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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Junior Payton McHarg went 4 for 4 with three runs batted in as Washburn University baseball scored double-digit runs for a third straight game on Saturday afternoon at Broken Arrow, Okla., winning 14-6 over Northeastern State to clinch the series.
On Friday McHarg hit a pair of homers and had six RBI.
The Ichabods will go for a sweep on Sunday at 2 p.m.
The WU offense got going right from the jump with three hits from the first four batters Washburn (28-19 overall, 20-12 MIAA) sent to the plate.
Hayden Priest singled to score Cale Savage and Washburn Rural product Cooper Carlgren delivered a scoreless bottom of the first on the bump for the Ichabods.
In the second Washburn loaded the bases with one out after a walk and a pair of hit batters.
Savage singled to bring two around to score and Cash Jay followed with a run-scoring fielders choice to make the score 4-0.
The RiverHawks (20-29, 11-21) got on the board in the bottom of the inning with a walk and a one-out home run. A hit batter, walk and single scored another run.
Washburn loaded the bases on a single, walk and hit batter and scored two runs in the third on another hit batter and walk.
Neither side scored for the next two and a half innings until Northeastern State led off the bottom of the fourth with a solo home run, cutting the deficit to two.
After Trevor McCollum was able to reach on an error in the fifth he was moved around and the Ichabods got the run back with a sacrifice fly from Savage.
Carlgren finished his outing with a 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth to hold the lead.
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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).
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.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Senior Jaycee Ginter will go down in history as one of the best players in Washburn University softball history.
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.''