photo by: Joy Smith/Washburn University

Washburn third baseman Zion Bowlin swings at a pitch during the MIAA baseball championship game against Central Missouri on May 14, 2022, at Wendell Simmons Field in Edmond, Oklahoma.

When Zion Bowlin was considering whether to return to the Washburn baseball team for a fifth and final season, his father, Craig Bowlin, reminded him that the money from an athletic scholarship would prevent him from going further into debt as he finished his business management degree.

Had either known that the Ichabods would end up making their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament, it may not have been as much of a discussion.

Bowlin, a Lawrence native who graduated from Free State in 2017, will lead No. 7 seed Washburn into the opening round of the Division II tournament Thursday when it faces host and No. 2 seed Southern Arkansas at 6 p.m. Fifty-six teams will partake in the event, which is organized into three- or four-team regionals with a double-elimination format.

The Ichabods (33-20) qualified despite falling to Central Missouri in the final of the MIAA tournament on Saturday. Although they lost four of six games entering the tournament, they won 14 of 15 games at one point earlier in the season.

“It’s obviously huge because it’s the first time we’ve ever been to regionals in Washburn history,” Bowlin said. “It’s kind of cool to be in that unique group. It’s something that nobody before us has ever done. It’s just cool to be able to do this and be in the record books for Washburn.”

Bowlin hit .329 with a. 377 on-base percentage this season and scored 34 runs, had 36 RBIs, hit six home runs and stole six bases. He missed 14 games, almost all of April, after he was hit by a pitch that broke his left hand but returned for the start of the MIAA tournament.

The Journal-World’s Player of the Year in 2017 and the Kansas Baseball Coaches Association’s Class 6A Player of the Year, Bowlin wanted to continue playing baseball after graduating from Free State and enrolled at Hutchinson Community College.

He transferred to Washburn for his junior season in 2020 and quickly settled in as the starting third baseman, though the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out every game after March 8. Bowlin returned to that role last season, when the Ichabods went 20-22, but has been at third and in the outfield this season. He has been in right field since he returned from surgery to fix the broken metacarpal.

Coach Harley Douglas, in his eighth season, tried to recruit Bowlin to Washburn out of high school but had no luck. He did the second time, when Bowlin realized that being close to home would allow his family the chance to see him play often.

“Zion is a kid that bought into the program immediately,” Douglas said. “He has been a huge foundational piece for the changes that we put into program and the things that we’re trying to do. He is an irreplaceable individual. We can only hope to find somebody that can kind of produce the way he does.”

Bowlin, who was honored by the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence with its prestigious Youth of the Year award in 2017, has continued to live in Lawrence and drives to Topeka for class and practice each day. He has worked for the Boys and Girls Club the last four summers, first as a group leader and then as a student support aide, and has recently been speaking to the organization about full-time roles in human resources as he considers life beyond baseball.

First, though, is the NCAA Tournament, which will give him an opportunity to appreciate playing the sport one more time.

“I’ve been playing baseball as long as I can remember, and honestly, this sport has just kept me in line,” Bowlin said. “It’s made me get decent grades. It’s made me be a better person outside of baseball. It’s taught me how to deal with adversity. It’s taught me a bunch of life lessons that I’m going to be able to use when I’m not playing baseball anymore. It’s obviously just been a huge part of my life.”