ST. JOSEPH – Missouri Western softball pitcher Janie Smith has been awarded for an outstanding weekend. The senior was named the MIAA/AstroTurf Pitcher of the Week.

Smith figured into three of the Griffons’ four wins over the weekend, pitching 19 innings in doubleheader sweeps of Northeastern State and Central Oklahoma. On Friday, the senior pitched 10 shutout innings as Missouri Western defeated Northeastern State 1-0. Smith went 2-0 on the weekend and earned a save, allowing 16 hits and two earned runs for a 0.95 ERA. She struck out 11 batters, walked six and allowed 16 hits in those 19 innings of work.

The Griffons are 14-6 overall and 4-0 in MIAA play, sitting atop the MIAA standings after the first week of conference play. Missouri Western travels to Central Missouri this Friday and Southwest Baptist on Saturday.

— MWSU Athletics —

DANVILLE, Ark. – The Missouri Western men’s golf team finished its first competition of the spring season with a score of 614 and finished tied for 17th place as a unit. The event was held at the Chamberlyne Country Club.

The Griffons were led by Jakob Rudosky through the two rounds of play. He finished with a 146 and placed tied for 19th. Senior Ryan Hand scored a 74 and 77 respectively in his two rounds which landed him tied for 44th.

As a team, the Griffons tied with Southern Arkansas and were two strokes behind Oklahoma Baptist for 16th place. Rockhurst finished with a 606 in 15th place and Harding finished with a 601 in 14th place. Arkansas Tech was the top team in the tournament, scoring a 571. The second place team was SE Oklahoma State with a 579 score.

Missouri Southern State’s Taylor Lansford was the individual winner of the event, firing a 138. Austin Smith from Arkansas Tech finished second with a 140 in the two rounds of play.

The Griffons are back in action on March 20 – March 22 at the Broncho Invitational.

— MWSU Athletics —

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Missouri Western baseball team dominated offensively at Drury University, scoring 29 runs and recording 33 hits in the doubleheader sweep. The Griffons took game one 15-4 and the second game of the evening 14-3.

Game 1

The Griffons controlled the game from the start, scoring the first 14 runs of the game. Missouri Western finished the game with 15 runs and tied a season-high with 17 hits. MWSU managed to score at least one run in six of the seven innings. Drury managed to collect four runs on six hits throughout the game.

Offensively, Missouri Western managed to score two runs in the first inning when Jeremy Alvarado and Kody Matthews each picked up RBIs. The Griffons continued to add to their lead as Cosmino Cannella had a two-run home run to left field in the fourth inning. The Griffons added two more runs in the top of the fourth inning, expanding the Griffon lead to 10-0.

Senior Orencio Fisher tallied his second home run of the season in the fifth inning. Alvardo eventually followed up with a double to left field, bringing home Nick Gawley and David Glaude to make the score 13-0 heading into the sixth inning.

The final run of the game for the Griffons came from Marcus Brown as he blasted a home run to left field.

Missouri Western had four pitchers enter the game. Evan Jones is now 2-0 on the season, allowing just one hit in three innings of work. Weston Caindec and Chris Estrada combined for two innings, allowing one hit and one run and tallying two strikeouts.

Game 2

Missouri Western picked up right where they left off after game one, producing 14 runs on 16 hits in the second game. The Griffons recorded runs in six of seven innings again including three innings scoring at least three runs.

Missouri Western started off scoring on a sac fly by Nick Gawley, scoring David Glaude. Drury responded in the bottom half of the first inning with an RBI single to right field by Conner Wilson. The Griffons added a pair of runs in the second inning and never looked back.

The Griffons tallied four runs in the top of the fourth inning with an RBI single by Alvarado and a single by Andrew Ramirez, bringing home two more runs. In the fifth inning, Cannella and Gawley had back-to-back home runs. MWSU added three more runs in the top of the seventh inning to end the game.

Jared Lloyd recorded his second victory of the season, allowing just two earned runs on four hits. Zach Cross, Mike Calimeno, and Conner Schwienebart combined to allow just one run in four innings of work. They also had six strikeouts combined.

The Griffons will return home this weekend as they take on Pittsburg State starting on Friday at 2 p.m.

— MWSU Athletics —