WEEKEND INFORMATION
ARKANSAS TECH WONDER BOYS Record: 2-1 (0-0 GAC)	#5 CENTRAL MISSOURI MULES Record: 1-2 (0-0 MIAA)
Friday, February 9 | 1 p.m. | DH Crain Stadium at Tompkins Field | Warrensburg, Mo. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO ($) Saturday, February 10 | 1 p.m. | DH Crain Stadium at Tompkins Field | Warrensburg, Mo. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO ($)

FIRST-PITCH
After heading south to play their opening weekend at Minute Maid Park in downtown Houston, the Arkansas Tech baseball is set to take a trip northward where they will play a four-game series at No. 5-ranked Central Missouri.
 
The series is scheduled to be played over the course of Friday and Saturday with both days featuring doubleheaders starting at 1 p.m. The seven-inning game of the doubleheaders will be played first and then turn into the nine-inning game if it goes into extra innings.
 
Last season, the Wonder Boys had this exact same schedule for their first two weekends of the season and came away from the gauntlet 3-4. Two of those wins, however, came at UCM as the Wonder Boys split the series 2-2. They also had a chance to sweep the Mules on their home field as the two losses were just by a single run.
 
Historically, the Wonder Boys and Mules have met 27 times before their clash this weekend. UCM holds a 17-10 lead in the series.
 

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TECH(NICALLY) SPEAKING
The Wonder Boys had a successful opening weekend of the season at the Houston Winter Invitational going 2-1. Playing all three games at the home ballpark of the Houston Astros, the Wonder Boys picked up their wins against St. Cloud State and No. 9-ranked Southern New Hampshire.
 
Through that opening weekend of play, the Wonder Boys are hitting .244 as a team (22-for-90) with 21 runs scored, three doubles, a triple and five home runs. Brandon Bunton currently leads the team in batting average at .429 (3-for-7). He leads the team in stolen bases with four. Logan Schwenke and Keaton Ranallo combined to hit four of the team's five homers over the weekend with each hitting two. Both of Ranallo's homers were solo shots as was one of Schwenke's. Schwenke's other home run was a grand slam against St. Cloud State, helping to the team-lead in RBIs with seven.
 
On the mound, the Wonder Boys have a team ERA of 9.00 and have struck out 26 batters in 25.0 innings of work.
 
John Gray, Emilano Mata and Jack Rector made starts over Tech's opening weekend and figure to be a part of this weekend's rotation as well. Rector had the best start among starters, going 4.2 innings against Southern New Hampshire, allowing two runs on three hits and striking out six.
 
Nine other pitchers saw action over the first weekend of the season. Grant Shahan was the most effective in relief with 3.1 innings put in against St. Cloud State. In his relief outing, Shahan allowed just one run on two hits, walked none and struck out six.
 
Leading the Wonder Boys once more is Dave Dawson. The all-time winningest coach in Tech Baseball history, Dawson enters his 15th year in the dugout for the Wonder Boys. In his previous 14 seasons, Dawson has guided amassed a 412-291 record. He has also had seven seasons with 30 or more wins which includes the 2014 season in which he led the team a program-record 44 wins and hosting rights for that year's Central Region Tournament.
 
Overall, Dawson is in his 19th year as a head baseball coach at the collegiate level as he spent four years as head coach at Kansas Wesleyan and totaled 118 wins. His combined win total at Tech and Kansas Wesleyan have him with a career record of 530-382.
 

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SCOUTING CENTRAL MISSOURI
A perennial national powerhouse program, Central Missouri also opened their 2024 season at the Houston Winter Invitational, serving as the hosts for the 12^th-straight year. At the 2024 edition of the opening weekend showcase, the Mules went 1-2, losing to No. 7-ranked Millersville, 15-13, and No. 3-ranked Tampa, 16-4. The win for the Mules over the weekend was a walk-off 5-4 win against No. 9-ranked Southern New Hampshire.
 
Offensively, the Mules are hitting .343 as a team (36-for-105) with 22 runs scored, eight doubles, no triples and five home runs. After the first weekend of action, the Mules have four players hitting .400 or better with Jack Schark leading the way at .500 (6-for-12). Josh Patrick has provided the most power thus far with three homers and four RBIs to lead the team in both.
 
On the mound, the Mules have an 11.67 team ERA and have struck out 30 batters in 27.0 innings of work.
 
The Mules used a weekend rotation of Conner Wolf, Jake Wilson and Jacob Merithew in Houston. Only Wilson and Wolf pitched more than 2.0 innings in their stars, but Wilson went the deepest at 3.0 innings of work. All told, the Mules used 21 pitchers during opening weekend and just two arms pitched more than 2.0 innings.
 
The Mules are led by Kyle Crookes, who is in his 10th season at UCM. In his time, Crookes has won 30 or more games every year (with the exception of the COVID-shortened 2020 season – UCM was off to a 20-3 start) and five times has won over 40 games. Overall, Crookes has amassed a 347-125 record at UCM, making him the second-winningest coach at Central Missouri