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The Week Ahead:
The Griffons baseball team enters this week with an 33-15 overall record and finished MIAA play with a 26-12 record. The 26 win in MIAA play is the most by a Griffon team dating back to 2001. Western won 24 MIAA games last season. Western will be the #2 seed in this weeks MIAA Tournament in Kansas City, Kan. at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. The Griffons have never been the one seed and only been the two seed one other time which was in 2005. The Griffons earn a bye in the MIAA tournament as four teams will play an elimination game on Thursday. Missouri Southern will play Fort Hays State and Washburn will play Emporia State on Thursday to decide who will advance to play in the four team double elimination tournament. Western will take on Missouri Southern, Emporia State or Washburn in its opening round game on Friday, May 11 at 2:30 pm. Western has a combined record of 10-2 against those three teams this season with both losses coming at home against Emporia State. Against all the teams in this weekend tournament the Griffons are 14-6 this season with three of those loses coming against Central Missouri on the opening weekend of play.

Scouting the Competition:
University of Central Missouri: Central Missouri comes into the week as the 5th ranked team in the nation and the #1 ranked team in the South Central Region. The Mules finished the regular season with a 41-7 overall record and 34-4 in MIAA play. Central Missouri has now won three consecutive MIAA regular season titles and has claimed 10 of the last 13 crowns. The Mules have won a total of 23 total conference championships in school history. The Mules have won its last ten games which includes four game sweeps of Washburn and Pittsburg State.  The Mules are hitting .336 as a team with one player hitting over .400 and seven players hitting over .300. Ben Cox leads the way with a .406 batting average with 41 hits in 39 games played. Game Thibodeau is hitting .368 with 57 hits while Brett Schwartz leads the team with 62 hits and three triples. He is hitting .358 on the year. John Oropeza is hitting .352 with six home runs while Jordan Coons leads the charge with 39 RBI.  On the mound UCM leads the MIAA with a 2.80 ERA. Lee Stoppelman is 8-0 with a 1.25 ERA, pitching 65 innings with 75 strikeouts. Kurtis Chuyler and Chris Fitzpatrick are 8-2 and 6-0 respectively. The Mules beat the Griffons three out of four games in early March. Western won game one 8-3 before falling 11-0, 9-8 and 7-2. UCM leads the all-time series 100-30. The Griffons are just 9-38 against Central Missouri since 2001. Western is 3-17 against the Mules in St. Joseph since 2001. The Griffons are 5-18 in Warrensburg. On neutral field Western is 1-3 against the Mules with their only victory coming by a score of 16-8 on May 19, 2006 in the NCAA Division II National Tournament. Western is 0-4 since 2001 in MIAA tournament games against the Mules. Western fell 4-2 last season on May 13, 2011.

Missouri Southern State University: The Lions come into this weeks games as the #3 seed in the tournament. The Lions are 32-18 and 23-17 in MIAA play. The Lions closed out its regular season winning 10 of its last 12 games which included a four game sweep over Southwest Baptist last weekend in Joplin. The Lions come into the week with a .310 overall batting average which is sixth in the league. The have five players batting over .300 with Michael McCoy leading the way with a .374 average. He has 67 hits and has scored 40 runs and 43 RBI. Luke Acosta leads the way with 14 doubles and 94 total bases while Sam Ryan has blasted seven home runs. As a team on the mound they have a 3.64 ERA which is third in the MIAA. David Reese leads the way with a 2.43 ERA and a 6-3 overall record. Cody Griebling is 9-3 with a 2.83 ERA in 14 appearances. Griebling has pitched nine complete games with one shutout. He has thrown 89 innings with 68 strikeouts and giving up 82 hits. He has given up 28 earned runs and 14 extra base hits. Western swept the Lions this season in St. Joseph winning by scores of 5-3, 2-1, 3-0 and 5-2 when the Lions were ranked #11 in the nation. The Griffons trail the all-time series with the Lions 69-51. Western is 23-36 in Joplin, 26-29 in St. Joseph and 2-4 on the road. The first time the teams met was in 1972. Since 2001 the Griffons are 26-16 against the Lions and 14-8 at home. The Griffons are 11-8 on the road and 0-1 at a neutral site. The Griffons have not played the Lions in the MIAA Tournament since 2001.

Washburn University: The Ichabods come into the weekend with a 26-22 overall record and finished with a 22-18 MIAA record. Washburn will be the 4th seed in the MIAA Tournament. Washburn has won six of its last eight games coming into the tournament which includes taking three of four against rival Emporia State last weekend. As a team the Ichabods are hitting .312 which is 5th in the MIAA. John Calhoun leads the way with a .401 batting average with 69 hits, 18 doubles, 44 runs scored, nine home runs and 41 RBI. Four other Ichabods are hitting above .300.  On the mound they have a 4.74 ERA which is fifth in the MIAA. They are led by Kerry Schachenmeyer with a 7-2 record in 10 appearances. Brett Ash is 6-4 while Tyler Bean is 4-3. Ash has thrown nine complete games with two shutouts. He has a 3.17 ERA. The Griffons trail the all-time series with the Ichabods 57-52 with the first meeting coming in 1970. Since 2001 the Griffons are 29-13 against Washburn. Western is 15-5 at home, 14-7 on the road but 0-1 at a neutral field. The Griffons and the Icahabods met in the MIAA tournament in 2006 where the Bod's defeated the Griffons 6-1.
 
Emporia State University: The Hornets come into the weekend with as the 5th seed with a 26-21 overall record and 20-18 MIAA record. Emporia State struggled down the stretch falling in six of its last eight games which included losing two against Central Missouri and three against Washburn. The Hornets are currently third in the league hitting .327 as a team. They have eight players hitting over .300 with Eric Dawson leading the way with a .380 average. He has 68 hits, 11 doubles and one home run. Joe Vaskas had 56 hits with 10 home runs while Joe Kornbrust leads the team with 69 hits and 104 total bases. On the mound the Hornets hold a 4.54 team ERA with Brandon Faulkner leading the way with a 7-3 record. He has a 4.40 ERA in 73.2 innings pitched. Derek Brooks has stared 12 games with one shutout and holds a 6-3 record. The Griffons and the Hornets split the season series with Emporia State inning both games in St. Joseph and the Girffons winning both games in Emporia. The Hornets lead the all time series 95-33. Since 2001 the Griffons are 14-33 against the Hornets. They are just 5-19 at home and 9-14 on the road. They played on game in the NCAA Regional in 2006 with the Hornets winning 16-5. Western has not faced the Hornets in the MIAA Tournament.

Fort Hays State University: The Tigers are the 6th seed heading into the tournament with a 26-22 overall and 20-19 in MIAA play. The Tigers have one five of its last games but fell to the Griffons in the final regular season series three out of four games. The Tigers come into the weekend with the second best batting average in the conference (.333) but are 9th in the conference in pitching (6.86 ERA). Fort Hays has eight players batting .300 or better with Ryan Busboom leading the way with a .392 average. He has 71 hits, 17 doubles, 1 triple and 64 RBI. Sheldon Howell is batting .379 while Nash Smith is hitting .372 with 18 doubles and 10 home runs. On the mound Brett Macari has been solid out of the bullpen posting a 4-1 record with a 1.44 ERA. He has seven saves in 25 innings of work. Shawn Lewick is 6-4 with a 3.72 ERA in 12 appearances while Andy Lewton is 5-3 in 12 appearances. The Griffons trail the all-time series with the Tigers 13-12. The first meeting between the two schools was in 2007. Western is 5-6 at home, 6-6 on the road and 1-1 in the MIAA tournament. Western won last seasons match-up 5-4 on May, 12, 2011.

CLOSING IN ON SINGLE SEASON WINS RECORD:
Junior pitcher Brandon Simmons has won 11 games this season which is tied for the most wins in Division II this season and ties the MWSU single season win mark which was set by AJ Huttenlocker back in 2009. Simmons has 24 wins in his career and is just three away from tying the career mark. Western has also had its best single season fielding year as they boast a .970 fielding percentage which would break the current mark of .964 which was set in 1973 and 2011.

GRIFFONS IN THE TOURNAMENT SINCE 2001:
The Griffons have not had very good luck in the MIAA tournament since 2001 holding just a 1-10 record. Their only victory in the tournament was last season against Fort Hays State when they won 5-4 in an elimination game off Isaac Rome's late inning home run.

GRIFFONS UNDER VERDUZCO:
In the 12-plus seasons that Verduzco has been the head coach he has compiled a 361-293 overall record and a
246-196 MIAA record.

NON-CONFERENCE GAMES UNDER VERDUZCO:
Under Verduzco the Griffons are 103-85 in non-conference games. The Griffons best non-conference record under Verduzco came in 2004 when they were 16-4 out of MIAA play.

CONFERENCE GAMES UNDER VERDUZCO:
Western is 246-196 under Verduzco since 2000 in MIAA play. This season was Western's second best season percentage wise going 26-12. Their best season percentage wise was in 2006 when they went 21-9.

HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE:
The Griffons are 166-107 under Verduzco since 2001 at home. The Griffons finished this season with a 18-5 home record which is its best home record dating back to 2001. Western has had only two losing seasons at home since 2001. They were 11-18 in 2010 and 10-12 in 2011.

ON THE ROAD:
Western has done well on the road in the last few years being .500 or better in nine of Verduzco's 13 seasons. This season Western finished 15-10 and overall since 2001 they are 149-125. Western's best season on the road came this season when they were 15-10 and 2004 when they were 12-8. Western's second best road record came in 2011 when they were 14-10.