Lady Miners (from left) Kandi Wieberg, Emily Tucker, Kelsey Musselman & Jen O'Hara

For the second year in a row, the Great Lakes Valley Conference's "Player of the Year" in softball hails from Missouri S&T.

Senior third baseman Kelsey Musselman, who leads the conference in four major statistical categories, was named as the league's top player at the conference's awards banquet held Wednesday in Peoria, Ill., on the eve of the GLVC Tournament.

She was also one of four Lady Miners named to the all-league team for the 2008 season as she was joined on the first team by second baseman Kandi Wieberg -- last season's GLVC "Player of the Year" -- and outfielder Emily Tucker, a repeat selection to the first team along with Wieberg. Junior pitcher Jen O'Hara, an honorable mention All-GLVC selection a year ago, was named to the third team.

Musselman currently leads the GLVC with a .426 batting average, .752 slugging percentage, .503 on-base percentage and in home runs with a school record-tying 13. She also ranks among the league leaders in runs batted in with 45 and is one of seven players in the GLVC with at least 60 hits this season.

Wieberg is hitting .331 on the year with 10 home runs and a team-high 16 stolen bases. Her 43 runs scored and 31 walks rank among the top marks in the GLVC as she is completing a record-setting career at Missouri S&T.

Tucker is the GLVC's fifth-leading hitter with a .406 batting average with six home runs and 33 runs batted in. The junior outfielder is among the GLVC leaders in doubles wih 14 and currently owns a slugging percentage of .647 and an on-base percentage of .471, both marks that rank fourth in the league. She is second on the team with 14 stolen bases.

O'Hara is 11-7 in the circle this season with a 2.03 earned run average; she has nine wins in GLVC decisons with a 1.95 ERA in 100 2/3 innings during the conference season. She has pitched 127 2/3 innings with 15 complete games, striking out 68 hitters on the year.

The Lady Miners open play in the GLVC Tournament Thursday against Rockhurst at 10 a.m. S&T is the No. 3 seed for the league tournament and is trying to also earn a berth to the NCAA Great Lakes Regional; the Lady Miners are ninth in the region in this week's rankings.

2008 All-GLVC Softball Team (First team selections)
C: Mallory Paine, Lewis
1B: Kim Locke, Bellarmine
2B: Kandi Wieberg, Missouri S&T
SS: Kelly Dianis, Lewis
3B: Kelsey Musselman, Missouri S&T
DP: Sara Loete, Southern Indiana
UT: Sadie Ball, Drury
OF: Emily Tucker, Missouri S&T
OF: Kathy Wood, Southern Indiana
OF: Jessica Breeden, Indianapolis
P: Kaitlin Colosimo, SIU Edwardsville
P: Courtney Lyons, Lewis
P: Torie Bunzell, Quincy

Third team from Missouri S&T: Jen O'Hara, P.

Player of the Year: Kelsey Musselman, Missouri S&T
Pitcher of the Year: Kaitlin Colosimo, SIU Edwardsville
Freshman of the Year: Torie Bunzell, Quincy
Coach of the Year: George DiMatteo, Lewis

Posted by John Kean at 09:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri S&T baseball team ventured outside the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tuesday and dropped an 8-5 decision to Lincoln University.

The Blue Tigers jumped out to leads of 6-0 and 8-1, then held off the Miners' late inning rally as S&T left five runners on base in the final two innings after closing the gap to three.

Lincoln scored twice in the opening inning off starter Caleb Smith, getting an RBI triple from Justin Holliday and a run-scoring hit from Daniel Struemph to take the lead.

LU tacked on four more runs in the fourth, highlighted by a two-run double by Struemph, to extend its lead to 6-0.

Drew Davenport's sacrifice fly in the sixth got the Miners on the scoreboard, but back-to-back homers by Holliday and Struemph in the bottom of the frame pushed the Lincoln advantage to 8-1. Holliday's homer allowed him to complete the cycle, as he singled and doubled after tripling in the opening inning.

S&T loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh, then Thomas McCormick cleared the bases with a double. The Miner rightfielder drove in a run for the 13th time in the last 14 games and now has 41 RBI on the season, four shy of the school's single-season record.

Eaf Redden followed the McCormick double with one of his own to trim the lead to three, but he was stranded at second to end the inning. The Miners loaded the bases again in the eighth and got their first two hitters on base in the ninth, but couldn't push another run across.

Redden had three hits for the Miners while McCormick and Louie Joseph had two apiece; the trio combined for seven of the Miners' nine hits.

Smith threw the first seven innings for the Miners to help save the pitching staff for the upcoming glut of conference games that begin Thursday when S&T hosts Missouri-St. Louis in a make-up doubleheader at 1 p.m.

The Miners (19-23) close the regular season with a four-game series at SIU Edwardsville beginning on Friday. S&T enters this stretch 2 1/2 games behind Drury for the second and last guaranteed playoff spot from the GLVC West.

Posted by John Kean at 08:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Jordan Henry

Jordan Henry eclipsed the Missouri S&T outdoor school record in the pole vault Friday and was rewarded for his efforts today by being named as the Great Lakes Valley Conference's "Athlete of the Week."

Henry, a junior from St. Charles, Mo. (Francis Howell North) cleared 16-8 to win the competition Friday at Missouri Southern and earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Division II Championships next month in Pomona, Calif. Henry was the national runner-up during the NCAA Indoor Championships last month.

He will enter the GLVC Championships this weekend as the top-ranked pole vaulter in the conference with the mark he established last week. Henry won the GLVC indoor title in the event and will look to add the outdoor title at the meet that will take place at Southern Illinois Edwardsville beginning Friday.

It is the third time during the 2007-08 track season season that Henry has been awarded by the GLVC. He earned his two previous weekly awards during the indoor season.

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Kristen Drage

The front half of Senior Day at the Missouri S&T Softball Field belonged to the four Lady Miner seniors, but the younger players took center stage to help S&T secure a doubleheader sweep Sunday afternoon over Saint Joseph's.

The Lady Miners broke up a tie game with a five-run outburst in the sixth inning of the opener to come away with a 7-2 win, then scored runs in the sixth and seventh innings of the nightcap to win 4-3 on Kristen Drage's RBI single in the seventh inning.

By virtue of sweeping the doubleheader, the Lady Miners landed the No. 3 seed for the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament that begins Thursday in East Peoria, Ill. S&T will face No. 6 seed Rockhurst in the opening round at 10 a.m. Thursday.

S&T jumped in front right from the start Sunday, getting consecutive hits from Kandi Wieberg, Rachel Wilkinson and Kelsey Musselman to get on the scoreboard. After a ground out by Kassi Deibert, Katie Smith sliced a single to right to extend the Lady Miner lead to 2-0.

The Pumas tied the score in the third when Jessie Privett and Ashley Reed got two-out RBI singles. The score remained that way until the sixth when the Lady Miners forged a rally that started with an error by Privett that allowed Becca Kueny to reach base.

Becky Davis reached with an infield single, then another error on Allison Plummer's bunt by Privett loaded the bases. Wieberg, one of the four seniors playing their final home game Sunday, looped a hit to center to break the tie.

After Privett got Wilkinson to hit into a fielder choice where the out was made at the plate, Musselman blasted a grand slam over the fence in center to bust the game open. The home run was the 13th of the season for the S&T third baseman, which ties the single season mark set by Holly Weinberg two years ago.

Jen O'Hara got the win for S&T as she scattered five hits and struck out four to improve to 11-7 on the year. The four seniors -- Wieberg, Wilkinson, Musselman and Kueny -- combined for eight of the team's 11 hits, with Musselman getting three of them and driving in five runs.

The Lady Miners jumped on top in game two as well, scoring twice off Sara Somogyi in the third. After a one-out walk to Davis and a sacrifice bunt, Wieberg hit a ball the other way that landed between the second baseman and rightfielder for an RBI double.

Moments later, Wieberg scored when she stole third and came home when the throw went past the third baseman.

But the Pumas got a run back in the fourth and took the lead in the sixth, as Privett doubled home the tying run and the go-ahead tally came on a wild pitch. S&T evened the score in the bottom half when Wilkinson led off with a double into the gap and Musselman singled through the hole between third and short to bring her home.

Ashley Wallingford pitched out of trouble in the seventh as the Pumas got two runners on base, then the bottom of the Lady Miner order set the table for the game-winning run.

Davis bunted her way on to open the inning, then Plummer hit a ball towards third that the Pumas had no play on. With the winning run at second, Somogyi got two strikeouts before walking Musselman to load the bases for Drage. The Lady Miner freshman went through a 15-pitch battle with the Puma hurler, fouling off 11 pitches during the course of the at-bat before grounding a single past a diving Theresa Weinzerl to end the game.

S&T, now 26-19 on the season, had six hits in game two. Wallingford gave up seven hits and struck out five to get her 13th victory of the year.

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The Missouri S&T baseball team split a doubleheader with Quincy University for the second day in succession at the S&T Baseball Field, winning game one by the score of 3-2 before the Hawks salvaged the nightcap and a split in the weekend series with a 9-6 win in 10 innings.

The split leaves the Miners 2 1/2 games behind Drury for the second and last guaranteed spot from the Great Lakes Valley Conference's West Division for the conference tournament heading into the final week of play. S&T closes its season with a four-game series next weekend at Southern Illinois Edwardsville and still has a doubleheader with Missouri-St. Louis to play if necessary.

In Sunday's first game, the Miners got all of their scoring done in the opening inning. With one out, Gerad Fox singled and came home on a triple by Zac Carter. Thomas McCormick followed with a sacrifice fly to bring in Carter, then Eaf Redden belted a home run to give the Miners a 3-0 advantage.

The Hawks got on the board in the second when Adam Terstreip hit a leadoff homer off Brian Rickert, then got to within one by putting together a two-out rally in the sixth. Matt Campbell took over with the tying and go-ahead runs on base and got pinch-hitter Jake Schaake to fly out to end the inning.

Kyle Griffin got out of a jam in the top of the seventh to get the save, getting pinch-runner Tanner Jacobs at the plate to prevent the tying run from scoring.

S&T had five hits in game one. Rickert improved to 3-2 with the win as he struck out eight and allowed just five hits in 5 2/3 innings of work.

S&T had to battle back from an early 5-0 deficit in the second game and forced extra innings, but the Hawks tallied three runs in the tenth to get the win.

Quincy scored a run in the first and four in the third to build the 5-0 lead, then the Miners got a run in the bottom half of the third on a sacrifice fly by Andrew Vance. After Quincy got that run back in the fourth, the Miners cut the lead to 6-3 in the fifth on a two-run single by Cody Bass.

S&T drew to within one at 6-5 when McCormick delivered an RBI triple in the sixth and scored on a sacrifice fly by Redden, then tied the game two innings later.

Redden led off the eighth with a hit and went all the way to third when the ball skipped past centerfielder Justin Ritchhart. Yaimel Javier-Cury followed with a hit up the middle to tie the game.

The Miners had a chance to win it in the bottom of the ninth as they got their leadoff man on and eventually loaded the bases, but Colt Johnson's liner was caught in center to end the inning.

Quincy took the lead in the tenth off reliever Alex Dunn on a run-scoring hit by Chris Scoggins, then got a two-run single from Terstreip later in the inning. The Miners were able to load the bases with two outs in their half of the inning, but Max McCorvie was able to retire Carter to end the game.

S&T had 14 hits in the nightcap, with Cogan and Bass getting three hits apiece and Fox and McCormick getting two each. McCormick drove in runs in both games and has now driven in a run in 13 of the Miners' last 14 contests.

The Miners will open the four-game set at SIUE Friday with a single game at 7 p.m.

Posted by John Kean at 08:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

With their hopes of landing an at-large berth to the NCAA regional tournament essentially hanging by a thread, the Lady Miner softball rallied in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat Indianapolis 3-2 to gain a split of Saturday's Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader at the S&T Softball Field.

The victory also locked up a berth in the conference tournament for the Lady Miners heading into their final two league games Sunday against Saint Joseph's at noon; the Pumas are still trying to land one of the eight playoff berths on the final day of the season.

Indianapolis, ranked fourth in the NCAA Great Lakes region, took the first game 4-3.

The Greyhounds took the lead in the opening inning of each game, taking the lead in game two when Jessica Breeden scored from second on a wild pitch. The Lady Miners tied the contest in the second when Emily Tucker walked, went to third on a throwing error after a walk to Kassi Deibert and scored on Becca Kueny's groundout to second.

But UIndy went back in front in the fourth when Maggie Swanson's sacrifice fly brought in Jenny Swanson. Ashley Wallingford was able to get out of the inning without allowing another run, then pitched around hits in the sixth and seventh to keep it a one-run game.

The Lady Miners had runners on base in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, but couldn't push a run across, then got a leadoff walk to Becky Davis in the seventh to set up the winning rally.

After a sacrifice attempt failed, Kandi Wieberg drew a walk and Rachel Wilkinson hit a ball in the gap that Maggie Swanson couldn't come up with in a diving effort. Katie Smith and Wieberg came around with the tying and winning runs to bring the Lady Miners back even with the Greyhounds for third place in the GLVC standings.

Wilkinson had two of S&T's five hits in the nightcap, while Wallingford held the Greyhounds to four hits and struck out three.

In the opener, Jenny Swanson's first inning homer was matched by Tucker's homer to lead off the second to tie the game. However, the fourth inning was disasterous for S&T as UIndy got three runs in part from two Lady Miner errors.

A leadoff walk was followed by an error, then Maggie Swanson's RBI single put the Greyhounds in front. Later in the inning, another error allowed two more runs to come home to give the visitors a 4-1 lead.

Tucker belted her second homer of the game in the bottom of the fourth to bring S&T back to within two, then Allison Plummer scored on a wild pitch an inning later to make it 4-3. But the Lady Miners left two runners on base in scoring position in that frame and couldn't get another rally started against Megan Russell.

The Lady Miners managed only five hits in the opener and Russell struck out 13 to get the win. Jen O'Hara took the loss for S&T despite allowing just six hits and fanning five.

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The Missouri S&T baseball team had to settle for a split of its doubleheader Saturday with Quincy in a battle of two teams trying to land a berth in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament at the S&T Baseball Field.

The Miners jumped out to a big early lead and won the opener 9-4, but couldn't hold on after getting the lead in the second contest as the Hawks used a five-run sixth to get a 9-8 win.

As a result, the Miners ended the day two games in back of Drury for the last guaranteed playoff spot out of the GLVC West and two behind SIU Edwardsville for third place.

S&T jumped out to a 7-0 lead in game one by scoring twice in the second and five times in the fourth as it sent 10 batters to the plate.

In the second, the Miners got their first run on an RBI double by Brandon Cogan, then he scored when Kyle Boehm reached on an infield hit and a subsequent error.

The Miners extended their lead two innings later when Cogan doubled in Eaf Redden, then Boehm followed with a two-run double to make it 5-0. The Miners got their sixth run when Gerad Fox executed a successful squeeze play and tacked on another run on a hit by Zac Carter.

Quincy cut the Miner lead to 7-4 with two runs in the fifth and single tallies in the sixth and seventh off winning pitcher Andrew Page, but the Miners added two insurance runs in the eighth on an another squeeze bunt off the bat of Redden and an error that allowed Thomas McCormick to score.

Page scattered 10 hits over 6 2/3 innings to get the win and Danny Trenner earned his first save with 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.

S&T banged out 19 hits in game one with everyone in the lineup getting a hit. Carter and Cogan had three hits apiece to lead the attack.

The Hawks took a 2-0 lead in game two in the second inning before McCormick doubled and Yaimel Javier-Cury singled to get the Miners on the board in the bottom half of the inning. Quincy got two more runs in the third, only to see S&T get those runs back in the latter half of the frame on sacrifice flies by Fox and McCormick, who saw his streak of games with an RBI end at 10 in the opener.

S&T took the lead in the fifth by taking advantage of some sloppy defensive play by the Hawks to score four times. After a walk to Andrew Vance and a one-out hit by Carter, a wild pitch allowed Vance to score. McCormick followed with a hit and a wild pitch moved the runners to second and third before Redden lofted a fly ball into right center that was dropped by centerfielder Justin Ritchhart, allowing both runners to score.

Javier-Cury then greeted reliever Jordan Backes with a double into the gap to bring in Redden and extend S&T's lead to three.

However, the Hawks came right back in the sixth and got the lead back after the Miners couldn't get the third out of the inning. Three straight walks started the inning, then Trenner entered the game and got a strikeout and a ground ball, but the Miners could only get the force at second.

Scott Hauber and Chris Scoggins followed with run-scoring hits that tied the score, then Joe Palumbo got a hit into the gap that led to two runs and a 9-7 Quincy lead.

S&T got one run back in the bottom of the inning when Boehm scored on a double by Cody Bass, but the Hawks got out of that inning and a jam in the seventh when the first two Miners were hit by pitches.

Javier-Cury had three hits and two runs batted in during the nightcap, while McCormick had two hits for S&T. Trenner took the loss in relief.

The Miners (18-21, 11-13 GLVC) will host the Hawks again Sunday in a twinbill that starts at noon.

Posted by John Kean at 10:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

JOPLIN, Mo. -- With one week to go before the conference meet, Jordan Henry locked up a spot in the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a career-best performance in the pole vault Friday at Missouri Southern.

Henry, a junior who finished as the national runner-up during the indoor season in the event, cleared 16-8 at the Bill Williams/Bob Laptad Open to go beyond the automatic qualifying standard and earn a spot in the national meet next month in Pomona, Calif. His mark, wihch also set the Missouri S&T school record, has been topped by only two individuals in DIvision II this season heading into the weekend.

Henry was one of three Miners to finish among the top 10 in the pole vault Friday. Peter Hollenbeck was fifth with a clearance of 15-11 and Jared Anders, who has already provisionally qualified, was 10th with a mark of 15-5 3/4.

The Miners got third place finishes from Thomas Green in the 1,500-meters in 4:07.71 and Brandon Etzold in the 800-meters with a mark of 1:55.54, the same event where Paul Roland took eighth in 2:00.48.

Ian Packard was fourth in the 400-meters with a time of 50.22 seconds, while Brian Kluge had a time of 52.82 in that event.

The women's team had five competitors in Joplin Friday, with three of them placing in the pole vault. Taylor Hahn and Jamie Statler both cleared the 11-6 1/4 mark to finish sixth and seventh, respectively, while Leah Moreland was eighth with a mark of 11-0 1/4. Kierra Handley finished sixth in the 800-meters with a time of 2:20.63.

Missouri S&T will have two individuals -- Joffroi Holcombe and Brendan Smith -- taking part in the Hillsdale Invitational Saturday in Michigan, then the teams will gear up for the GLVC Outdoor Championships that begins Friday at Southern Illinois Edwardsville.

Complete results from Missouri Southern

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Jason Schlueter

The defensive unit kept the offense off the scoreboard for the first five series Friday night and then got two interceptions later in the contest to come away with a 44-31 win in the Missouri S&T spring football game at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.

The defense opened the game by stopping the offense on a fourth down play in their territory to pick up four points in the scoring system used in the game, then held the offense scoreless until the final drive of the first half when David Shields completed a 50-yard drive with a one-yard scoring run to cut the lead to 25-7.

Jason Schlueter, who had a solid showing in his effort to try to earn the starting quarterback spot next fall, threw two touchdown passes to Bryan Crider in the second half to bring the offense to within four. Crider, who caught 10 passes in the game for 100 yards, caught scoring passes of 25 and three yards.

The defense, however, regained the momentum when Robbie Woodard picked off passes on back-to-back possessions to halt those drives and give the defensive unit a 37-21 lead. After the offense was stopped on another fourth down try, Jerome Miller scored on a two-yard run and Joe Drahos connected on a 36-yard field goal to finish the scoring for the offense.

Schlueter was 18-of-21 in the game for 130 yards and the two scores. Steve Watson, who started the final seven games of the 2007 season for the Miners, completed eight of 15 passes for 87 yards, Jake Drallmeier led the offensive ground game with 60 yards on 12 carries.

GAME STATISTICS

Scoring summary
David Shields 1 yd. run, Joe Drahos kick
Bryan Crider 25 yd. pass from Jason Schlueter, Drahos kick
Crider 3 yd. pass from Schlueter, Drahos kick
Jerome Miller 2 yd. run, Drahos kick
Drahos 36 yd. field goal

Team statistics
First downs: 20 (7 rushing, 12 passing, 1 penalty)
Rushing: 40-128
Passing: 28-41-221-2
Total offense: 81 plays, 349 yards
Fumbles: 2, lost 1
Penalties: Offense 0-0, Defense 1-7

Individual statistics:
Rushing: Jake Drallmeier 12-60, Jerome Miller 8-40, Chad Shockley 5-22, David Shields 4-9, Steve Watson 5-4, Dustin Prater 1-2, Jason Schlueter 3-0, R.J. Shubatt 1-(-4), Team 1-(-5).
Passing: Jason Schlueter 18-21-130-0, Steve Watson 8-15-87-0, Dustin Prater 1-4-5-2, R.J. Shubatt 1-1-(-1)-0.
Receiving: Bryan Crider 10-100, David Shields 6-24, Chad Stanley 3-36, Mike Greaving 3-25, Chad Shockley 3-19, Jared Bahr 2-17, Jake Drallmeier 2-6, Mark Scabarozi 1-8.
Interceptions: Robbie Woodard 2.

Posted by John Kean at 09:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Lady Miner softball team finished a doubleheader with a split for the fifth consecutive time Thursday, rallying for a 4-2 victory over Rockhurst in the second game after the Hawks took game one by a count of 5-1.

The split moves Missouri S&T into a tie for third place in the Great Lakes Valley Conference with Indianapolis at 14-8 in league play, with the Greyhounds coming to Rolla for a twinbill Saturday at noon. S&T will wrap up its league slate Sunday when it hosts Saint Joseph's.

The Lady Miners never led in the opener, but got the lead in game two when Kandi Wieberg led off with a hit and later scored on Emily Tucker's sacrifice fly.

After Holly Hilton's two-run double gave the Hawks a 2-1 lead in the third, the Lady Miners drew even in the fifth with a two-out rally. Tucker singled, stole second, then advanced to third when Kristen Drage reached on an error. Krista Porterfield came in to run for Drage and got herself caught in a rundown between first and second long enough to allow Tucker to come in to score.

S&T moved into the lead in the sixth as Becca Kueny singled with one out (Allison Plummer came in to run for her), then pinch-hitter Kassi Deibert and Katie Smith followed with hits to bring in Plummer. The Lady Miners got an insurance run in the seventh when Drage doubled in Tucker.

Ashley Wallingford held the Hawks to five hits in the game and got help from her defense in the seventh when a double play helped extinguish a Rockhurst threat.

S&T was held to four hits in the opener and got its only run in the fifth when Becky Davis scored on an error. Rockhurst got four runs in the first -- three of which were unearned -- off starter Jen O'Hara and tacked on another tally in the fourth.

Posted by John Kean at 07:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Missouri S&T volleyball will hold an intrasquad scrimmage Friday evening from 4-6 p.m. at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building, prior to the S&T spring football game that begins at 7 p.m. at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.

The team will have in-squad competitions in a number of scoring events and will also allow the coaches and fans to take part in one of the judging sessions based on aspects such as teamwork, enthusiasm, focus, patience, hustle and team chemistry; the results will be added to that of the on-court play to determine the team's intrasquad champion.

Friday's intrasquad match is open to the public and free of charge.

Posted by John Kean at 07:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Miner baseball team went outside the Great Lakes Valley Conference for a day and came away with a split of its doubleheader against a former conference rival, as it beat Missouri Southern 13-3 in the first game before the Lions took the nightcap 6-3 at the S&T Baseball Field.

Missouri S&T spotted Southern a run in the opening inning, but scored in five of the six innings it batted in to produce the rout. The Miners got a run in the first on Thomas McCormick's RBI double that scored Zac Carter, then scored three in the second and four in the third to build an 8-3 lead after three innings.

In the second, the Miners got two runs thanks to a throwing error by Lion pitcher Ryan Estes, whose throw to third on a sacrifice bunt was wild and allowed Kyle Boehm and Brandon Cogan to score. Gerad Fox, whose bunt led to the error, later scored on a ground out by Cody Bass.

After Southern's Jeff Katchmar hit a two-run homer in the top of the third to cut the lead to one, another error on a bunt play led to the first Miner run in the bottom half of the inning. After McCormick and Eaf Redden reached base, Yaimel Javier-Cury's bunt was thrown away at first to allow McCormick to score.

Andrew Vance followed with a hit to score Redden, then Cogan drove in a run with a hit and Fox beat a throw at first to prevent a double play, allowing Vance to score the fourth run of the inning.

The Miners added a run in the fifth when Vance came in on a wild pitch and tacked on four more in the sixth.

Caleb Smith got his first collegiate victory by pitching into the fifth inning; Kyle Griffin threw the final 2 2/3 to preserve the win. Redden and Vance had three hits apiece as S&T recorded 13 hits in the first game.

The Miner bats, however, were silenced in game two by Southern's Chris Green and Jacob Garrison as they managed only three hits in the 6-3 loss. S&T scored a run without a hit in the opening inning as McCormick's sacrifice fly scored Fox, who walked to lead off the inning.

Southern scored two in the second to move back in front, then the Miners cut the margin in half when Drew Davenport scored on a passed ball. The Lions brought home three more, however, in the fifth to break the game open.

Colt Johnson had two of the Miners' three hits in the second game. Matt Lange took the loss for S&T.

McCormick drove in runs in both games -- getting them in the first inning each time -- to extend his string of games with at least one RBI to 10.

The Miners, 17-20 on the season, return to conference play Saturday when they open a four-game series against Quincy at noon. Fans attending Saturday's doubleheader will be able to get free pizza and soda between games courtesy of the S&T Corporate Club.

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A busy weekend of sports at Missouri S&T gets underway Friday night when the Miner football team hosts its annual spring game at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.

The game, which will be played as an offense vs. defense format with a scoring system set up for its performance, will start at 7 p.m. Prior to the contest, the team will host a football skills competition on the field starting at 5:30 p.m. All kids ages 6-12 are invited to participate.

Miner head coach Kirby Cannon has been pleased with what he has seen from the team during the month of April, despite the fact that the rainy weather has hampered the workouts to a degree.

"Even though we've been held back in part to field conditions and the inconsistency of practice days as a result, we've been able to get some things done," Cannon said. "I feel that we've shown improvement on defense and offensively we've made progress with a multiple quarterback system. We hope that Friday's game will help us assess where our quarterback situation is right now."

The Miners have three quarterbacks vying for the starting role in Brad Guidry, the starter at the beginning of last year who had his season cut short due to an injury; Steve Watson, a sophomore-to-be who took over for Guidry and started the final seven games of the season; and Jason Schleuter, who missed the entire 2007 campaign with an injury.

Guidry is not expected to play Friday along with a handful of others who are either recovering from injuries, competing in spring sports or taking part in the university's cooperative education program this semester. Watson and Schleuter figure to see the bulk of the snaps, with returner R.J. Shubatt and newcomer Dustin Prater, a transfer from Missouri Southern.

The Miners have competition at running back as well with returners David Shields and Jerome Miller battling for the starting role, but Cannon feels pleased with the situation at wide receiver despite the loss of All-America performer Ashton Gronewold.

Three returning starters -- Mike Greaving, Chad Shockley and Bryan Crider -- are back and the Miners will get some reinforcement at the position in the fall with some talented newcomers joining that group.

Defensively, the Miners are replacing two starters at linebacker and also have competition at the safety position with three returners with starting experience -- Brian Jordan, Jon Landstra and Robbie Woodard -- seeking to earn the two spots.

Besides the spring football game this weekend, the Miner baseball team will be in action with a four-game weekend series against Quincy University, with doubleheaders starting at noon on Saturday and Sunday. The Lady Miner softball is also at home this weekend with twinbills on Saturday against Indianapolis and Sunday against Saint Joseph's as they try to lock up a spot in the GLVC Tournament.

In addition, the Miner Booster Club is hosting a trivia night and silent auction Saturday night beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Lion's Club Den in Rolla.

Posted by John Kean at 02:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- The Lady Miner softball team lived on the edge all day long, but after pulling out a win in the opener, couldn't hold off Southern Indiana in the second game and had to settle for a split of its Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader.

Missouri S&T took game one of the twinbill 3-2, but USI overcame the Lady Miners' rally in the nightcap and won the game 5-4 with a run in the seventh inning.

In the opener, the Lady Miners grabbed the lead in the third when Rachel Wilkinson singled with two outs and Kelsey Musselman hit her league-best 12th home run of the season to center to give S&T a 2-0 lead.

Southern Indiana tied the game with single runs in the third and fourth innings, scoring in the third on Kristen Eickholt's leadoff homer and in the fourth when Sara Loete singled in Kathy Wood.

In the fifth, Kandi Wieberg singled with one out and stole second. After Wilkinson struck out, the Eagles elected to walk Musselman with first base open to pitch to Emily Tucker, but the Lady Miner centerfielder delivered with a run-scoring single to put S&T back in front.

Jen O'Hara pitched into and out of trouble throughout the game as she did not a single perfect inning, but got the big outs when she needed them to improve her record to 10-4. O'Hara forced USI to leave the bases loaded on two occasions, including the sixth inning, as the Eagles left 13 runners on base in the contest.

Southern Indiana would end up leaving 25 runners on base in the two games combined.

S&T jumped on top in the opening inning of game two when Tucker singled home Wieberg. The Eagles tied the game in the third on Eickholt's two-out RBI single, but left the bases loaded after scoring and did so again in the fourth against Lady Miner starter Ashley Wallingford.

However, USI didn't waste its scoring opportunity in the fifth as Ally McKinley's two-out double broke the tie and two more run-scoring hits later in the frame gave the Eagles a 4-1 lead.

The Lady Miners answered back in the sixth as they loaded the bases to start the inning on a walk to Wilkinson and singles by Musselman and Tucker. Kristen Drage got the first run home with a hit, then a wild pitch with two outs allowed Tucker to come in to score.

A walk to pinch-hitter Kassi Deibert loaded the bases again, then Stephanie Schneider walked Katie Smith to force in the tying run. The Eagles were able to escape when Eickholt, who entered the game to pitch after the walk to Smith, got Wieberg to ground out.

S&T had a chance in the seventh after Wilkinson opened the inning with a hit, but it couldn't get anything beyond that. O'Hara, who replaced Wallingford during the course of the Eagles' outburst in the fifth, retired the first two hitters in the seventh but gave up a walk to Kirsten Morgan. The walk was followed by a double by Heather Swarts that chased home the winning run.

Tucker and Drage had two hits apiece for S&T in the second game.

The Lady Miners (22-17, 13-7 GLVC) will play a make-up doubleheader at Rockhurst Thursday; the game was moved from Tuesday after the S&T games at USI had to be played on Monday. Following Thursday's games that start at 2 p.m., S&T will return home for its final two twinbills of season on Saturday against Indianapolis and Sunday against Saint Joseph's.

Posted by John Kean at 05:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Thomas McCormick

Thomas McCormick's big week for the Missouri S&T baseball team has landed him the Great Lakes Valley Conference's "Player of the Week" award for the games played over the past week.

McCormick, a junior outfielder from Kingwood, Texas, hit .571 in six S&T contests -- four of which were won by the Miners -- with three home runs and 14 runs batted in. Six of his 12 hits on the week were for extra bases (two doubles and a triple were included) and he also scored seven times.

He was four-of-eight in a doubleheader sweep over Missouri-St. Louis on Tuesday, which included a game-winning two-run double with two outs in the bottom of the ninth of the 6-5 win. He followed that effort with a six-for-seven day Saturday at Drury as the Miners recorded another sweep.

On Saturday, McCormick hit two home runs and drove in five during the course of the 16-4 game one victory. He also drove in a run in the nightcap and then drove in two in each of Sunday's games against the Panthers, including his third home run of the weekend.

McCormick, who leads the Miners with 33 runs batted in on the season, has driven in at least one run in each of S&T's last eight games. He is hitting .311 on the season.

The Miners will play host to Missouri Southern in a non-conference doubleheader Wednesday starting at noon.

Posted by John Kean at 04:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

OWENSBORO, Ky. -- Playing for the first time in 11 days, the Missouri S&T dropped the first game of Sunday's doubleheader at Kentucky Wesleyan in extra innings before routing the Panthers 9-0 in game two to gain a split of the twinbill.

The Panthers took game one 5-4 in nine innings.

S&T grabbed a 6-0 lead after three innings and then ended the game after six innings after scoring three more runs in the top half of that inning.

The Lady Miners got two runs in the first when Kristen Drage reached on an error with the bases loaded to score a run, then Becca Kueny delivered an RBI single. S&T extended its lead in the second when Emily Tucker drove in a pair of runs with a double and scored herself moments later on a hit by Drage.

Rachel Wilkinson's RBI hit in the third pushed the S&T lead to 6-0, then the Lady Miners put the game away in the sixth with an RBI double by Kueny and a two-run homer off the bat of Coley Naughton.

Ashley Wallingford allowed just three hits over the first five innings to get the win; Drage, who played her prep softball near Owensboro, threw a scoreless sixth to wrap up the game.

Wilkinson, Tucker and Kueny all had three hits for S&T in game two as the Lady Miners banged out 14 hits.

In the first game, the Panthers scored three in the opening inning to take an early lead, but S&T scored single runs in the second and third and took the lead with two runs in the fifth.

Drage got the first of her three hits in the game to start the second and came in to score on a ground out off the bat of Kueny, then Kandi Wieberg scored in the third after a leadoff hit, a stolen base, a ground out and an RBI single by Tucker.

S&T got its first lead of the game in the fifth on a rally that started with a one-out hit by Kelsey Musselman. That hit was followed by another single by Tucker, then Drage doubled to bring home Musselman. Naughton followed that with a successful squeeze bunt that scored Tucker to give S&T a 4-3 lead.

However, the Panthers' Mariel Hamer led off the sixth with a double off Jen O'Hara, then after a sacrifice bunt moved pinch-runner Mindy Woolsey to third, an error with two outs allowed the tying run to score.

The Lady Miners left runners on base in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, leaving two on in the eighth. The Panthers won the game in the bottom of the ninth after a hit by winning pitcher Haleigh Ashworth brought home Gabrielle Simmons, who had reached on an error to start the inning.

The Lady Miners (21-16, 12-6 GLVC) will play at Southern Indiana Monday (2 p.m. start) in a make-up doubleheader from Saturday's postponement. The Eagles lost both ends of their twinbill Sunday to Missouri-St. Louis.

Posted by John Kean at 07:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The Missouri S&T baseball team saw its season-best five-game winning streak come to an end Sunday as Drury rallied in both games of the doubleheader to beat the Miners by scores of 3-2 and 5-3 at Meador Park.

Missouri S&T had leads of 2-0 in the opener and 3-0 in the nightcap, but saw the Panthers overcome both deficits in the latter stages of the game to move back in front of the Miners in the Great Lakes Valley Conference West standings. The Miners now stand at 10-12 in the GLVC heading into Wednesday's non-conference affair with Missouri Southern.

In game one, the Miners jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning when Thomas McCormick followed Zac Carter's leadoff single with his third home run of the series. However, the Panthers tied the score in the fifth as Jason Hall hit a one-out homer off S&T pitcher Brian Rickert and Joe Rohlfing hit an inside the park home run with two outs.

Drury took the lead in the sixth when Tyler Goss doubled to open the inning and scored on a hit by Mike Tettamble. The Miners were able to get the tying run in scoring position in the seventh when Andrew Vance doubled with two outs, but Stephen Bloss struck out Gerad Fox to end the game.

Vance had two of the Miners' seven hits in the opener.

S&T got the advantage in game two as well by scoring twice in the third and again in the fifth to give Matt Campbell a 3-0 lead. Consecutive hits by Vance, Cody Bass and Carter loaded the bases, then McCormick delivered a sacrifice fly to put S&T in front. Eaf Redden followed with a single to give the Miners a 2-0 lead.

S&T extended its lead in the fifth on an RBI single by McCormick, the junior outfielder's 14th run batted in for the week and the eighth straight game in which he has driven in a run.

But just like in the first game, the Panthers were able to rally and it started in the bottom of the fifth when back-to-back doubles by Goss and Tettamble got them on the board.

Drury tied the game in the sixth and went ahead in the seventh on a home run by Daniel Mullis. The Panthers then added an insurance run in the eighth.

Carter had two of the Miners' nine hits in game two. Danny Trenner took the loss in relief for S&T in the nightcap.

Posted by John Kean at 07:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Mike Wilson (left) and Charles Melton

A total of seven first place finishes highlighted the Missouri S&T men's track and field efforts Saturday at the fourth annual Dewey Allgood Invitational held at S&T's Allgood-Bailey Stadium.

The majority of the first place finishes came in the running events where the Miners got five of their victories. Charles Melton won the 100-meter dash in 11.17 seconds to edge teammate Mike Wilson, but Wilson beat out Melton in the 200-meters with a winning time of 22.63 seconds.

Wilson was second in the 100 in 11.22 after running an 11.08 in the preliminaries, while Melton's runner-up time in the 200 was 22.81 seconds.

The other Miner wins on the track came from Brandon Etzold in the 800-meters in a personal-best time of 1:55.14, Joffroi Holcombe in the 5,000-meters in 15:15.88 and Allen Ernst in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 10:11.16. The field event wins came from Jordan Henry in the pole vault with a mark of 15-9 3/4 and Kal-El Waters-Jones in the triple jump with a leap of 42-11 1/2.

Second place finishes were posted by Bryan Hogan in the 400-meters in 50.78 seconds, Brendan Smith in the 1,500-meters in 4:06 flat, Peter Hollenbeck in the pole vault at 15-3 3/4, Henry in the long jump at 21-0 3/4, Andrew Moore in the triple jump at 41-8, Josh Hesse in the hammer throw with a mark of 126-10 and Heath Groom in the javelin throw as he posted a throw of 180-4.

Paul Roland claimed third in the 800-meters in 1:55.86, as did Grant Brown in the 1,500-meters in 15:52.94, Chris Thielker in the steeplechase in 10:20.76, Jared Anders in the pole vault at 15-3 3/4, Waters-Jones in the long jump with a mark of 20-7 3/4, Hesse in the shot put with a throw of 48-9 and Lucas Jaster was third in the hammer throw at 125-11 that was his best of the season.

Thomas Green was fourth in the 1,500-meters in 4:10.04 as was Wes Everhart in the javelin throw with a top throw of 152-11, while fifth place finishes came from Mike Renkoski in the 800-meters in 2:00.98 and Hollenbeck in the long jump at 20-1 1/2. The Miners had five of the top seven finishers in the long jump with Anders coming in sixth with a mark of 19-10 3/4 and Moore finishing seventh at 19-8.

The Miners' had a pair of 4x400-meter relay teams that finished second with a time of 3:19.96, finishing a little over a second behind Truman State's team that was anchored by All-America Sean Bergstedt.

Not only did S&T get seven wins from its current competitors Saturday, but two former Miners were also winners in their events while competing as unattached entries. Jamel Sims won the 110-meter hurdles in a time of 14.79 seconds while Jesse Scott won the high jump with a clearance of 6-0 3/4.

The Miners are expected to send selected individuals to the Drake Relays next weekend in Des Moines, Iowa, the final meet before the GLVC Championships that begin May 2 in Indianapolis.

Complete results

Posted by John Kean at 09:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Jamie Statler

The Missouri S&T women's track and field team recorded a number of high finishes, including four first place efforts, at the fourth annual Dewey Allgood Invitational held Saturday at S&T's Allgood-Bailey Stadium.

The first place finishes came from Hillary Griffith in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.77 seconds, Kierra Handley in the 800-meters in a seasonal-best time of 2:19.66, Tamara McCaskill in the high jump at 5-5 1/4 and Jamie Statler in the pole vault, where she won with a mark of 11-4 1/4 with fewer misses than the other three that cleared that height.

S&T also had four second place efforts, which were recorded by Kendra Lewis in 100-meters in 12.95 seconds, Aubrey Moore in the 200-meters in 26.14 seconds, Leah Morehead in the pole vault at 11-4 1/4, Sarah Stach in the long jump with a mark of 15-11 1/2 which was her personal best in the event.

Third place finishes were posted by Moore in the 100-meters in 13.13 seconds and 400-meters in a season-best 59.29, Griffith in the 200-meters in 26.28, Rebecca McNally in the 3,000-meters in a personal-best 11:45.97, Maggie Mawhiney in the 100-hurdles in 17.95 seconds and Hannah Terwelp in the shot put with a season-best mark of 40-4 3/4.

Lewis had a time of 26.71 in the 200-meters to come in fourth, as did Katie Bruce in the 800-meters in 2:27.14, Taylor Hahn in the pole vault at 11-4 1/4, McCaskill in the long jump at 15-7 1/2 and Terwelp in the hammer throw at 127-8, while fifths were posted by Sarah Stach in the 200-meters in 28.85 seconds, Samantha Schussele in the 800 in 2:30.38, Mawhiney in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:17.26 and Sarah Zaremba in the pole vault at 10-4 1/4.

The Lady Miners' 4x100-meter relay team took second in a seasonal-best time of 48.81 seconds, while the 4x400-meter relay team posted a time of 4:10.73.

Complete results

Posted by John Kean at 08:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The Miner baseball team extended its winning streak to a season-high five games Saturday by sweeping defending Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament champion Drury -- and moving ahead of the Panthers in the race for one of the final spots in this year's tournament.

Missouri S&T blasted the Panthers 16-4 in the opener, then rallied from a 5-1 deficit by scoring six runs in the final two innings to complete the sweep with a 7-5 win.

The victories moved S&T into a tie for third place with Quincy in the GLVC West and also the sixth and final playoff spot at the moment in the conference. The Miners are tied with Quincy and Indianapolis for that spot following play on Saturday.

In the opener, the Miners had four multiple-run innings -- scoring at least three times in all of them -- and finished with season highs in both runs and hits (21). S&T took the lead in the second with the first of the multiple-run frames by scoring three times.

Eaf Redden's double scored Thomas McCormick, who had walked to open the inning, to put the Miners on top, then Yaimel Javier-Cury followed with an RBI single to put the Miners ahead 2-0. Later in the inning, Javier-Cury scored on a double by Andrew Vance.

The Miners answered a Drury run in the second with one in the third on a sacrifice fly by McCormick, then busted the game open with a five-run outburst in the fourth. McCormick's two-run homer was the big blow in the inning.

S&T added three more runs in the sixth and four in the ninth. McCormick and Redden hit back-to-back homers in the sixth and then the Miners scored the four runs on six hits in the ninth inning.

McCormick had four hits and five runs batted in to pace the Miners in game one, while Zac Carter, Redden and Vance had three hits apiece.

Andrew Page went the first six innings to earn the win, while Jordan Buck threw two scoreless innings and Alex Dunn pitched the ninth.

Drury got the jump on the Miners in the nightcap, scoring a run in the third and four in the fifth after S&T had tied the contest in the top half of the inning on Javier-Cury's leadoff homer.

The Miner rally started when Carter was hit by a pitch with one out in the sixth and scored on a triple by McCormick. After Redden reached base when was plunked by a Chris Marston pitch, Javier-Cury brought home McCormick with a sacrifice fly to make it 5-3.

Justin Skinner took over on the mound for the Panthers to start the seventh, but ran into immediate trouble when he issued a leadoff walk to Vance. Gerad Fox followed with a single, then Cody Bass reached on an infield single that brought home Vance. A subsequent throwing error on the play allowed Fox to come around to score the tying run.

After a sacrifice bunt and an intentional walk to McCormick, who had a perfect day at the plate with six hits in six at-bats, Skinner threw a wild pitch to allow the go-ahead run to score. A passed ball moved McCormick to third and he came home on a sacrifice fly by Redden.

Danny Trenner, who came in the game with two outs in the sixth to get the Miners out of the inning, threw a perfect seventh to pick up the win in relief. Bass had three hits to lead the offensive attack for S&T (16-17, 10-10 GLVC), which will conclude the weekend series with a doubleheader Sunday at noon.

Posted by John Kean at 08:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Missouri S&T volleyball coach Jason Holt has announced the signing of three student-athletes to National Letter of Intent to play at S&T during the upcoming 2008 season.

The latest signees are Danielle Kracl, a setter from Burke High School in Omaha, Neb.; Julie Meyer, an outside hitter from St. Francis Borgia High School in Washington, Mo.; and Chelsea Winkelmann, an outside hitter from Hermann High School in Hermann, Mo.

The three join Erin Bekebrede, an outside hitter from St. Charles High School in St. Charles, Mo., who signed with S&T during the early signing period in November.

Following are profiles and comments on the new members of the Lady Miner volleyball team:

DANIELLE KRACL, a 5-7 setter from Burke High School in Omaha, Neb.: Kracl was named to the all-metro and all-state honorable mention teams following her senior season in the highly volleyball competitive state of Nebraska after finishing the 2007 season ranked among the top 10 in Class A in both set assists and service aces. She earned the same honors following her junior season, helping lead her team to a District A-1 Championship in 2006 and a 8th place finish in Class A State. Kracl was named team captain and voted Outstanding Team Leader during her final two seasons. She played club volleyball for Omaha Wave, where she helped lead her team to a four Junior Olympic National tournaments during her club career.

Head coach Jason Holt: “We are extremely excited to have Dani join us in our sophomore season as a program. Dani brings with her a wealth of very solid technical volleyball skills and knowledge to our setting position. She is extremely competitive and posses a wonderful touch on the ball, allowing her to make great decisions and run a very effective offense. She will do a great job running the court for the Miners.”

JULIE MEYER, a 5-9 outside hitter from St. Francis Borgia High School in Washington, Mo.: Meyer was a multi-year first-team all-conference, all-area, all-district, all-region and all-state player at Borgia, finishing her senior season in 2007 with 352 kills on only 617 attack attempts, hitting 4.29 kills per game and a .439 attack pct. She also finished with 106 total blocks (50 solo and 56 assisted), 403 digs (4.12 per game), and 23 service aces. Julie played on the Rockwood Thunder Volleyball Club team through her junior year, while taking her senior year to focus on basketball; she also plans to be a member of the Lady Miner women's basketball program at Missouri S&T.

Head coach Jason Holt: “Julie brings to Missouri S&T an outstanding resume on both the volleyball and basketball courts. She has tremendous jumping ability with an extremely aggressive and productive arm swing, both on and off the net. Julie is also a great defensive player, leading her team in both defensive digs and blocking. She is a fierce competitor who hates to lose, and that is the kind of attitude on the court that we are always looking for."

CHELSEA WINKELMANN, a 5-8 outside hitter from Hermann High School in Hermann, Mo.: Winkelmann is also a multi-year first team all-conference, all-area, all-district, all-region and all-state player. She helped lead Hermann to the 2006 state championship and a third place finish in her senior year, finishing with a total of 326 kills, for an average of 3.88 kills per game and an attack percentage of .274. Chelsea also registered 51 total blocks (34 solo and 17 assisted), 237 digs, and 44 service aces during her final year of high school volleyball.

Head coach Jason Holt: "Chelsea is a great find for us. She is a strong outside and right side hitter as well as possible defensive specialist who happened to be looking for a strong chemical engineering program...Missouri S&T fits the bill both academically and athletically for her. I am very excited to have another great athlete like Chelsea join our roster next fall. She posses great ball and body control on the court and should provide us with excellent depth on both pins and in the back court."

For more on the 2008 Lady Miner recruiting class, click here

Posted by John Kean at 02:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Missouri S&T track and field teams will host the fourth annual Dewey Allgood Invitational Saturday at Allgood-Bailey Stadium, with five teams coming to town to join S&T as well as other individuals who plan to participate in the meet.

The Miners and Lady Miners will compete with Truman State, Lincoln, Lindenwood, Evangel and Hendrix Saturday, with a handful of unattached competitors also expected to be in the field.

Missouri S&T currently has four provisional qualifiers for the NCAA Division II Championships, with Jared Anders having made the mark in the pole vault and Heath Groom in the javelin throw on the men's side and Taylor Hahn reaching the standard in the pole vault and Tamara McCaskill in the high jump for the women.

The meet will start at 11 a.m. with five field events, including the aforementioned men's javelin and women's pole vault. The men's pole vault competition that will include Anders and Jordan Henry, the national runner-up in the indoor pole vault at the 2008 NCAA Championships, will start at 1 p.m.. The women's high jump that McCaskill will compete in starts at 2:30 p.m.

The track events start at 1 p.m. with the preliminary rounds of the men's 100-meter dash, followed by the men's steeplechase and 400-meter relays for the men and women. All of the events will take place at Allgood-Bailey Stadium except for the hammer and discus throws, which will be contested at the Missouri S&T intramural fields by Fraternity Row.

EVENT SCHEDULE

Field Events
11:00a.m. Men’s Hammer Throw
Men’s Long Jump (Women to Follow)
Men’s Javelin (Women to Follow)
Women’s Shot Put (Women Hammer to Follow)
Women’s Pole Vault
1:00p.m. Men’s Pole Vault
Men’s Shot Put
2:30p.m. Men’s Triple Jump (Women to Follow)
Women’s High Jump (Men to Follow)
Women’s Discus (Men to follow)

Track Events
1:00 p.m. Men’s 100 Meter Prelims
1:15 p.m. Men’s 3000 Steeple
1:40 p.m. Women’s 4 x 100 Meter Relays
Men’s 4 x 100 Meter Relays
1:55 p.m. Women’s 1500 Meter Run
Men’s 1500 Meter Run
2:25 p.m. Women’s 100 Meter Hurdles Finals
Men’s 110 Meter Hurdles Finals
2:35 p.m. Women’s 3000 Meter Run
2:50 p.m. Women’s 400 Meter Dash
Men’s 400 Meter Dash
3:15 p.m. Women’s 100 Meter Dash Finals
Men’s 100 Meter Dash Finals
3:25 p.m. Women’s 800 Meter Run
Men’s 800 Meter Run
3:50 p.m. Women’s 400 Hurdles
Men’s 400 Hurdles
4:15 p.m. Women’s 200 Meter Dash
Men’s 200 Meter Dash
4:30 p.m. Men’s 5000 Meter Run
5:00 p.m. Women’s 4 x 400 Relay
Men’s 4 x 400 Relay

Posted by John Kean at 02:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Missouri S&T women's basketball coach Alan Eads, who led the Lady Miners to their best season in school history during the 2007-08 campaign, will be inducted into the Lady Greyhounds Hall of Fame at Moberly Area Community College Thursday night during the school's athletic awards banquet.

Eads spent eight seasons as the head coach at Moberly, leading those teams to a record of 199-37 and to five appearances in the National Junior College Athletic Association tournament. His first team at Moberly in the 1986-87 season finished third in the national tournament and later he guided teams to two fifth place showings and a ninth place finish in the event.

After the 1993-94 season, Eads left Moberly to become an assistant coach for the women's program at Southeast Missouri State, then took over the Missouri S&T program in 2002. The Lady Miners went 24-7 this season and reached the championship game of the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional, where they lost to eventual national champion Northern Kentucky.

"It's such a great honor to be inducted into the college's Hall of Fame, and even a greater honor to join so many great coaches before me like Dick Halterman on the women's side and so many of the men's coaches such as Cotton Fitzsimmons, Maury John, Charlie Spoonhour, Lee Kariker and Dana Altman," Eads said.

"As a coach, it takes a great group of players to be recognized in this manner and I was extremely fortunate to have been surrounded by several which I coached at the college," he added.

Eads joins a long line of successful coaches who have passed through the doors at Moberly to join the school's Hall of Fame. Halterman led the Lady Greyhounds to the NJCAA national championship in the 1981-82 season and later coached at Oklahoma State and Cameron. Fitzsimmons served as the head coach at Kansas State and with five teams in the National Basketball Association.

John was a head coach at Drake and Iowa State, Kariker coached at William Jewell after his stint at Moberly while Spoonhour guided programs at Missouri State, Saint Louis and UNLV before retiring. Altman is still active in the coaching field as he is the current head coach at Creighton University.

Eads, who is originally from Trenton, Mo., is the eighth individual inductee associated with Moberly's women's basketball program to enter the Lady Greyhounds Hall of Fame. During his eight seasons at the school, Eads was named as the NJCAA Region 16 "Coach of the Year" five times and had eight players who earned All-America honors.

(Some information for this story was provided by Chuck Embree, Moberly Monitor-Index)

Posted by John Kean at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Thomas McCormick

One good thing led to another for the Missouri S&T baseball team Tuesday, as a late inning rally in game one propelled a sweep of its Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader over Missouri-St. Louis at the S&T Baseball Field.

Thomas McCormick capped a two-out, two-run rally in the bottom of the ninth with a two-run double to give the Miners a 6-5 win over the Tritons, then pitchers Brian Rickert and Danny Trenner combined on a two-hitter in the second game as S&T completed the sweep with a 5-1 victory.

The wins improved the Miners' GLVC record to 8-10 heading into a four-game weekend series against Drury in Springfield, as the Miners are one-half game in back of the Panthers heading into Saturday's series opener.

S&T scored three unearned runs in the fourth inning of the opener to take the lead, taking advantage of two errors to get their three runs. The first two scored on a two-run single by Colt Johnson, then the second throwing error of the inning after a successful bunt by Andrew Vance allowed Johnson to come in to score.

However, UMSL's Mark Sanders tied the game in the fifth with a two-run homer, then the Tritons scored two more in the seventh to mave back into the lead.

The Miners cut the lead in half to open the eighth when McCormick led off with a double, Eaf Redden was hit by a pitch and Yaimel Javier-Cury singled to bring in McCormick. Johnson reached on a bunt single to load the bases, but Cody Bass lined into a double play and Redden was caught stealing on a double steal attempt to halt the threat.

UMSL pitcher Seth Cockrum retired the first two Miners with strikeouts in the ninth, but Louie Joseph was hit by a pitch to keep the inning going. Zac Carter singled off the glove of shortstop Andy Ford, then McCormick was able to foul off four full count pitches before lacing a double over the head of Sanders on the tenth pitch of the at-bat to bring in both runners to win the game.

Kyle Griffin got the win with two scoreless innings of relief. Johnson had three hits and McCormick two in the opener.

The Miners picked up where they left off in game two, jumping on starter Linds Prestia for two runs in the opening frame. Consecutive hits by Bass, Carter and McCormick put S&T in front, then Redden delivered a sacrifice fly to score Carter with the second run of the inning.

UMSL drew to within one in the third on an RBI double by Ryan Ayers, but the Miners answered with two more runs in the bottom half of the inning. After a walk to Gerad Fox and a double by Bass, the Tritons intentionally walked Carter to load the bases. A passed ball brought in a run, then McCormick singled home Bass to make it 4-1 and chase Prestia.

The Tritons threatened in the fourth as they were able to load the bases with two outs, but Trenner, who had just entered the game, got Ayers to hit into a fielder's choice to get out of the inning. From there, he retired nine of the last 10 batters he faced and the one he didn't reached base on a passed ball after a strikeout.

S&T added another run in the sixth on an RBI single by Vance that brought home Javier-Cury.

Bass and McCormick had two hits apiece in the nightcap; McCormick finished the day with four hits and four runs batted in. Trenner was credited with the victory in relief.

Posted by John Kean at 06:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

EMPORIA, Kan. -- Missouri S&T had several of its individuals record finishes in the top ten in events Sunday as the Lady Miners finished eighth in the team standings at the Papa John's Division II Challenge at Emporia State.

Tamara McCaskill had the highest finish among the Lady Miner competitors in the meet with a second place finish in the high jump, clearing 5-5 but falling short in the jumpoff for the title with Central Missouri's Samantha Frisbie.

Kierra Handley posted a third place finish in the 800-meters with a time of 2:21.74, while Jamie Statler had a third in the pole vault with a mark of 10-11 3/4, the same height cleared by Leah Moreland in her fourth place effort in the event (Statler had fewer misses to finish third).

The Lady Miners also got a fifth place finish from Katie Bruce in the 400-meters with a time of 1:00.38, while Aubrey Moore was seventh in the event in 1:01.11. Later in the day, Moore finished eighth in the 200-meters in 26.03 seconds.

Kendra Lewis finished eighth in the 100-meters with a time of 12.64 in the finals after going 12.60 in the preliminary round, while Maggie Mahwhiney was eighth in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:12.58

Hannah Terwelp placed eighth in the hammer throw with a mark of 121-3 and also placed ninth in the shot put with a mark of 37-1 1/4.

Sarah Zaremba cleared 10-feet in the pole vault to finish tenth. S&T's 4x100-meter relay team came in third place with a time of 49.48 seconds and its 4x400-meter relay team was sixth in 4:09.18.

The next competition for the Lady Miners comes up on Saturday when they host the Dewey Allgood Invitational at Allgood-Bailey Stadium. The meet will get underway at 11 a.m.

Results from Emporia State

Posted by John Kean at 09:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

EMPORIA, Kan. -- The Missouri S&T men's track team had two first place finishes Sunday in the Papa John's Division II Challenge held at Emporia State as it finished sixth in the team competition.

The Miner wins came from Joffroi Holcombe, who took first in the 10,000-meters in a time of 32:28.92 and Peter Hollenbeck. who won the pole vault competition with a clearance of 15-1.

S&T had several others who finished among the top ten in various events, led by Heath Groom who posted a mark of 195-4 in the javelin throw to finish fourth in the competition.

Josh Hesse recorded a fifth place showing in the shot put with a mark of 48-9 1/2 as did Brandon Etzold in the 800-meters in 1:57.90, while Jared Anders finished in a tie for fifth in the pole vault at 14-7 1/4

Kal-El Waters-Jones came in sixth place in the triple jump with a mark of 45-3 1/2 and Andrew Moore finished right behind him at 44-4. Brendan Smith finished seventh in the 800-meters in 1:58.13 and Paul Roland was tenth in that race in 1:58.46.

Waters-Jones had a leap of 20-11 3/4 in the long jump, while Pike had a mark of 43-9 3/4 in the triple jump and Hesse had a mark of 134-10 in the hammer throw. The Miners also got a mark of 11 seconds flat from Michael Wilson in the 100-meters.

The Miners' 4x400-meter relay team recorded a sixth place finish in a time of 3:29.93.

The Miners will hold their annual home meet, the Dewey Allgood Invitational, Saturday at Allgood-Bailey Stadium with the first event scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.

Results from Emporia State

Posted by John Kean at 09:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Missouri S&T men's track and field team is ranked 19th in NCAA Division II in the latest power rankings produced by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

The Miners, who were ranked sixth in last week's rankings, enter this weekend's competition with two individuals who have made an NCAA provisional qualifying mark in an event (Jared Anders in the pole vault and Heath Groom in the javelin).

The top ranked team among those in the Great Lakes region is Southern Illinois Edwardsville in the No. 10 spot, with Ashland from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 13th, Lewis in 17th and then Missouri S&T at No. 19. Findlay and Tiffin from the GLIAC are 23rd and 24th, respectively.

Six-time defending national champion Abilene Christian is atop this week's rankings, followed by a pair of the Miners' former conference rivals in Pittsburg State and Central Missouri. Angelo State and Lock Haven round out the top five.

S&T returns to competition Sunday at the Papa John's Division II Challenge at Emporia State; the meet was moved from Saturday to Sunday due to weather concerns on Saturday.

USTFCCCA rankings (April 10, 2008)
1. Abilene Christian
2. Pittsburg State
3. Central Missouri
4. Angelo State
5. Lock Haven
6. California-San Diego
7. Kutztown
8. Humboldt State
9. Fort Hays State
10. Southern Illinois Edwardsville
11. East Stroudsburg
12. Emporia State
13. Ashland
14. Nebraska-Kearney
15. Mary (N.D.)
16. Wheeling Jesuit
17. Lewis
18. Adams State
19. Missouri S&T