ST. CHARLES, Mo. – The Missouri Western men’s golf team finished the first and second rounds of the Lindenwood Invitational on Monday. The Griffons are in fourth place after day one, shooting 298 in both rounds for a combined score of 596. Patrick McCarthy leads the Griffons and is tied for sixth entering Tuesday’s third round.

Patrick McCarthy’s score of 144 over the first two rounds is the best on the team. After shooting a 73 in the opening round, McCarthy shaved two strokes off in the second round. His second-round score of 71 was the best single round score by a Missouri Western golfer on Monday.

Tom Buffington is currently tied for 17th after the first two rounds. Buffington shot a 76 and 73 for a combined score of 149. Jett Simmons scored a 77 in back-to-back rounds for a 154, placing him tied for 41st.

Jake Mikesch had one of the best rounds of the day for the Griffons in the first, finishing with a score of 72 in the round. Mikesch enters Tuesday with a total score of 156.

Lucas Horseman finished with a two-round total of 159 to round out the Missouri Western scoring.

The Lindenwood Invitational will resume on Tuesday morning.

— MWSU Athletics —

WARRENSBURG, Mo. – Missouri Western Women’s Golf sits in third place after the opening round of the Jennies Invitational on Monday, finishing with a combined team score of 321. Shi Qing Ong is competing for yet another tournament win, shooting a 75 (+4) for the second-best score in the field.

The Griffons sit in the top-three of a field that includes 14 teams, all in NCAA Div. II. The team is just four strokes back of Northwest Missouri for the second slot, while host Central Missouri leads the competition with a score of 313.

Continuing momentum from her first two wins this spring was Ong. Ong’s score of 75 (+4) lands her in second place heading into the second round as she trails Central Missouri’s Molly Saporito by just two strokes. Ong led the field in par-four scoring and was one of only eight golfers with multiple birdies.

Anna Bech also neared the top of the leaderboard with her 79 (+8) on Monday, tying her for 10th. Bech led the entire field of 75 in birdies, as she was the only golfer with three.

Chong Yong is tied for 20th after shooting 82 (+11), finishing the first round with nine pars.

Jenna Kosmatka shot an 85 (+14) and Katie Irvin shot a 91 (+20) for the Griffons.

The second round of the Jennies Invitational will begin at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, with Missouri Western scheduled to tee off at 10:36 a.m.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – Missouri Western (8-8, 0-3 MIAA) took on No. 8 Washburn (13-1, 4-0 MIAA) on Sunday afternoon at Genesis Health Club in St. Joseph. The Ichabods proved why they are ranked in the top-10 in the nation, defeating the Griffons by a score of 6-1.

Washburn swept the three doubles matches on Sunday, but had trouble fending off Missouri Western’s Karolina Ström and Joanna Abreu Roman. The pair nearly escaped with a win, but fell 7-6 in the final doubles match. Ström and Abreu Roman have proved to be the Griffons’ most productive doubles team, totaling 13 wins this season compared to just four losses.

The Griffons fell in five of the six matches in singles. Giving Missouri Western the point on the number one courts was Ström. Ström improves to 11-2 this spring after her 6-2, 7-5 victory on Sunday.

Bojana Vuksan came close to securing another win for the Griffons, but fell in a three-set match on the number six courts. Vuksan won the first set by a convincing 6-0 margin, but fell in the final two sets.

Missouri Western will hit the road for its Oklahoma road trip next weekend, beginning with a match against Central Oklahoma (9-2, 3-0 MIAA). The Bronchos’ only two losses this spring have come against NCAA Div. I opponents.

MWSU VS. WU
SINGLES
Karolina Ström (MWSU) def. Jacqueline Engelbrecht (WU) 6-2, 7-5
Alexis Czapinski (WU) def. Mireia Birosta (MWSU) 6-0, 6-0
Logan Morrissey (WU) def. Joanna Abreu Roman (MWSU) 6-4, 6-1
Maria Soler Valverde (WU) def. Federica Salmaso (MWSU) 6-1, 6-0
Svea Crohn (WU) def. Ciarra Gilmore (MWSU) 6-0, 6-0
Madison Lysaught (WU) def. Bojana Vuksan (MWSU) 0-6, 6-4, 10-2

DOUBLES
Czapinski/Morrissey (WU) def. Birosta/Gilmore (MWSU) 6-0
Crohn/Engelbrecht,Jacqueli (WU) def. Abreu Roman/Strom (MWSU) 7-6
Fields/Valverde (WU) def. Salmaso/Vuksan (MWSU) 6-2

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. CHARLES, Mo. – Lindenwood (13-15, 7-7) might have been the first team since Feb. 2 to score more than a run on Missouri Western baseball (11-10, 9-5) starter Anthony Castaneda, but the senior pitcher and his team still evened the series with the Lions in a 5-2 victory Saturday afternoon.

Castaneda tied the MWSU single-game strikeout record – for the second time this season – with a complete game 14-K performance.

NOTABLES

• Castaneda shut the Lions out for the first four innings before they scratched across two in the bottom of the fifth
• The senior recorded 14 strikeouts for the second time this season, matching his season opening performance at Oklahoma Baptist. He now has four games with 12 or more strikeouts in seven starts
• Andrew Curry led off the fourth with a single; stole second then got to third on a wild pitch before scoring when Zach Pych reached on an error
• Lindenwood was charged with eight errors in the game
• After Lindenwood took a 2-1 lead in the fifth, the Griffons regained the lead with three in the sixth
• Curry scored the first in the sixth on a wild pitch
• Nolan Monthei drove in the other two with a single up the middle
• The Griffons took advantage of another Lindenwood error that allowed Monthei to score an insurance run in the ninth
• Castaneda improved to 6-0 on the season, allowing just seven hits through nine innings. He struck out 14 and walked two
• Monthei was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored

UP NEXT

• The rubber match comes Sunday at a re-scheduled time of 11 a.m. in St. Charles.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – A run in the first inning and a breakout pitching performance by Lexi Kinnaird were a recipe for history as Griffon Softball head coach Jen Bagley Trotter became the MIAA’s all-time wins leader with her 615^th victory, 1-0 over No. 22 Winona State.

Trotter moved past former Griffon head coach Rhesa Sumrell for the most wins ever by a softball coach while at an MIAA school. All 615 of her wins as a head coach have come in her 18-year career at Missouri Western. It came in a one-run win over a ranked opponent that featured plenty of drama.

Winona State put runners on base in every inning but the third, but Kinnaird was able to work around the runners. After retiring the first two in the top of the seventh, Kinnaird walked a batter and gave up a single to put two on. A fly out to center ended the game and gave Kinnaird a complete game shutout.

Kinnaird (3-3) struck out five batters and walked two for her first seven-inning complete game of the year.

Gabi Carter and Emma Hoffart provided the Griffs with two of their five hits in the game in the first inning. Hoffart’s two-out double to center scored Carter from first for the only run of the game. Winona State’s Liz Pautz did her best to match Kinnaird’s performance, striking out seven with one walk and five hits allowed through six innings. Carter had two of MWSU’s hits, going 2-for-3 at the plate.

UP NEXT
Missouri Western could potentially end up with games Sunday in the Hy-Vee Classic. If not. The Griffons will wait until next week to host Lindenwood (March 29) and Lincoln (March 30) in doubleheaders.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. CHARLES, Mo. – Five runs in the eighth inning turned a tight, back-and-forth game into a 9-3 win for Lindenwood (13-14, 7-6) in the first of three games for the Missouri Western baseball team (10-10, 8-5) in St. Charles this weekend.

After the Griffons had tied the game three different times, Lindenwood took advantage of a couple walks and an error and did some work themselves in putting the game away with the five-run eighth.

NOTABLES

• It looked like it might be a home run derby early with Fahd Shakeel leading off the game with a solo homer to left on the first pitch of the game
• Lindenwood answered with a two-out solo shot in the bottom of the first
• The Lions took their first lead of the game on an RBI triple in the second
• Shakeel tied the game in the third with his second hit and RBI of the game, a single up the middle
• Jordan Jackson’s pinch-hit, RBI-single in the sixth tied the game at three before Lindenwood answered again in the bottom of the sixth to take a 4-3 lead
• The first six Lions reached in the bottom of the eighth, giving Lindenwood an 8-3 lead
• A double play put the Griffs one out from ending the inning, but an error allowed the fifth run of the inning to score before Kyle Heckenbach – the fourth pitcher for MWSU in the inning – got his one batter to ground out
• Shakeel went 2-for-4 with a walk. He drove in two and scored one
• Casey Danley was also 2-for-4 with a run scored
• Jacob Purl took the loss, giving up four runs, three earned, on six hits with six strikeouts and three walks through six innings

UP NEXT
Game two of the series comes Saturday at 3 p.m.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western softball  team (16-13) couldn’t make it four-straight win on Friday, falling 10-2 to No. 17 Augustana (19-4) in five innings in the fifth game of the Hy-Vee Classic.

Fresh off of ending No. 2 Central Oklahoma’s 20-game winning streak, Augustana jumped on the Griffs early with three runs in the first. The Griffons got their first hit and runs of the game in the third.

NOTABLES

• The first six Augustana batters reached base before the Griffons were able to record an out
• Kenzie Hilzer got the start, but faced four batters before Kaili Hinds replaced her in the first
• With two out in the third, Brea Blanton got MWSU its first run of the game, sparking a mini-rally that saw the Griffons score two in the inning
• Morgan Frost doubled in Blanton, her fourth double in the last four games
• Gabi Carter then drove Frost in with a single before Winona State got out of the inning
• MWSU used three of its four pitchers, none going more than Hinds’ three innings
• Hilzer took the loss and dropped to 3-6 on the season

UP NEXT

• The Griffons host No. 22 Winona State (14-3) at 11 a.m. on Saturday

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western women’s tennis team (8-7, 0-2 MIAA) suffered a 5-2 defeat to Emporia State (6-3, 3-1 MIAA) in its second effort at a conference win this spring. After taking the doubles point to start the match, the Hornets took four of the six matches in singles on their way to a 5-2 win.

Karolina Ström and Joanna Abreu Roman gave Missouri Western its lone win in the doubles. The pair now moves to 13-2 in duals doubles this season. Ström and Abreu Roman have been particularly impressive on the number one doubles courts, going 10-1 in those matches.

Ström picked up another win on the number one court for the Griffons in the singles. The junior improves to 8-2 in her last 10 matches after her 7-5, 6-2 victory on Friday.

Federica Salmaso was the other Griffon to earn a win in singles. After dropping the first set by a score of 6-4, Salmaso stormed back to win 6-2 in the second set, and then 10-7 in the third. Salmaso’s win was the closest match of the afternoon, as no other matchups went three sets.

Missouri Western Tennis will face a tough task in its next match when the team hosts No. 8 Washburn (11-1, 3-0 MIAA) on March 24.

MWSU VS. ESU
SINGLES
Karolina Ström (MWSU) def. Camila Ramos (ESU) 7-5, 6-2
Jessic Purdy (ESU) def. Mireia Birosta (MWSU) 6-1, 6-0
Viktoria Mackova (ESU) def. Joanna Abreu Roman (MWSU) 6-1, 6-2
Cyrielle Peyroche (ESU) def. Ciarra Gilmore (MWSU) 6-3, 6-1
Federica Salmaso (MWSU) def. Silvana Caceres (ESU) 4-6, 6-2, 10-7
Karen Santiago (ESU) def. Bojana Vuksan (MWSU) 6-1, 6-0

DOUBLES
Peyroche/Purdy (ESU) def. Birosta/Gilmore (MWSU) 6-2
Abreu Roman/Strom (MWSU) def. Mackova/Santiago (ESU) 7-5
Caceres/Ramos (ESU) def. Salmaso/Vuksan (MWSU) 6-3

— MWSU Athletics —