around another run for a three-run inning.
The Ichabods made it three straight innings in the fourth, scoring with Connor Scott picking up an RBI pop out, scoring McHarg, who led off with a walk.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The No. 24-ranked Washburn Ichabods softball team wraps up the regular season after two weeks off from game competition as WU travels down the turnpike on Saturday to face Emporia State in an MIAA twinbill (11 a.m. start).
Senior Marrit Mead, a former Santa Fe Trail star, holds multiple Washburn softball career records. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn enters the weekend 36-12 overall and 17-7 in the MIAA after sweeping Missouri Southern and being swept by Pittsburg State the weekend of April 12-13.
The Hornets are 29-19 and 12-12 after defeating Rockhurst in a single game on April 23 in Kansas City.
Washburn has already secured its 19th season with at least 30 wins and its fourth under head coach Brenda Holaday, who won her 600th career game as a head coach earlier this month. Holaday had 351 career high school coaching wins and has 251 wins at Washburn entering the weekend.
Hitting the 30-win mark for the third straight season is the longest streak since the Ichabods won at least 30 games in six straight seasons from 2002-07.
The Ichabods are ranked seventh in the nation with 94 doubles and are also ranked seventh in the nation in doubles per game (1.96), eighth in earned run average (1.63) and third in shutouts (17).
The Ichabods need five more doubles to tie the Washburn single-season record of 99 set in 2022.
Individually, sophomore pitcher Sadie Walker is eighth in the nation in wins (20) and seventh in games started (26) as well as 15th in shutouts and 21st in earned run average at 1.26.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Senior Jaycee Ginter will go down in history as one of the best players in Washburn University softball history.
Senior Jaycee Ginter has put together a record-setting career for Washburn University's softball team, currently No. 24-ranked in the nation. [File photo/TSN]
Entering the final stretch of her outstanding four-year Ichabod career, Ginter already holds WU career pitching records for wins (84), strikeouts (779) and appearances (142) and is the program leader for single-season wins (30), strikeouts (290) and appearances (45).
Ginter, who helped lead Shawnee Heights to three straight Class 5A state titles, also ranks among the top 15 all-time in numerouss offensive categories, with a career batting average of .337, 28 home runs and 166 runs batted in entering Saturday's MIAA twinbill at Emporia State.
"Jaycee is a unicorn -- one of one,'' Washburn coach Brenda Holaday said. "She is arguably the best to ever play at Washburn given what she has done at the plate and on the mound -- a rare combination of excellence.''
But all those accolades aside, Ginter may never get the credit she truly deserves for being able to overcome the multiple obstacles she's faced along the way.
Ginter, whose senior season at Heights in 2020 was wiped out by COVID-19, battled a forearm issue as a freshman at Washburn and overcame a concussion at the start of her sophomore campaign and her continuing forearm problem to earn first-team All-America recognition with a 30-7 pitching record (1.76 earned run average, 290 strikeouts) and a .385 batting average (10 homers, 57 RBI).
Ginter faced her biggest injury challenge, a torn labrum in her shoulder, midway through the 2023 season, but still posted a 24-10 record (1.72 ERA, 243 strikeouts) and hit .303 (7 homers, 41 RBI).
"She is a warrior and never even thinks about not playing when she is hurt or injured -- doesn't cross her mind,'' Holaday said. "She is the ultimate competitor and performs pretty stress free and without fear. Success and failure does not change her.''
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University baseball heads to Tahlequah, Okla. for its final regular-season series of the year against Northeastern State, beginning on Friday at 2 p.m.
Washburn junior Payton McHarg is hitting .351 and leads the Ichabods in home runs and runs batted in. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Last time out the Ichabods won 14-3 over Southern Nazarene on the road Wednesday afternoon and are currently 26-19 overall and 18-12 in the MIAA.
The RiverHawks enter the series with a 20-27 record and an 11-19 record in the MIAA after falling 17-5 to Oklahoma Baptist on Tuesday.
Washburn enters the MIAA Tournament next weekend which is played on the campus sites of the top four seeds. Washburn currently sits in fifth place in the MIAA standings. The Ichabods can go no lower than the fifth seed and could climb as high as third.
To finish in third the Ichabods would need to sweep the RiverHawks, with Central Oklahoma losing all three games in its weekend series and Pittsburg State winning no more than one. If Washburn is tied with the Gorillas the Ichabods would have the tiebreaker to move up to fourth or fifth in the standings. The Bronchos have the tiebreaker over the Ichabods.
Through 45 games Washburn is scoring 9.13 runs per game while allowing 7.49.
At the plate the Ichabods are hitting .324 with a .418 on-base percentage and are slugging .573 as a team. They have 85 home runs and have drawn 224 walks.
Washburn's pitching staff has an earned run average of 7.26 this season in 385.2 inning pitched. The Ichabods have struck out 337 batters while allowing 427 hits and issuing 246 walks.
The Ichabods are second in the nation in home runs with an average of 1.89 per game and 85 total blasts.
