After nearly two months of playing on the road, the Washburn baseball team finally opened up the home portion of their schedule against the Baker Wildcats.

The offense was going early and often scoring in each of the first four innings, and a good start from sophomore Trevor Marreel all added up to a 17-5 win.

After Marreel struck out the side in the top half of the first, the offense immediately put runs on the board to give him some support. Junior outfielder Peter Shearer got the scoring started with a base hit through the left side to drive in a pair of runs.

Catcher Steven Jacobson followed up with a sacrifice fly and Ichabods led 3-0 after one.

Baker got a run back in the top half of the second, but the Ichabods avenged the run immediately when first basemen Brady Hoover came up just a few feet short of a grand slam in the bottom of the inning when he hit a towering fly to deep left center. The left fielder made the catch. Only one run scored on the sacrifice fly.

The Ichabods broke the game open over the third and fourth innings with production coming from up and down the lineup.

The big blow came in the fourth when junior outfielder Wyatt Featherston hit a shot to center that the Wildcat centerfield dove for and missed. The ball rolled deep toward the wall and Featherston ended up on third with a 2-RBI triple.

The Ichabods’ bats were relentless throughout the first four innings due in part to their approach.

“I think we were just being aggressive,” said Lane Harvey, senior infielder. “We were getting good pitches to hit and just swinging hard. We had some good luck too. We had some balls fall for us, but just having good at-bats.”

Marreel was cruising into the fifth when he suddenly had elbow discomfort with two outs in the fifth. After the trainer came out to check on him, Marreel exited the game.

Senior Jake Butterfield took over and pitched the next 1.1 innings. From there, the Ichabods pieced it together the rest of the way.

Baker got four runs in the sixth, but it was too little too late. Infielder Bailey Jenkins finished off the scoring for Washburn with a 2-RBI single to center in the bottom of the inning.

Senior Kolten Meyer recorded the last out of the game to close out the blowout win for the Ichabods.

Despite going 4-for-4 at the plate, senior Javis Larson was happy with the way the pitchers executed with a big lead.

“They were just getting on top and getting that first pitch strike,” said Larson. “Then they were just able to go to work from there.”

The win improves the Ichabods to 12-13 on the season. They will play Northwest Missouri State at 3 p.m. Saturday, March 30 in Maryville, Missouri.