KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Despite having to settle for a split of its doubleheader Sunday at Rockhurst, the Lady Miner softball team still earned the No. 3 seed for next week's Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament in East Peoria, Ill.

UMR took the first game from the Hawks 4-2, but couldn't overcome a four-run fourth inning by Rockhurst in the nightcap and dropped a 5-4 decision.

The Lady Miners, 25-14 overall, finished GLVC play at 13-9 and took third place on the basis of percentage points over Quincy, which finished 14-10 in league play. UMR will face sixth-seeded Wisconsin-Parkside (25-18, 13-11 GLVC) Friday at 10 a.m. at the Eastside Complex in East Peoria.

UMR scored single runs in the first, second, third and sixth innings of game one. The Lady Miners got their first inning run on back-to-back doubles from Kandi Wieberg and Ashley Winter to open the game; Wieberg's double was her school record 20th of the season.

After the Hawks tied the game in the first, another double by Winter in the second drove in Wieberg to give UMR a 2-1 lead. Emily Tucker's home run to lead off the third extended the lead to 3-1, then an infield single by Kelsey Musselman in the sixth brought home Wieberg for the Lady Miners' fourth run.

Rockhurst got one run back in the seventh and had the tying runs on base, but Jen O'Hara got Holly Hilton to fly out to end the game.

Winter had three doubles in the game and Wieberg also had three hits for UMR, which had 10 hits in the contest. O'Hara got the win with a four-hitter to improve to 15-9.

In the second game, UMR took a 2-0 lead in the third when Wieberg followed a two-out hit by Krista Porterfield with her ninth home run of the season.

That lead held up until the fourth, when the Hawks put together their biggest inning of the afternoon offensively. Rockhurst loaded the bases with one out and got on the board on Erica Stone's single. Katie Flott followed that hit with a single to right center to score two and give the Hawks a 3-2 lead. Rockhurst got its fourth run of the inning on a bases loaded walk.

Hilton's leadoff homer in the fifth off Ashley Wallingford extended the Rockhurst lead to three, then the Lady Miners started climbing back into the game in the sixth.

Winter's one-out homer in that inning made it 5-3, then UMR moved to within one when Tucker started the seventh with her second homer of the afternoon. Coley Naughton then doubled with one out to put the tying run in scoring position.

With two outs, Porterfield singled to center, but pinch-runner Becky Davis was thrown out on a close play at the plate to end the game.

UMR had eight hits in game two, with Winter and Porterfield getting two hits apiece. Wallingford took the loss for the Lady Miners.

The Lady Miners swept the doubleheader from UW-Parkside on April 7, winning by scores of 8-5 and 6-4 in Rolla.

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Cody Bass

Relegated the role of spoiler, the Miner baseball team did its part Sunday to try to keep Quincy from being one of the six entries into the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament by taking the final game of the weekend series 8-7 at the UMR Baseball Field.

UMR had to come from behind on three different occasions, but took the lead for good with a two-run sixth inning and held on to win in its 18th one-run contest of the season.

Quincy scored in its initial at-bat of the day when Joe Palumbo doubled home Nathan Warner. The Miners got that run back in the bottom half of the first as Thomas McCormick singled with two outs, advanced to second on a walk to Eaf Redden and scored from second on Brandon Cogan's infield single behind the second base bag.

The Hawks took the lead back in the fourth when Jose Mendez singled home a pair of runs to give QU a 3-1 lead.

UMR broke loose, however, for four runs in the fifth to take the lead for the first time in the contest.

With one out, Gerad Fox was hit by a pitch and stole second, then scored on a hit up the middle by Cody Bass. After walks to McCormick and Redden loaded the bases -- and knocked out starter Bryce Crowley, a native of nearby Newburg who got the starting assignment Sunday for the Hawks -- Cogan reached base on a fielder's choice to allow Fox to score.

The Miners took the lead moments later after Cogan stole second when Robbie Martin floated a double down the left field line to score McCormick and Cogan.

Quincy regained the lead in the sixth as Mendez tripled in a pair of runs and scored himself on a squeeze bunt by Jake Schaake. But UMR bounced right back in the bottom of the sixth and got the lead back for good.

Yaimel Javier-Cury's leadoff single got the inning started and he scored on a two-out single by Bass off Nick Dunning. After Bass stole second, McCormick delivered a double out of the reach of Palumbo in right to put the Miners up 7-6.

UMR got an insurance tally in the seventh when a throwing error as the Hawks were trying to turn a double play was errant, allowing Cogan to come home to score.

Matt Nichols led off the top of the eighth with a home run off Ben Sherman, but relievers Andy Draper and Matt Campbell took care of getting the final six outs to secure the win. Draper entered the game in the eighth with a runner on first and no outs, but got a fly out before Scott Hauber was caught stealing for the second out. Draper then fanned Andrew Siemer to get out of the eighth.

Campbell pitched a perfect ninth to earn his second save and hold the victory for Sherman in relief.

UMR had 12 hits in the game with six different players getting two hits apiece. Bass, Cogan and Martin all drove in two runs to go along with their two hits.

The Miners (17-26, 10-23 GLVC), who ended a seven-game losing streak with the victory, will host Rockhurst -- another team vying for a playoff spot -- in a doubleheader Tuesday at 1 p.m. at the UMR Baseball Field. The first game will be a conference game while the second contest will be a seven-inning, non-conference affair.

Posted by John Kean at 09:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Eaf Redden

The Miners were an out away from a victory Saturday, but couldn't get the third out before Quincy staged a four-run rally with two outs to stun UMR 12-10 in the first game of a doubleheader at the UMR Baseball Field.

In the nightcap, the Hawks held off Miner comeback attempts in three of the final four innings to win 2-1 and complete the sweep of the Great Lakes Valley Conference twinbill.

UMR fell behind 5-2 in game one after Quincy scored three times in the top of the third off starter Brandon Cogan, but scored eight unanswered runs in the next two innings to take a 10-5 lead.

Five of the runs came in the third with a rally that started with a one-out single by Gerad Fox. After he stole second, Cody Bass drew a walk and Eaf Redden singled to left to score Fox. An error on the hit advanced the runners to second and third, then Thomas McCormick dropped a single into left to score both runners to tie the score.

A wild pitch and a double by Joe Montgomery gave UMR its first lead of the game, which was followed by another run-scoring hit off the bat of Matt Campbell that gave UMR a 7-5 lead.

The Miners scored three more off reliever Robby Young in the fourth, with a balk bringing in the first run. Redden followed that with a two-run homer to give UMR the five-run advantage.

After Quincy got a run back in the fifth, UMR had a chance to extend that lead in the bottom of the inning when Jared Alexander walked the bases loaded. However, Brad Shaeffer entered the game and got Robbie Martin to fly out to get the Hawks out of the inning.

Quincy drew to within two at 10-8 by scoring twice off Ben Sherman in the sixth, but Brian Rickert came in and got Matt Nichols to hit into a double play on his first pitch to close the inning.

In the seventh, Quincy's first two hitters reached base but Rickert got a foul out and a strikeout to put the Miners within an out of the victory. But an infield single by ninth place hitter Matt Scoggins loaded the bases and kept the inning going, then Nathan Warner doubled just inside the bag at third to score two and tie the game.

Joe Palumbo followed Warner's double by hitting a ball into the hole between first and second; Owen Madison got to the ball but his throw was late, allowing Scoggins to score the go-ahead run. The Hawks added another run in the inning to close the scoring.

UMR got its first two runs in the opening inning -- after Quincy had scored twice -- with consecutive hits by Fox, Bass and Redden bringing in the first tally and the second run scoring on a double play.

The Miners had 13 hits in the game, four of which came from Fox and three from Redden. Redden, who hit the first home run of the season at home since GLVC play started, drove in four runs.

The teams combined to use 10 pitchers in the first game.

While the offenses dominated the opener, starting pitchers Tavish Hill for the Miners and Greg Dowdall for QU took matters into their own hands in the second game.

Quincy got an early lead when Palumbo tripled and Nick Dunning drove him in with a ground out, then the pitchers took over from there.

Neither team scored again until the ninth, as Hill scattered eight hits in eight-plus innings but was outdueled by Dowdall, who gave up seven hits and struck out four in a complete game effort.

The Miners had chances to score in the sixth when Cogan bunted his way on and stole second, but McCormick was retired on a grounder to second to end that threat. UMR got two more runners on base in the seventh, but Palumbo made a sliding catch on a flare off the bat of Yaimel Javier-Cury to halt that chance.

The Hawks got an RBI single from Jose Mendez in the ninth to take a two-run lead. McCormick tripled to open the bottom of the ninth and scored on Colt Johnson's sacrifice fly, but that was all the Miners could get.

McCormick had three of UMR's seven hits in game two.

The Miners (16-26, 9-23 GLVC) and Hawks (27-18, 18-14 GLVC) will wrap up the weekend series with a single game Sunday at noon.

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EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. -- Taylor Hahn became the second member of the Lady Miner track and field team to make a provisional qualifying mark for the NCAA Division II Championships, as she cleared a school record 11-7 3/4 Saturday evening at the SIU Edwardsville Twilight Invitational.

Hahn won the event and joined Becca Kueny as the provisional qualifiers from the women's team. The men's team currently has five provisional qualifiers for the national meet heading into next week's Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships at SIUE.

The track teams were scattered about the midwest this weekend, competing in three meets in their final tuneups for the conference meet that will start Friday.

At the Drake Relays, Saturday's competition saw the women's sprint relay team -- consisting of Katie Bruce, Kendra Lewis, Kierra Handley and Wendy Moore -- come in seventh place with a time of 4:09.09. The men's sprint relay team of Charles Melton, Ryan Vessell, Ian Packard and Matt Osmond come in 16th place with a time of 3:29.98, while Jamel Sims posted a time of 55.06 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles.

The men's 4x400-meter relay team of Ian Packard, Matt Osmond, Matt Bartels and Jamel Sims posted a season-best time Friday of 3:19.45 in finishing 21st overall, while Joffroi Holcombe dropped nearly a minute off his fastest time in the 10,000-meters with a time of 31:27.12.

Also on Friday, the Miners had four pole vaulters in competition at the Bill Williams Invitational at Missouri Southern with Jared Anders and Lucas Handley tying for third place with clearances of 15-7. Jordan Henry finished sixth with a mark of 15-3, a spot ahead of Peter Hollenbeck.

At SIU Edwardsville Saturday, UMR had second place finishes on the men's side from Hollenbeck in the pole vault with a mark of 15-9, Chris Carsten in the hammer throw with a mark of 15.52 meters and Thomas Green in the 1,500-meters with a time of 4:01.73, while Handley was third in the pole vault at 15-3.

Nathan Young was fourth in the 5,000-meters in 16:28.01, while Paul Roland took fifth in the 800-meters with a time of 1:55.78 as did Brandon Marchegiani in the 400-meter hurdles in 57.49 seconds, Kal-El Waters-Jones in the triple jump with a mark of 13.50 meters and Jared Anders in the pole vault with a clearance of 14-9. Kyle Williams was sixth in the 110-meter hurdles in 15.99 seconds.

Seventh place finishes were posted by Carsten in the shot put (15.52 meters) and Jeff Pike in the triple jump (12.86 meters, just ahead of Williams in the standings with the same top jump). Michael Knickerbocker placed ninth in the 5,000 in 17:27.95 as was Steve Berg in the 110-meter hurdles in 16.13 seconds and high jump with a clearance of six feet. Matt Morrow rounded out the top 10 finishes with a tenth in the discus at 45.74 meters.

Besides Hahn's performance Saturday, the Lady Miner efforts were headed by Tamara McCaskill who cleared five feet in the high jump to take third and Jamie Statler's clearance of 10-feet in the pole vault to take seventh. Megan Rodenberg was ninth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:14.97 and Hannah Terwelp took tenth in the shot put with a mark of 11.16 meters.

Posted by John Kean at 04:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Miner baseball team has had its share of troubles in one-run games this season -- and Thursday's games at Rockhurst provided more frustration from that standpoint.

After tying the first game of the doubleheader with Rockhurst with a run in the top of the seventh, the Hawks scored in the bottom half of the inning to take a 2-1 victory over UMR. Rockhurst also posted a walk-off win in the nightcap as well by recording a 1-0, 10-inning victory to complete the sweep.

Both runs scored by the Hawks in game one were unearned, the first of which came in the second inning when Jordan Myers, who reached on an error to start the inning, came home on a wild pitch.

The game remained 1-0 until the Miners batted in the seventh. UMR had only two hits off Hawk starter Patrick Larm over the first six innings, but a leadoff single by Cody Bass, a sacrifice bunt and a two-out single off the bat of Brandon Cogan tied the score.

However, the Hawks were able to get their leadoff man on in the seventh when Drew Chandler reached on an error. One out later, Jason Brown drove in the winning run with a single into left field.

Mark Phillips took the loss for the Miners despite allowing just three hits in 6 1/3 innings.

In the nightcap, the Miners stranded eight runners in 10 innings and wasted another strong pitching effort by junior lefthander Matt Campbell, who shut the Hawks out on two hits over the first nine innings.

UMR had runners on base in eight of the first nine innings, with good scoring chances in both the eighth and ninth innings. The Miners got back-to-back hits from Gerad Fox and Bass in the eighth with one out, but Bass was thrown out at second trying to stretch his hit into a double. Fox was then stranded on third.

In the ninth, Thomas McCormick and Robbie Martin both got hits with one out, but the Miners couldn't get another hit in the inning to break the scoreless tie.

The Hawks won the game in the tenth inning off reliever Brian Rickert, as Myers led off with a double and eventually scored on a bases loaded walk to pinch-hitter Rick Pisani.

UMR, which is now 5-11 in one-run games this year, fell to 16-24 overall and 9-21 in Great Lakes Valley Conference play heading into its final homestand of the season, which will start Saturday with a doubleheader against Quincy at the UMR Baseball Field.

The Miners and Quincy will also play a single game Sunday before Rockhurst comes to Rolla for a single game Tuesday to close UMR's home schedule.

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The University of Missouri-Rolla volleyball team has added nine more players to its roster for its inaugural season in 2007 as those individuals have signed National Letters of Intent in the spring signing period to play at UMR.

"I am overwhelmingly excited about the addition of these nine young ladies to our inaugural volleyball season here at UMR," said Lady Miner head coach Jason Holt. "The talent, work ethic, and intelligence of these student-athletes will help propel this new program quickly into the center of the mix in the Great Lakes Valley Conference this coming fall.

"Each player brings something unique to the program, and will provide us a very strong and deep roster this season," Holt added. "Each one of these players are also very strong students, that will excel in the academic atmosphere of UMR."

With the nine new signees, the Lady Miners have 18 players on their roster for their first season of play which will begin August 24.

"My staff and I have been working extremely hard over the past 10 months to put together the strongest and most competitive volleyball team we can, and I truly feel we have succeeded," Holt said. "The entire team is very excited about the opportunity ahead of them this fall and in the future and can't wait to get started."

The latest signees (links go to a list that includes all signees to date)

The latest signees (links go to a list that includes all signees to date):
Ashlyn Balensiefer, a 5-9 setter from McCutcheon High School in Lafayette, Ind.
Lisa Bradley, a 5-7 setter from Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.
Kaci Herron, a 6-0 middle hitter/outside hitter from Jonesboro High School in Jonesboro, Ark.
Samantha Klump, a 6-1 middle hitter from Ash Grove, Mo.
Hope Mooberry, a 6-0 middle hitter from Morton High School in Morton, Ill.
Leandra Pelae, a 5-10 outside hitter from Dunlap High School in Dunlap, Ill.
Kit Spears, a 6-0 outside hitter/rightside hitter from Valley Center High School in Valley Center, Kan.
Lauren Summerville, a 5-10 hitter/setter from Rockwood Summit High School in Fenton, Mo.
Bridget Williams, a 5-4 defensive specialist/libero from Hayden High School in Topeka, Kan.

Posted by John Kean at 08:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The University of Missouri-Rolla has had 21 individuals sign National Letters of Intent to play at UMR in the 2007-08 season since the spring signing period started on April 11.

The lastest group of signees includes three who will compete in swimming and men's track and field and one apiece for women's track and field, baseball and men's soccer.

The latest signees (links go to lists that include all signees to date for that sport):

Swimming
Mitchell Berggren, Monarch High School, Littleton, Colo.
Zachary Lemons, Flagstaff High School, Flagstaff, Ariz.
Daniel Murphy, Cypress Creek High School, Houston, Texas

Baseball
Zach Carter, Perkins High School, Perkins, Okla.

Men's Cross Country/Track & Field
Brandon Etzold, Saxony Lutheran High School, Jackson, Mo.
Ben Hicks, Flower Mound High School, Flower Mound, Texas
Bryan Kluge, St. Dominic High School, O'Fallon, Mo.

Women's Track & Field
Rebecca McNally, Blair Oaks High School, Jefferson City, Mo.

Men's Soccer
Garrett Stevens, Walla Walla Community College, Richland, Wash.

Volleyball:
Ashlyn Balensiefer, a 5-9 setter from McCutcheon High School in Lafayette, Ind.
Lisa Bradley, a 5-7 setter from Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.
Kaci Herron, a 6-0 middle hitter/outside hitter from Jonesboro High School in Jonesboro, Ark.
Samantha Klump, a 6-1 middle hitter from Ash Grove, Mo.
Hope Mooberry, a 6-0 middle hitter from Morton High School in Morton, Ill.
Leandra Pelae, a 5-10 outside hitter from Dunlap High School in Dunlap, Ill.
Kit Spears, a 6-0 outside hitter/rightside hitter from Valley Center High School in Valley Center, Kan.
Lauren Summerville, a 5-10 hitter/setter from Rockwood Summit High School in Fenton, Mo.
Bridget Williams, a 5-4 defensive specialist/libero from Hayden High School in Topeka, Kan.

Men's Basketball
Aaron Hays, a 6-1 guard from Kirksville High School, Kirksville, Mo.
DeJon Slaughter, a 6-6 forward from Sumner Academy, Kansas City, Kan.

Women's Basketball
Maria Bratcher, a 6-2 forward from Iowa Western Community College, originally from St. Louis, Mo.

Posted by John Kean at 10:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ashley Winter

The Lady Miners can go ahead and make their reservations for a trip to Peoria in two weeks.

UMR bounced back from a tough 2-1, nine-inning loss to No. 10-ranked Southern Illinois Edwardsville in the first game of a doubleheader Sunday and routed the Cougars 8-0 in the nightcap at the UMR Softball Field.

That victory, coupled with other results around the Great Lakes Valley Conference Sunday, locks up a spot in the GLVC Tournament that starts May 4 in East Peoria, Ill. UMR improved to 24-13 overall and 12-8 in the GLVC with only a doubleheader at Rockhurst next Sunday left on the schedule; the bottom six teams in the GLVC standings all have at least 12 losses through Sunday's action.

The Lady Miners grabbed control in game two in the third inning, starting when pitcher Ashley Wallingford got out of a two-on, no-out situation. After getting a strikeout and a ball hit right back to her, Wallingford got Courtney Mall to fly out to right to end the inning.

With that momentum, the Lady Miners put three runs on the board in the bottom half of the frame, which started when Krista Porterfield singled with one out. Kandi Wieberg followed that by blasting a double over Mall's head in center, then Ashley Winter dumped a single into left to put UMR on top.

Wieberg scored on a groundout by Kelsey Musselman, then Rachel Wilkinson belted a single to left center to drive in Winter with the third run of the inning.

UMR tacked on two more runs in the fourth with Wieberg singled up the middle to drive in Lauren Feltmann and Coley Naughton. The Lady Miners then proceeded to close out the game on the eight-run rule with a three-run outburst in the fifth.

With one out, Emily Tucker reached on an infield hit and Feltmann followed that with a hit to center. Naughton singled into the gap in left center to bring home Tucker, then a two-out infield single by Porterfield loaded the bases.

Wieberg reached on an error by third baseman Lauren Zembruski, who bobbled the batted ball and then was late to third in trying to get what would have been an inning-ending force out. The error allowed Feltmann to score, then Winter slapped a single up the middle to drive in the game-ending run.

Wallingford allowed just four hits and fanned three in her five innings of work.

UMR got four hits of its 12 hits from Winter, while Wieberg and Porterfield had two hits apiece.

In game one, the Lady Miners couldn't get a win for Jen O'Hara, who held the Cougars hitless for the first seven innings.

O'Hara did walk seven batters and one of them came across to score in the fourth. Mall led off the inning by reaching on a bases on balls, then stole second and third; on the second stolen bases, Naughton's throw sailed into left field to allow Mall to score.

That lead held up until the seventh when the Lady Miners put together a game-tying rally. Musselman singled to start the inning and pinch-runner Becky Davis was sacrificed to second. Tucker singled home Davis to tie the game and went to second on the throw, giving UMR a chance to win the game.

However, SIUE called on Kaitlin Colosimo to get the Cougars out of the inning and she struck out Feltmann and got Naughton on a pop out to escape the inning.

Zembruski broke up O'Hara's no-hitter in the eighth with a double that a diving rightfielder Allison Plummer couldn't quite reach. O'Hara got out of the eighth, but the Cougars got to her in the ninth and took the lead on a two-out RBI single by Nicole Beecher.

Despite the seven walks, O'Hara did strike out six and allowed just three hits over the nine innings.

Wieberg had two doubles on the afternoon -- one in each game -- and put her name in the record books in the process. She has 19 two-base hits on the season, tying Sabrina Greenwell's single-season record set in 2001, and the 40 in her career broke Greenwell's four-year total of 39. As a team, the Lady Miners have a school record 83 doubles on the year.

Posted by John Kean at 11:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

RENSSELAER, Ind. -- The score resembled something that harkened from games that the Miner baseball team played with aluminum bats, but the end result was a loss for UMR Sunday afternoon.

Saint Joseph's -- which used big innings to win both games of Saturday's doubleheader over UMR -- had three innings with at least four runs Sunday and came away with an 18-11 victory in a see-saw Great Lakes Valley Conference contest at Gil Hodges Field.

The teams traded the lead throughout the afternoon, but the Pumas scored 10 times off four Miner pitchers in the sixth and seventh innings to pull away for the win.

After spotting the Pumas a run in the first, the Miners tied the game in the second when Matt Campbell singled home Brandon Cogan. UMR then took the lead in the third when Cogan delivered a two-run single to give the Miners a 3-1 lead.

Saint Joseph's tied the contest with a two-run third, but UMR regained the advantage in the fifth by scoring a pair. Robbie Martin's one-out triple scored Cody Bass to put the Miners back in front, then Martin scored on a hit by Cogan.

The lead was shortlived, however, as the Pumas plated five runs in the bottom half of the inning to knock out starter Stephen Read. Kevin Diete's RBI single tied the score, then Ryan Murray greeted reliever Matt Campbell with a two-run double to put SJC in the lead.

UMR caught up again by scoring three in the seventh. Consecutive hits by Eaf Redden, Martin and Cogan to begin the inning loaded the bases, then Thomas McCormick knocked in Redden with the Miners' fourth straight single. UMR closed to within 8-7 on a fielder's choice, then Yaimel Javier-Cury singled to the opposite field to even the score at eight.

The Miner bullpen, however, struggled in the seventh as three pitchers were used in an inning in which the Pumas scored four to take the lead for good. A leadoff triple off the bat of Matt Wille was followed by a run-scoring hit by Diete, then a two-run single by Pat Luehring pushed the lead to three.

UMR got one run back in the eighth on an RBI single by Martin, but the Pumas put the game away by scoring six times in the bottom half. The inning was highlighted by a two-run triple by Luerhing and a two-run homer by Mike Pericht.

The Miners did get two more runs across in the ninth as Bass and Redden drove in runs with hits.

Cogan and McCormick had four hits each for the Miners Sunday while Redden and Martin had three apiece. UMR had a season-high 19 hits in the game.

Andrew Page, who entered the game at the start of the seventh inning, took the loss for UMR.

UMR (16-22, 9-19 GLVC) will play a doubleheader Wednesday at Rockhurst starting at 3 p.m.

Posted by John Kean at 11:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Chris Carsten

Not only was the weather splendid at Allgood-Bailey Stadium on Saturday -- so was the Miner track and field team in its home invitational.

UMR competitors won 10 events, hit or improved on four provisional qualifying marks and saw several seasonal and personal bests fall by the wayside in the third annual Dewey Allgood Invitational.

Peter Hollenbeck and Jared Anders both surpassed the NCAA DIvision II qualifying mark in the pole vault as they finished 1-2 in the event. Hollenbeck won the event with a clearance of 16-1 1/4, the best by a Miner this season, while Anders went over the bar at 15-9 1/4.

Jamel Sims made an provisional qualifying mark with his winning effort in the 110-meter hurdles of 14.54 seconds. Sims later took second in the 400-meter hurdles with a mark of 54.33 seconds.

Chris Carsten improved on his qualifying mark in the shot put and broke the school record in the event with a throw of 54-1 1/4; the mark was good for second behind Lindenwood's Kelley Jackson who threw 57-11 1/4. Carsten also had second as well in the hammer throw with a mark of 166-3.

Charles Melton took first in the 100-meters with a time of 10.66 seconds, his best mark of the season and just a hair off the NCAA provisional qualifying mark, then completed a double later in the day by taking first in the 200-meters in 21.89 seconds.

Other winners included Matt Osmond in the 800-meters in 1:55.57, Thomas Green in the 1,500-meters in 4:03.88, Joffroi Holcombe in the 5,000-meters in 15:27.30, Andrew Ropp in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9:54.21 and Kal-El Waters-Jones in the long jump with a mark of 21-10 3/4.

Another winning performance on the day came from Heath Groom, an All-America performer for the Miners in the javelin. He won that event with a throw of 183-10 while competing Saturday as an unattached competitor.

The Miners' 4x100-meter relay team was also victorious with a seasonal-best time of 42.17 seconds.

Ian Packard had a time of 48.50 seconds in the 400-meters to finish second, while Anders and Jarryd Dean tied for second in the long jump at 21-5 1/4. Waters-Jones was the runner-up in the triple jump with a leap of 45-0 1/4, while Nick Windhorst cleared 6-1 1/2 in the high jump to take second and Matt Morrow recorded his best mark of the season in the discus of 140-7.

Ryan Vessell had a third place showing in the 100-meters with a time of 10.92, a personal best for him, while Paul Roland was third in the 800 in 1:56.92 as was Michael Knickerbocker in the 1,500-meters in 4:20.26 and Matt Bartels in the 400-hurdles in 54.79 seconds.

In the field events, Jordan Henry was third in the pole vault at 15-3 1/2, Jeff Pike took third in the triple jump at 44-4 1/4 and Wes Everhart had a third in the javelin with a throw of 153-8.

Packard was fourth in the 200-meters in 22.38 seconds along with Kurt Schauwecker in the steeplechase in 10:15.13, Logan MacCash in the pole vault at 13-3 3/4 and Dean in the triple jump at 44-0 1/2. Chris Teel placed fifth in the 800-meters in 2:02.27, just ahead of Ropp's mark of 2:02.31. Phillip Shields was fifth in the discus with a mark of 129-2 as was Morrow in the hammer at 116-11.

Vessell placed sixth in the 200-meters in 22.46 seconds as did Kyle Williams in the 110-meter hurdles in 16.25 seconds, Brandon Marchegiani in the 400-hurdles in 58.49 seconds and Carsten in the discus at 127-5.

UMR's 4x400-meter relay team placed second to Truman State with a time of 3:24.32.

The Miners will send a group of competitors to next week's Drake Relays, the final competition prior to the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships May 4 and 5 at SIU Edwardsville.

Complete results from Dewey Allgood Invitational

Posted by John Kean at 04:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Taylor Hahn

The weather finally warmed up for the University of Missouri-Rolla women's track and field team Saturday -- and it took advantage of the better conditions to post three wins and four second place finishes in the Dewey Allgood Invitational at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.

On a day when temperatures reached well into the 70s in Rolla -- far better than it had been at any meet during the 2007 outdoor season -- UMR got winning performances from Becca Kueny in the javelin throw and Kylee Hyzer in the 3,000-meters.

Kueny won the javelin with a throw of 123-1, while Hyzer pulled away in the latter stages of her race and took the 3,000 in 11:09.05, winning by more than six seconds over McKendree's Linet Birir.

The second place showings came from Katie Bruce in the 200-meters in a season-best time of 58.69 seconds, Tamara McCaskill in the high jump with a mark of 5-5 and Taylor Hahn in the pole vault where she cleared 10-8 1/4.

Kendra Lewis took fourth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.56 seconds, while Hillary Griffith had the team's best time of the season in the event of 12.33 in the preliminary round.

UMR had fifth place finishes from Bruce in the 200-meters in 26.56 seconds, Megan Rodenberg in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:14.72 and Hannah Terwelp in the shot put and hammer throw. Terwelp's mark of 40-1 1/2 in the shot was a five-foot improvement over her previous best this season; she had a top mark of 122-9 in the hammer. Kierra Handley finished sixth in the 400 in 1:02.74.

UMR's 4x400-meter relay team of Wendy Moore, Bruce, Handley and Hahn won that race in 4:05, while the 4x100-meter relay team placed second.

The Lady Miners are scheduled to have competitors in next week's Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, while the balance of the team will see its next competition at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships on May 4-5 in Edwardsville, Ill.

Complete results from Dewey Allgood Invitational

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The Lady Miners' eight-game winning streak came to a halt Saturday afternoon as Southern Indiana took both games of the doubleheader at the UMR Softball Field.

USI broke a 3-3 tie with a run in the fourth inning, which held up for a 4-3 win in the first game, then throttled a sloppy Lady Miner team 11-2 to complete the sweep.

The Eagles got out of the gate quickly in game one, touching Jen O'Hara for three runs in the first inning. The first four USI batters reached base, with Kristin Eickholt and Audra Lindenschmidt delivering run scoring singles to give it a 2-0 lead. An infield hit later in the inning extended the advantage to 3-0.

UMR came back and tied the game with a three-run third inning, which started with a walk to O'Hara with one out. Allison Plummer then reached on an error and a hit by Kandi Wieberg loaded the bases. Rachel Wilkinson singled home the first run for UMR, then another hit by Kelsey Musselman made it 3-2. UMR tied the game moments later when Emily Tucker slapped a single up the middle.

Southern Indiana regained the lead when it came back to the plate when Kathy Wood drove in Kirsten Morgan who had singled with one out..

The Lady Miners got a leadoff double from Wieberg in the fifth and a one-out single from Plummer in the seventh, but those were the only baserunners UMR had in the final four innings.

Wieberg had two of UMR's five hits in game one.

The second game turned into a nightmare for the Lady Miners, as four errors led to five unearned runs in the 11-2 loss.

USI scored four times in the top of the second to take the lead, with two of the runs scoring on a throwing error. The Lady Miners cut that lead in half in the bottom of the inning, getting four doubles in the inning but scoring only twice.

Three straight two-base hits off the bats of Tucker, Coley Naughton and Ashley Wallingford led to the two runs; however, Wallingford had to stop at third on Krista Porterfield's one-out double and both runners ended up being stranded.

The Eagles proceeded to bust the game open in the third with a five-run outburst, aided by UMR errors in the inning that led to three unearned runs. A dropped throw at first base that would have ended the inning allowed the second run to score, then another miscue brought home the third run. Ally McKinley's two-run double followed that to close the scoring in that inning.

USI scored two more runs in the fourth and held UMR to two hits over the final two innings to end the game on the eight-run rule after five innings.

Porterfield had two hits for the Lady Miners, who had six in the second game. None of the six came off the bat of Kandi Wieberg as her school record-tying 18-game hitting streak came to an end.

UMR (23-12, 11-7 GLVC) will host No. 10-ranked SIU Edwardsville Sunday at noon at the UMR Softball Field.

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RENSSELAER, Ind. -- A pair of big innings proved to be costly to the UMR baseball team Saturday afternoon as it dropped both ends of a doubleheader to Saint Joseph's in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.

The Pumas scored all three of their runs in the fourth inning of a 3-2 game one victory, then used a five-run outburst in the fifth inning of the nightcap en route to a 6-2 win.

UMR grabbed the lead in the opener by scoring in the top half of the fourth when Owen Madison hit a sacrifice fly to score Robbie Martin. However, the Miners left two runners on base in the inning; UMR stranded seven runners in the first four innings.

The Pumas tallied three runs in the bottom half of the inning off UMR starter Brandon Cogan, aided by two passed balls and an error. Those miscues put leadoff hitter Matt Reimer on third and he scored on a hit by Matt Wille. Saint Joseph's got its other two runs in the inning on an infield ground out and another hit later in the frame.

The Miners closed to within a run in the sixth when Martin led off the inning with a hit and later scored on a two-out single by Josh Hanrahan. The Miners also got a runner on base in the seventh with two outs but left him stranded as well.

Hanrahan had two of the Miners' seven hits in game one.

In game two, Saint Joseph's took a 1-0 lead in the fourth, then knocked out starter Tavish Hill in the fifth with three straight hits and an error. That sparked the Pumas to a five-run inning, with Wille and Ryan Murray delivering two-run singles during that frame.

UMR got its two runs in the sixth. Matt Campbell reached on an error and Cody Bass was hit by a pitch, then Joe Montgomery followed with a run-scoring double to bring in Campbell. Eaf Redden drove in Bass on a ground out, but that was all the Miners would get for the balance of the afternoon. The Miners left the bases loaded in both the seventh and ninth innings.

Montgomery and Thomas McCormick had two hits each for UMR; the Miners had eight hits in game two.

The Miners (16-21, 9-18 GLVC) and Pumas will wrap up the weekend series with a single game Sunday afternoon.

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Complete results from today's Dewey Allgood Invitational can be found by going to the link below:

Complete results

More information from today's meet will be available later this evening.

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The Miners may be under the direction of a new offensive coordinator, but if Friday evening's spring game was any indication of things to come, the UMR football team still looks like a dangerous unit.

After a slow start of sorts in the game, the offensive unit started finding its rhythm as the game progressed and came away with a 45-30 win over the defense at Allgood-Bailey Stadium in the closing act of the 2007 spring practice season.

The three quarterbacks trying to win the starting job in the fall went a combined 28-of-36 for 274 yards and five touchdowns in the 58-play scrimmage. The most impressive showing came from Brad Guidry, a mid-year transfer from Blinn Junior College who completed 15 of his 16 throws for 140 yards and three scores and also ran for a touchdown.

Guidry guided the offense to a score on a 65-yard drive to start the night, hitting on all four of his pass attempts including a two-yard pass to Bryan Crider for the first touchdown of the contest.

The touchdown was the first of three in the game for Crider, who also hauled in a 15-yard scoring pass from Jason Schleuter and a 12-yard pass from Guidry to end the scoring.

Schleuter was seven-of-nine for 77 yards and Matt Sachtleben, who was six-of-11 for 57 yards, had the fifth touchdown pass that covered 25 yards to Nathan Binder. Mark Scabarozi also had a touchdown catch of 31 yards.

Ashton Gronewold led the Miner receivers with six catches for 78 yards, while Jerome Miller had 25 yards on the ground for the offensive unit, which finished with 333 yards on the evening.

The defense had its moments as well, building a 22-7 lead at one point thanks to interceptions by Brian Gronewold and Alvin Davie and getting stops on downs on four other occasions.

UMR will open its 2007 season August 25 at home against Truman State.

OFFENSIVE SCORING
Bryan Crider 2 yd. pass from Brad Guidry (Tim Valencia kick)
Crider 15 yd. pass from Jason Schleuter (pass failed)
Mark Scabaroszi 31 yd. pass from Guidry (Valencia kick)
Valencia 42 yd. field goal
Valencia 27 yd. field goal
Nathan Binder 25 yd. pass from Matt Sachtleben (Valencia kick)
Guidry 3 yd. run (Valencia kick)
Crider 12 yd. pass from Guidry (kick failed)

GAME STATISTICS
Rushing -- Jerome Miller 6-25, Jason Schleuter 3-19, Brad Guidry 3-14, Ashton Gronewold 1-10, David Shields 1-(-1), Matt Sachtleben 2-(-3), William Langhans 6-(-5). TOTALS 22-59.
Passing -- Brad Guidry 15-16-0-140, Jason Schleuter 7-9-1-77, Matt Sachtleben 6-11-1-57. TOTALS 28-36-2-274.
Receiving -- Ashton Gronewold 6-78, Clint Cottrell 5-53, Bryan Crider 5-44, Danny Koehler 3-20, William Langhans 3-(-3), Ben Longstreet 2-36, Nathan Binder 2-31, Mark Scabarozi 1-31.
Defensive Interceptions -- Brian Gronewold 1, Alvin Davie 1.

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University of Missouri-Rolla men's basketball coach Dale Martin has announced the signings of two players to national letters of intent to play basketball at UMR in the 2007-08 season.

The newest members of the Miners are Aaron Hays, a 6-1 guard from Kirksville, Mo.,. and DeJon Slaughter, a 6-6 forward from Sumner Academy in Kansas City, Kan.

Hays was a second-team all-state and first-team all-district and all-conference performer at Kirksville High, whom he helped lead to a 22-3 record during the 2006-07 season. He averaged a team-high 19.6 points per game, along with 3.6 rebounds, three assists, two steals and 1.6 blocks per contest.

He also shot 46 percent from the field, 35 percent from three-point range and 82 percent at the free throw line.

“Aaron is an extremely competitive player who has a great feel for the game of basketball,” said head coach Dale Martin. “He is a person with great leadership ability and exemplifies the type of student-athlete we have here at our university. I think his upside as a player is tremendous and he should compete for playing time as a freshman.”

Slaughter averaged in double figures in both scoring and rebounding at Sumner Academy, earning first-team all-conference honors in the Kansas City Kansas Conference.

“DeJon is very athletic and as he develops will become a fine Division II player,” Martin said. “He will probably play on the wing for us and is the type of incoming freshman who can contribute in his first year. He is not only a good basketball player, but also a tremendous person as well.”

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After rain postponed the event last Friday, the University of Missouri-Rolla football team will hold its spring football game Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Allgood-Bailey Stadium. The game will wrap up the spring practice session for the Miners.

Prior to the game, the UMR football team will host a punt, pass and kick competition on the field for all children ages six through 12 starting at 5 p.m. There is no charge for either the children’s competition or the game.

The Miners finished the 2006 season with a 6-5 record and had the top passing offense in NCAA Division II. The team will return two of its top wide receivers in Ashton Gronewold (Carthage, Ill.), who earned All-America honors after catching 78 passes for 1,120 yards and 15 touchdowns last fall; and Mike Greaving (St. Louis, Mo./St. Mary’s), who finished the season with 50 catches for 789 yards and five scores.

The game will also showcase the two newcomers competing for the starting quarterback job, Jason Schlueter, a transfer from Joliet Junior College and Brad Guidry, who played for junior college national champion Blinn Junior College in 2006.

The spring game will be an offense vs. defense format, with each team scoring points based on the results of each possession.

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University of Missouri-Rolla women's basketball coach has announced the signing of Maria Bratcher, a 6-2 center-forward from St. Louis, Mo., to a national letter of intent for the 2007-08 season.

Bratcher comes to UMR from Iowa Western Community College, where she averaged 6.4 points and a team-high 7.9 rebounds per game during the 2006-07 season. She shot 52 percent from the field and had a school record 59 blocked shots during the season.

At Iowa Western, Bratcher was a two-time all-region selection.

“Maria is a very athletic player whose strengths have been rebounding and shot blocking,” said Lady Miner head coach Alan Eads. “We were looking for someone who could provide us more of a presence in the paint and Maria can be that person. She is a hard worker with a good upside and should fit in very well with this group we have here.”

As a freshman, Bratcher averaged 7.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game. She also shot 48 percent from the floor and blocked 56 shots; in her two seasons at Iowa Western, Bratcher blocked a IWCC record 115 shots.

“She didn’t necessarily have to score at Iowa Western, but we think she can become more of a scorer around the basket for us,” Eads added.

At Jennings High School, Bratcher scored 1,185 points with 1,461 rebounds and 435 blocked shots as she earned first-team all-state honors after her senior year for a team that finished fourth in the Missouri Class 3 state tournament. She also earned third-team all-metro honors in St. Louis following her that season when she averaged a double-double (12.1 points, 10.8 rebounds per game).

Bratcher was also an honorable mention all-metro selection after the 2004-05 season.

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Joe Montgomery

Matt Campbell wasn't quite as sharp as he was a week ago when he shut down Drury, but he was good enough on the mound Tuesday to get the Miners another win.

Campbell, who earned the GLVC "Pitcher of the Week" award after throwing a two-hit shutout at the Panthers last Thursday in Springfield, gave up two runs and eight hits over seven innings Tuesday and picked up his fourth win of the year as UMR topped Drury 6-2 at the UMR Baseball Field.

The victory gave the Miners the season series over the Panthers, who resumed a varsity program this season after a hiatus of over 30 years.

The Panthers grabbed the lead in the game when John Tollenaar doubled home a pair of runs with two outs in the second inning. UMR cut the lead in half in the bottom of the frame when Andrew Vance singled with two outs and scored when Yaimel Javier-Cury doubled over the head of centerfielder Harrison Waters.

UMR took the lead when it scored five times in the fourth. Brandon Cogan started the inning with a single into center, then after he was sacrificed to second, Robbie Martin drew a walk. Javier-Cury reached on an infield single that deflected off the glove of pitcher Ricky Meinhold to load the bases, then Gerad Fox surprised the Panthers by laying down a bunt up the third base line to score Cogan.

Joe Montgomery followed Fox's bunt single by rapping a single between third and short to score two and give UMR a 4-2 lead. Thomas McCormick then lofted a ball down the left field line that went off the glove of a diving leftfielder Jason Hall along the line; the ball was ruled fair which allowed Fox and Montgomery to score.

Campbell pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the sixth and around a couple of baserunners in the seventh before turning the game over to Tavish Hill, who struck out Hall with two runners on in the eighth. Drury loaded the bases again in the ninth off Brian Rickert, but the junior hurler got Tyler Wright on a called third strike to end the game.

UMR outhit the Panthers 12-11 in the game, with Fox getting three hits and Javier-Cury picking up two.

Campbell improved to 4-3 on the season and along with the two other Miner hurlers forced the Panthers to strand 13 runners in the game.

The Miners (16-19, 9-16 Great Lakes Valley Conference) will play a three game series at Saint Joseph's starting with a doubleheader Saturday.

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Josh Richards, who served on the Miner coaching staff as the running backs coach during the 2006 season, has been elevated to the position of offensive coordinator for the University of Missouri-Rolla football program.

“This is an exciting time for me and my family,” Richards said. “I feel extremely fortunate to have this opportunity to work with this program. I know what Coach Cannon has done with the program and I’m happy to have the chance to be a part of it on a full-time basis.”

Richards is taking over for Marc Kolb, who stepped down from the post in February to take a similar position at Tusculum College. He will assume the reins of an unit that ranked as the top passing offense in NCAA Division II and ranked among the top 10 nationally overall a year ago. He has been working with the team during the spring practice season.

The starting running back for the Miners, last season, Matt Padilla, finished with 1,120 all-purpose yards and did not have a fumble all season.

“We are very happy to have Josh as a full-time member of our staff,” said Miner head coach Kirby Cannon. “He will bring a lot of qualities to our program and over the last two years did an excellent job as the running backs coach. I feel that he is totally prepared to step into the offensive coordinator role.

“One of the advantages he will have is knowing our current style of offense and the personnel in it – and the players are comfortable with his coaching style as well,” Cannon added. “We have a veteran team on the field and we wanted to keep as much continuity as we could in the program.”

“I am extremely pleased to have Josh joining us on a full-time basis" said UMR director of athletics Mark Mullin. "I have known Josh for many years and have a great deal of respect for him. He will be an excellent member of our team in the department and will provide outstanding leadership for our student-athletes.”

Richards – who played his high school football at Rolla High School – joined the Miner coaching staff in 2005 after a four-year stint as the head coach at John F. Hodge High School in St. James, Mo. In his last two seasons at the high school level, his teams averaged more than 330 yards and over 30 points per game with a team that included current Miner wide receiver Chad Shockley.

Prior to taking the head coaching position in St. James, Richards spent two years as the head coach of the freshman team at Rolla High School and one year as the head coach of the junior high team at Waynesville High School.

Richards is a graduate of Central Methodist University, where he was the captain of the Eagles’ 1997 team and a three-year letterman in the program. He started at quarterback for CMU’s team for two seasons.

“When Josh was coaching at the high school level, he was very creative and spread the field well,” Cannon said. “He’ll bring some ideas to our offense that will keep us at a high level.”

“This is a good situation in that it is not a rebuilding process,” Richards said. “We can keep the system we’ve been using intact and have the chance to continue to do things in a positive way. We’ve had great leadership from some of our seniors and they have helped make the transistion for our staff much easier.”

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Matt Campbell

University of Missouri-Rolla lefthander Matt Campbell was selected Monday as the Great Lakes Valley Conference's "Pitcher of the Week” after throwing a two-hit shutout Thursday in the Miners’ 2-0 victory at Drury.

Campbell struck out four in his 105-pitch outing and didn’t allow a hit after the fourth inning, retiring 16 straight batters in one stretch.

The only Panther baserunner after the fourth came on a two-out walk in the seventh, but Campbell got the next hitter to hit into a fielder’s choice to end the game. The shutout was the Miners’ first in a nine-inning contest this season.

Campbell has a record of 3-3 with an earned run average of 2.74 on the season.

The Miners will host Drury Tuesday at noon at the UMR Baseball Field.

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Emily Tucker

For the second week in a row, a member of the University of Missouri-Rolla softball team has earned the conference's weekly award.

UMR sophomore outfielder Emily Tucker was named Monday as the Great Lakes Valley Conference's "Player of the Week” recipient after hitting .667 in four games to help the Lady Miners extend their current winning streak to eight games.

Tucker went five-of-nine in UMR’s April 10 doubleheader sweep at Lincoln with a pair of doubles and three runs batted in. On Sunday at Bellarmine, Tucker was five-of-eight on the day with a three-run homer to start the scoring in UMR’s 7-4 opening game win; she finished the day with six runs batted in.

Tucker drove in a run in the first inning in each of the last three UMR wins last week.

For the season, Tucker is batting .406 with with two home runs and 24 runs batted in for the Lady Miners, who are 23-10 on the season and in third place in the GLVC with an 11-5 record.

UMR hosts Southern Indiana Saturday at the UMR Softball Field at noon.

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Fast starts in both games Sunday propelled the Lady Miner softball team to a doubleheader sweep over Bellarmine and into third place in the Great Lakes Valley Conference standings.

The Lady Miners put three runs on the board in the opening inning of game one and came away with a 7-4 win, then scored four times in the first in the second contest and took a 9-2 decision to complete the sweep.

The wins, the seventh and eighth in succession for the Lady Miners, moved UMR to 23-10 overall and 11-5 in GLVC play, just one game behind SIU Edwardsville for second place in the conference. The Lady Miners will host SIUE next Sunday after playing Southern Indiana Saturday afternoon at noon at the UMR Softball Field.

Emily Tucker's three-run homer in the first inning gave UMR the 3-0 advantage in game one, then pitcher Jen O'Hara essentially kept the Knights at bay for the rest of the afternoon.

Bellarmine scored a run in the bottom of the first, but UMR got that run back in the third when Ashley Winter opened the inning with a triple and scored on Kelsey Musselman's hit. The Lady Miners put two more runs on the scoreboard in the fourth when Kandi Wieberg doubled home Krista Porterfield and scored herself on a double by Winter.

The Knights trimmed the lead to 6-3 with runs in the fourth and fifth, but Tucker drove in her fourth run of the contest in the sixth with a run-scoring double, the Lady Miners' fifth extra base hit of the game. Bellarmine did get the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh, but O'Hara got Courtney Roller to pop out to close the game and improve her record to 14-7.

Each of the top five hitters in the Lady Miner order -- Wieberg, Winter, Musselman, Rachel Wilkinson and Tucker -- all had two hits apiece.

UMR followed that victory by jumping on Knight starter Sharon Brill for four runs in the first inning of the nightcap. Three straight singles, the last by Musselman, brought in the first run, then an RBI single by Tucker made it 2-0. Following a walk to Lauren Feltmann to load the bases, Coley Naughton delivered a two-run single to the opposite field to double the UMR advantage.

The Lady Miners tacked on a run in the second on an RBI double by Wilkinson and another in the fourth when Tucker drove her in with a two-out hit.

After Bellarmine got on the board in the fourth, UMR pushed the lead to 8-1 in the fifth on sacrifice flies by Wieberg and Winter. UMR also scored in the seventh when Winter reached on an infield single -- her third hit of the game -- to score Porterfield.

Tucker also had three hits in game two for the Lady Miners, who had 16 hits in the contest.

Ashley Wallingford picked up the win in the nightcap as she scattered nine hits and struck out six to improve to 9-3.

Posted by John Kean at 03:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Gerad Fox

The Miner baseball team got just enough timely hitting in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader to get a 4-2 victory over Wisconsin-Parkside, but couldn't get the key hit it needed late in game two and had to settle for a split as the Rangers took a 5-4 decision in game two.

UMR fell behind in the opener after the Rangers scored a pair of unearned runs off starter Brandon Cogan in the second. A throwing error on a sacrifice bunt -- after it appeared that Cole McCoy had run outside the baseline to avoid Colt Johnson's tag -- led to the first run of the inning. The second run scored on a double play with the bases loaded.

The score stayed 2-0 until the Miners batted around in the fourth and scored all four of their runs.

With one out, Robbie Martin was hit by a pitch, then walks to Owen Madison and Josh Hanrahan loaded the bases. Gerad Fox singled between first and second to drive home Martin, then UW-Parkside reliever Brandon Aikens walked Thomas McCormick to force in the tying run.

Joe Montgomery followed that with a single up the middle to score Hanrahan and Fox with the go-ahead runs.

Cogan pitched into the fifth before turning the game over to Tavish Hill, who threw two scoreless innings, and Brian Rickert, who walked two batters with two outs but struck out A.J. Marquardt to end the game to pick up his fourth save. Cogan got the win to improve to 3-1 on the year.

The Rangers got a first inning run to get on top in the nightcap, but the Miners tied the game when a throwing error by Marquardt allowed Johnson to score in the second.

UMR then took a 3-1 lead in the third when Martin was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Cogan singled home a run. The Miners missed a chance for more when Martin was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a fly ball off the bat of Matt Campbell to end the inning.

Miner starter Stephen Read carried that advantage into the fifth, but the Rangers touched him for three runs with two outs to take the lead for good. A hit by Casey Garms scored Ryan Hopp, then after Andy Heller was hit by a pitch, Brad Frank doubled into the gap in right center to score both runners and give the Rangers a 4-3 lead.

UW-Parkside added a run in the sixth when Tom Rawski's infield single brought home Marquardt.

UMR got to within 5-4 in the seventh when Campbell delivered a sacrifice fly, but Ranger reliever Andy Yushta, who entered the game after the sacrifice fly, got pinch-hitter Thomas McCormick to pop out to end the seventh and gave up only a walk in the ninth to save the victory for the visitors.

The Miners had 12 hits in game two, three coming from Cogan and two apiece by Fox, Cody Bass and Andrew Vance.

UMR will host Drury in a single game Tuesday starting at noon at the UMR Baseball Field.

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EMPORIA, Kan. -- UMR picked up victories from three individuals Sunday at the Papa John's Division II Challenge at Emporia State University and also got its first provisional qualifying marks for the outdoor season.

Peter Hollenbeck took first over three teammates in the pole vault with a personal-best mark of 15-6 1/4. He beat out teammate Jordan Henry on misses to take the title and also finished ahead of Jared Anders and Lucas Handley, who took third and fourth in the event with a clearance of 15-feet.

UMR also got wins from Joffroi Holcombe in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 32:29.60 and Kal-El Waters-Jones, who won the triple jump with a mark of 47-5. The jump was long enough to reach the NCAA Division II provisional qualifying standard.

Waters-Jones also placed second in the long jump with a mark of 22-5 3/4, while Jarryd Dean took second in the high jump with a clearance of 6-6 3/4 to set a personal best in that event. Dean also took sixth in the triple jump with a leap of 45-7.

The other provisional qualifying mark came from Chris Carsten in the shot put, as he had a throw of 52-2 1/2 that gave him an eighth place finish in the competitive event.

Charles Melton recorded a second place finish in the 200-meters with a time of 22 seconds flat and also took third in 100-meter dash with a time of 10.99 seconds. Matt Osmond also had a third in the 800-meters in a personal best time of 1:54.69 as did Matt Bartels in the 400-meter hurdles in 54.98 seconds.

Ian Packard placed fifth in the 400-meters with a time of 49.04 seconds, the best mark by a Miner this season in the event. Ryan Vessell was sixth in the 100-meters in 11.16 seconds as was Andrew Ropp in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 10:01.65.

Brett Agee was seventh in the 10,000-meters in 34:30.00, while Vessell also placed eighth in the 200-meters in 22.57 seconds and Jesse Scott had a tenth-place showing in the 800-meters in 1:58.20.

As a team, the Miners placed third in the team standings with 108 points. Central Missouri won the meet and Fort Hays State took second; UMR finished seven points ahead of host Emporia State.

The Miners will take part in the Dewey Allgood Invitational on Saturday at Allgood-Bailey Stadium. The competition will start at 11 a.m.

Results from Emporia State

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EMPORIA, Kan. -- UMR sophomore Taylor Hahn won the pole vault competition Sunday at the Papa John's Division II Challenge at Emporia State by posting a school record mark for the second time this season.

Hahn cleared 11-0 1/4 in the event to beat out a pair of Truman State competitors, Kristin Klesh and Katrina Bierman, winning the event on fewer misses through the competition.

The Lady Miners also got high finishes from several others in one of the biggest regular seasons meets at the Division II level, led by the duo of Wendy Moore and Kierra Handley who came in second and third, respectively, in the 800-meters. Moore posted a time of 2:15.70, which was within a second of the school record, while Handley finished in a personal best 2:17.27.

The Lady Miners also had a third place finish from Kylee Hyzer in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 41:26.60.

Tamara McCaskill placed fourth in the high jump with a clearance of 5-5, which was just shy of her best mark of the year. Becca Kueny was fifth in the javelin throw with a mark of 130-6 and also placed 11th in the discus with a throw of 121-6.

UMR had two of the top seven finishers in the 100-meter dash, with Hillary Griffith coming in fifth in 12.75 seconds and Kendra Lewis in seventh in 12.84; Lewis had a 12.72 in the preliminaries. Lewis later finished eighth in the 200-meters with a time of 26.18 as did Katie Bruce in the 400-meters with a time of 59.61 seconds.

UMR's 4x400-meter relay team of Moore, Bruce, Handley and Griffith took fourth in the event with a time of 3:59.63.

As a team, the Lady Miners finished eighth in the team standings with 58 points. Pittsburg State won the team competition with 130 points.

The Lady Miners will take part in the Dewey Allgood Invitational on Saturday at Allgood-Bailey Stadium. The competition will start at 11 a.m.

Results from Emporia State

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The persistent rain throughout the midwest over the last two days has affected the University of Missouri-Rolla athletic teams.

UMR's baseball doubleheader Saturday with Wisconsin-Parkside was postponed due to the rain and the teams will now play a doubleheader Sunday starting at 1 p.m. at the UMR Baseball Field. The third game of the weekend series will be cancelled.

The Lady Miner softball team also had rain wipe out its games Saturday as well as the scheduled doubleheader at Northern Kentucky was postponed. No makeup date has been set. UMR will play a doubleheader Sunday at Bellarmine.

UMR's track and field teams will compete Sunday instead of Saturday at the Papa John's Division II Challenge at Emporia State. Weather matters in Kansas this weekend forced that switch in the schedule on Friday.

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Vince Darnell

ROLLA, Mo. -- Vince Darnell, who has headed the University of Missouri-Rolla men’s soccer program for the last five seasons, is resigning from the position to pursue other career opportunities.

Darnell led the Miners to the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament in each of the last two seasons – the university’s first two as a member of the league – and to records of 9-9-2 overall and 7-5-1 in GLVC play last season.

During his five-year tenure as head coach, the Miners posted a record of 41-42-8 and had a mark of 12-10-4 in GLVC play during the 2005 and 2006 seasons. Included on the 2006 resume was a 1-0 victory over No. 7-ranked Drury, one of two wins over a team ranked among the top 10 in the last five seasons.

"We appreciate the efforts of Vince in directing our men's soccer program over the past five years," said UMR director of athletics Mark Mullin. "His hard work and dedication to the program have been evident during his tenure. I know he is excited about his new opportunities. We wish him all the best in his new professional endeavors.

"Vince leaves the program in good shape and we are excited about finding a new leader to continue the positive direction of the program," he added.

Mullin said that the search will begin immediately for Darnell’s replacement.