The Missouri Western baseball team split in their first two home games of the 2012 against the University of Nebraska-Kearney. Western won game one 7-2 behind a complete game from Brandon Simmons. In game two Western fell 6-2 and sit at 2-3 overall on the season.

Game 1: MWSU 7, UNK 2
Brandon Simmons held Nebraska-Kearney without a hit through six innings and the Griffons pounded out 11 hits behind him on the way to winning the home opener for Missouri Western baseball. Simmons improved to 2-0 on the season in his first complete game of the year. Simmons gave up three hits (all in the seventh inning) while striking out eight.

Western opened up the scoring in the first inning when Bubba Dotson doubled in Michael Schulze putting Western up 1-0. The Griffons scored their second run on a balk and scored two runs in the four off a Ramler homerun and Shockley scored off an error by the Lopers.

The Griffons big inning was the sixth when they used three hits to score three runs and claim a 7-0 lead heading to the seventh. Shawn Egge and Schulze scored on a double by David Chew while Chew scored on another Loper error.

Simmons took a no hitter into the final inning but three straight Loper hits earsed the no hitter and the shutout.

David Chew went 3-4 with two RBI, Shawn Egge was 2-3 with two runs scored and Nate Ramler’s one hit was a solo homer.

UNK got hits from Mike Nowak, Chandler Lute and Brian Wuest. Cory Ridenour falls to 0-2 going five innings giving up four earned runs while striking out four.

Game 2: UNK 6, MWSU 2
Matt Bergin had a rough outing for the Griffons in game two giving up four hits and three earned run in the first inning. Bergin went just 3.1 innings ginvg up five hits and five earned runs while striking out just three.

The Lopers three more runs in the four off three hits going up 6-1after four.

Western scored one run in the second off two hits and one in the eighth. Western had eight hits with Ramler getting two. Oliver Kadey had a solid outing out of the bullpen pitching four innings giving up just one hit while striking out five.

The Lopers had 10 hits with Chandle Lute going 3-for-4 with one run and one RBI. Adam Peters picked up the victory going five innings giving up six hits and striking out five. The Lopers sit at 1-4 on the season.

The two teams will wrap up the series tomorrow with a doubleheader at the Griffon Baseball Field . First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 pm.

— MWSU Sports Information —

The Missouri Western softball team pounded out nine hits and got a complete game shutout from junior pitcher Annalee Rubio picking up their second straight shutout defeating the Lady Miners of Missouri S&T 3-0 in the Arkansas-Monticello 5-State Classic. Western improves to 11-3 overall and will take on the North Alabama Lions at 3:00 pm closing out the day.

Rubio allowed two hits in the game with one coming in the first inning off the bat of Maggie Schroeder. Rubio struckout the final batter of the inning stranding Schroeder at third.

Western got on the board in the second with back to back hits. Taylor Anding singled and then Leah Steele blasted her first homer of the season over left center putting Western up 2-0 after two innings.

The Griffons got their third run in the third when Anding singled up the middle scoring pinch runner Erin Widrig. The Griffons had three hits in the inning.

Rubio cruised until the sixth when she gave up her second hit to Lindsey DeForest to lead off the inning. After a sac bunt by the Lady Miners advancing DeForest to second Rubio walked consecutive baters loading the bases. She then struckout the next batter and foced Missouri S&T into a fielder choice ending the threat.

Rubio struckout two of the final three Miners in the seventh evening her record at 3-3 on the season. The shutout was her first as a Griffon as she struckout eight.

Breanna Fleschner and Anding both had two hits in the contest as Western left eight on base.

The Lady Miners stranded five in the contest. On the mound Elise Kittrell went all six, giving up nine hits and three earned runs. She falls to 0-2 on the season while the Miners fall to 0-6.

— MWSU Sports Information —

The Missouri Western women’s tennis team picked up their first victory of the season in their second match of the Car City/Hyundai Classic by a score of 7-2 against the Lincoln Blue Tigers. Western is 1-2 on the season and will play the final match of the classic Saturday at noon against the Newman Jets at the St. Joseph Country Club.

Western’s opened up the match winning two of three doubles matches. Nicole Kerr and Katie Field picked up a victory over Kamaria Brave and Jasmine Daniel by a score of 8-3 in No. 2 doubles while Erin Ward and Alecia Jenkins won 8-0 over Victoria Banks and Gabrielle Quinn in No. 3 doubles.

In singles competition the Griffons won five of the six matches with Ceara Boldridge, Kayla Dysart, Erin Ward and Katie Field all winning in straight sets. Field won No. 6 singles by a scores of 6-0, 6-0 over Banks while Dysart won No. 3 singles 6-0 and 6-1 over Brave. Boldridge won 6-0, 6-2 against Alina Katrevich while Erin Ward won 7-5 and 6-1 against Daniel in No. 4 singles.

In No. 1 singles Nicole Kerr showed some determination fighting back winning set two 6-2 and the third set tie breaker 10-8 after losing the first set 6-2 against Camila Araujo. The Blue Tigers fall to 0-2 with the loss.

Missouri Western 7, Lincoln University 2
Feb 24, 2012 at St. Joseph, Mo. (Tennis and Swim Club)

Singles competition
1. Kerr,Nicole (MWSU) def. Araujo,Camila (LU) 2-6, 6-2, 10-8
2. Boldridge,Ceara (MWSU) def. Katrevich,Alina (LU) 6-0, 6-2
3. Dysart,Kayla (MWSU) def. Brave,Kamaria (LU) 6-0, 6-1
4. Ward,Erin (MWSU) def. Daniel,Jasmine (LU) 7-5, 6-1
5. Quinn,Gabrielle (LU) def. Jenkins,Alecia (MWSU) 2-6, 6-3, 11-9
6. Field,Katie (MWSU) def. Banks,Victoria (LU) 6-0, 6-0

Doubles competition
1. Araujo,Camila/Katrevich,Alina (LU) def. Boldridge,Ceara/Dysart,Kayla (MWSU) 8-4
2. Kerr,Nicole/Field,Katie (MWSU) def. Brave,Kamaria/Daniel,Jasmine (LU) 8-3
3. Ward,Erin/Jenkins,Alecia (MWSU) def. Banks,Victoria/Quinn,Gabrielle (LU) 8-0

— MWSU Sports Information —

The Missouri Western women’s basketball team couldn’t overcome a poor first half against the University of Central Missouri on Wednesday night at the MWSU Fieldhouse at the Looney Complex as they fell 75-55. Jessica Koch led the all scorers with 16 points and moved to 24 points away from breaking the MWSU record for career points.

After a rough start, the Griffons managed to close the gap to 44-30 early in the second half after Koch hit her first field goal of the game. The Jennies then went on a 15-6 run putting the game out of reach for the Griffons.

The Jennies had four players score in double figures and shot 42.6% for the game. The Griffons shot 32.2% for the game making half of their attempts in the second frame.

The Griffons fall to 6-19, (4-15) while the Jennies move to 19-6, (13-6). Missouri Western finishes their regular season on Saturday, February 25 against Southwest Baptist at 1:30 pm in the MWSU Fieldhouse. Before the game MWSU will recognize the five Griffon seniors who include: Brittany Casady, Alex Noble, Jessica Koch, Abby Stone, and Ashleigh Curry.

— MWSU Sports Information —

The Missouri Western baseball series with the University of Nebraska-Kearney has been moved back to Saturday and Sunday. The Griffons and the Lopers were scheduled to play single nine inning games on Friday and Sunday with a doubleheader on Saturday. The teams have decided to play two doubleheaders one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Both are set to start at 12:00 pm at the Griffon Baseball Field.

Western is 1-2 on the season after their series opener in Florence, Ala. with North Alabama last weekend. The Griffons and the Lopers split a doubleheader last season with the Lopers winning game one 4-2 while the Griffons winning 17-16 in game two. The games were played in Chanute, Kan. on February 26, 2011.

— MWSU Sports Information —

The Missouri Western softball team shot up four spots to 19th in this weeks NFCA poll which was released Wednesday morning. The Griffons are currently on a five game winning streak where they have outscored their opponents 39-6. Western sits at 9-2 overall and will take part in the Arkansas-Monticello 5-State Classic this weekend in Bentonville, Ark.

Western will open up the weekend on Friday, February 24 against Missouri St. Louis and Southwestern Oklahoma State. Game times are set for 10:00 am and 3:00 pm. On Saturday they will take on Missouri S&T and North Alabama at 10:00 am and 3:00 pm. They wrap up the weekend on Sunday taking Illinois-Springfield and Arkansas-Monticello at 9:00 am and 2:00 pm.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Despite out hitting North Alabama and leaving five more runners on base (9-4) than the Lions the Griffon baseball team fell 5-3 in the series finale. Nik Jurado had a solid outing for the Griffons going 7.1 innings givng up five hits and striking out nine as the Griffons fall to 1-2 on the season.

Things looked good for the Griffons early on opening up the game scoring two runs on two hits in the top of the first. David Chew doubled in Michael Schulze while Chew scored on a single by Grant Fink.

Jurado kept the Lions off the scoreboard until the fourth when he gave up one run on a sacrafice fly. The Griffons went up 3-1 in the seventh after Tony Loeffler scored on a Jake Graham double.

Things when downhill in the bottom of the eighth as the Lions scored four runs on three hits, capitalizing on one Griffon error. The Lions Daniel Korpi singled leading off the inning and later scored on a Darrmal Moore single. The Lions tied the game on a sacrafice ground out by Josh Doyle. Three batters later Josh Cyr delivered the two run game winning single.

In the ninth the Griffons got two, two out singles by Schulze and Graham but it wasn’t enough as the Griffons fell for the second straight game.

Western had eight hits with Fink and Graham collecting two apiece. Ethan Ward picked up the loss in releif as he did not record an out giving up one hit and one earned run.

Michael Schmidt and Korpi both had two hits for the Lions. Chad Boughner went 6.1 innings giving up four hits and two earned runs while striking out nine. Jacob Westerhouse picked up the victory while Ben Seabrook picked up his second save of the season. The Lions improve to 8-2 with the victory.

Western will play their first home games of the season this coming weekend. They open up a four game series on Friday, February 24 with a nine inning game against the University of Nebraska-Kearney. First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 pm on the Griffon Baseball Field at the Spring Sports Complex.

— MWSU Sports Information —

The Griffon baseball team opened up their 2012 season with a split against the 26th ranked North Alabama Lions on Sunday afternoon. The Griffons won the first game 4-1 behind a strong pitching performance from Brandon Simmons. In game two the Griffons fell 7-2.

Game 1
MWSU 4
UNA 1

The Griffons road the pitching of junior Brandon Simmons in game one as he pitched seven innings striking out six and giving up just one earned run. Ethan Ward came to pitch two innings giving up one hit earning the save.

Grant Fink led the charge offensviely for Western getting two of the Griffons eight hits. He put the Griffons on the board in the second singling in Spencer Shockley. The Griffons went up 2-0 in the second when Michael Schulze singled and scored on a single by David Chew.

Western went up 3-0 in the fifth when Fink scored on a wild pitch. The only run the Lions got was in the seventh. Bubba Dotson added an insuarnce run in the eight with a solo home run as Western picked up the victory in the season opener.

Fink singled and doubled in the game getting one RBI and scoring one run. Six other Griffons got hits in the game.

Game 2
UNA 7
MWSU 2

In the nightcap, UNA plated a run in the second inning off singles by Jake Sloan and Andrew Almon and a run scoring sacrifice bunt by Josh Cyr. Josh Carpenter also singled but Almon was called out at the plate on a controversial call where the umpire ruled that he had not touched home plate.

Missouri Western tied the game with a run in the third on their lone hit over the first five innings. Fink doubled and then scored on sacrafice fly by Schulze.

UNA took the lead for good with a three-run fifth. Drew Parker walked, Darrmal Moore singled and Michael Schmidt walked to load the bases. Josh Doyle had a two-run single and Schmidt later scored on the backend of a double steal as UNA made it 4-1.

Missouri Western got a run in the sixth but UNA added three more in the bottom of the frame. Almon had an RBI single and Carpenter had a two-run single to make it 7-2. Watkins (2-0) got the win, allowing just three hits in six innings. Ben Seabrook pitched a scoreless seventh for the Lions.

Western had just four hits in the contest while leaving five runners on base. Matt Bergin pitched 4.1 innngs giving up five hits and three earned runs while striking out one. He falls to 0-1 with the loss.

Missouri Western will play UNA again Monday in a single game at 1 p.m. at Mike Lane Field.

— MWSU Sports Information —