KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Missouri Western baseball senior outfielder Fahd Shakeel has been named the MIAA Hitter of the Week.

Shakeel was one of several Griffon hitters to have an outstanding MIAA opening series at the plate. The Edwardsville, Illinois native batted .583, slugged .917 and had a .643 on-base percentage as MWSU swept a three-game series from Fort Hays State at Central Oklahoma. Shakeel had a double, a home run and drove in three runs. He also walked twice and stole two bases in two attempts. On the weekend he was 7-for-12 at the plate with seven runs scored. His five-hit performance in the series finale tied an MWSU record for most hits in a game.

As a team, MWSU batted .351 in the series while Griffon pitchers held Fort Hays batters to a .160 average with 36 strikeouts. Griffon pitcher Anthony Castaneda was nominated for MIAA Pitcher of the Week, striking out 12 batters in a three-hit, one-run victory in game one of the series.

The Griffons travel to Missouri Southern to face the No. 25-ranked Lions in a three-game series that begins Feb. 28.

And Missouri Western softball senior outfielder Morgan Frost has been named the MIAA Hitter of the Week.

Frost had an outstanding week for the Griffons who went 3-3 across three non-conference doubleheaders that were added to make-up for canceled games. The Gilbertville, Iowa native went 13-for-23 at the dish with four doubles, three triples and a home run. She had nine RBIs and seven runs scored along with a sacrifice bunt and two stolen bases on two attempts. All that for a line of .565/1.130/.565. She added 97 points to her season batting average and enters this weekend batting .421.

She wasn’t the only Griffon with an impressive week at the plate. Freshman Brea Blanton drove in 10 runs and batted .563 over the first five starts of her career. Gabi Carter hit .429. As a team, the Griffons batted .368 over those six games with 15 doubles, six triples and two home runs.

The team will head back to southwest Missouri to take on Cameron University in a single game Friday, March 1 at 2:30 p.m. in Joplin. It will be the fifth game out of the last seven the Griffons will play in Joplin with the other two coming Tuesday in Springfield.

— MWSU Athletics —

MARYVILLE, Mo. – The Missouri Western men’s basketball team put a scare into the top-ranked team in the nation like they had not had all season. Trailing by 16 with 5:15 to go, Missouri Western (12-17, 6-12) cut the lead to one with 29 seconds left before falling 70-68 in front of a capacity crowd on senior night at Northwest Missouri State (28-0, 18-0).

Lavon Hightower completed a four-point play with 29 seconds remaining to cut the Northwest lead to 67-66. The senior knocked down a guarded three and was fouled before making his free throw. Kirk Finley made one of two free throws on the ensuing Bearcat possession. It was Hightower’s turn to possibly be the hero again with seven seconds left, but he missed a three point attempt. Ryan Welty then knocked down two free throws to make it 70-66. Tyrell Carroll made a layup as time expired to give the Griffons 68 points.

NOTABLES

• It was the closest any team had come to the undefeated MIAA champions since Northern State lost to Northwest by two in overtime in the first game of the season
• Missouri Western held Northwest to 14 percent three-point shooting in the first half to trail by six at the break
• For the game, Northwest shot 23 percent from three, its second lowest total of the season
• MWSU won the battle on the glass, out-rebounding Northwest 39-34
• The Griffons out-scored the Bearcats 34-30 in the paint and 12-6 on second chance points thanks to 12 offensive boards
• The game featured seven lead changes and four ties, all in the first half

LEADERS

• Hightower finished with 20 points, all coming in the second half, and a team-high 11 rebounds
• Tyrell Carroll had 18 points and five rebounds
• Bryan Hudson finished with 14 points

UP NEXT

• Missouri Western ends the regular season, Saturday, at Washburn (21-5, 14-3).

— MWSU Athletics —

MARYVILLE, Mo. – The Missouri Western women’s basketball team (13-14, 8-10) officially clinched its spot in the MIAA Championships with a 66-56 win at Northwest Missouri State (7-20, 3-15) on Tuesday night.

Down by three at halftime (33-30), Missouri Western held Northwest to just 23 second half points and shot 68 percent in the half to run away with the rivalry win.

NOTABLES

• After Northwest went 6-of-11 from three-point range in the first half, the Griffons held the Bearcats to 1-of-5 from long range in the second half
• Overall, the Griffon D held Northwest to 37 percent shooting in the second half on just 19 shots
• MWSU came out of the gate red-hot, jumping out to a 10-2 lead, but Northwest rallied back to tie the game at 10 then take a 13-12 lead
• Missouri Western went to the line just nine times in the game, but made eight
• The Griffons out-scored the Bearcats by 16 in the paint (38-22)
• Missouri Western and Central Oklahoma both won Tuesday night, securing the entire 10-team field for the MIAA Women’s Basketball Championships
• The regular season will have to play out to determine final seeding

LEADERS

• Katrina Roenfeldt led the Griffons with 18 points, seven steals and five assists
• Brittany Atkins scored 17 on 8-of-11 shooting and added five rebounds
• Jessica Davies also had five rebounds to go with 10 points

UP NEXT

• Missouri Western ends the regular season, Saturday, at Washburn (18-8, 13-4).

— MWSU Athletics —

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Missouri Western softball team (9-7) was the victim of two seventh inning comebacks on Tuesday at Drury (9-4).

The Griffons lost both game 4-3, leading 3-2 in both games heading to the bottom of the seventh.

Game 1
Drury 4, Missouri Western 3

• MWSU led 3-2 heading to the bottom of the seventh after allowing just two hits through the first six innings
• Drury scored the winning run on a two-out, bases loaded single
• Morgan Frost continued her red-hot stretch, going 3-for-4 in the game with another double, her fourth in the last three games
• Brea Blanton drove in two, going 1-for-3 at the plate
• Kenzie Hilzer (2-3) held Drury to two hits in the first inning and no more until giving up four in the seventh

Game 2
Drury 4, Missouri Western 3

• The script in the seventh was much the same. Drury got the leadoff batter on via single and moved her over with a sacrifice bunt.
• Another single tied the game and put runners at first and second with one out
• The Griffons intentionally walked the next batter
• A wild pitch put two runners in scoring position before a walk-off single won the game for Drury
• MWSU led 3-0 after two innings on an RBI single by Emma Hoffart in the first
• Lauren Houston had a two-out RBI double in the second and Frost drove in one with a two-out single
• Houston went 2-for-4
• Gabi Carter went 2-for-3 and Taylor Hoelscher was 2-for-3
• Kaili Hinds (4-1) took her first loss of the season, giving up four earned runs on 10 hits. She struck out four and walked two

UP NEXT

• Missouri Western is scheduled to take part in the now shortened Teri Mathis-Zenner Memorial Tournament in Joplin on Friday
• The Griffons opponent(s) and game time(s) are yet to be announced.

— MWSU Athletics —

INDIANAPOLIS – The NCAA Div. II Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Committee announced the participants for the 2019 NCAA Div. II Indoor Track and Field Championships. Missouri Western’s Hanna Williams was officially named a participant in the women’s 400 meter dash.

The announcement comes as no surprise, as Williams registered an automatic qualifying mark at the Bearcat Invite on Feb. 9 with a time of 54.37. She was the first Missouri Western student-athlete to earn an automatic qualifying mark in the program’s two-year history. Williams also becomes the second Griffon to qualify for the Indoor Track and Field Championships after Philip Thompson took third in the men’s triple jump last season.

Williams’ time of 54.37 seeds her third out of the 20 runners in the event. In the 400 meter, Williams shaved off over a second from her previous career-best of 55.83 entering this season. The sophomore has four wins this season in three different events.

The championships will be held March 8-9 in Pittsburg, Kansas at the Robert W. Plaster Center on the campus of Pittsburg State University. The site will be a familiar track for Williams, as she has already raced on the track once this year and multiple times last season.

— MWSU Athletics —

EDMOND, Okla. – The Missouri Western baseball team (5-5, 3-0) blasted its way to an MIAA opening series sweep with two run-rule wins over Fort Hays State (0-10, 0-3) on Monday at Central Oklahoma.

The Griffons won both games of a doubleheader by way of 10-run rule after seven innings on Monday. Missouri Western took game one 11-1 and game two 20-3.

NOTABLES

• Missouri Western outscored Fort Hays State 38-5 in the three-game series
• The Griffons tied a program record with six home runs in game two of the doubleheader
• On Monday, MWSU out-hit the Tigers 23-8
• On the day, the Griffons hit seven home runs and had two doubles for a .793 slugging percentage in the DH
• Missouri Western hit .397 on the day and MWSU pitchers held FHSU hitters to a .163 average with 22 strikeouts
• It was the second-straight series sweep of Fort Hays State

LEADERS

• Fahd Shakeel tied an MWSU record with five hits in game two and went 6-for-8 on the day with two RBIS
• Dusty Stroup drove in seven on the day and hit a grand slam in game two
• Casey Danley hit two home runs, one in each game
• Jacob Miller struck out nine through five innings and allowed three hits and no earned runs in a game one victory
• Jacob Cooper got the win in game two in relief of Roy Robles. Cooper stuck out three and allowe just one hit through 1 2/3 of relief
• Robles struck out five in 2 1/3

UP NEXT

• The Griffons are scheduled for a three-game series at Missouri Southern (10-3, 3-0) next weekend
• The Lions swept a three-game series at Central Oklahoma this past weekend.

— MWSU Athletics —

EDMOND, Okla. – Griffon Baseball (3-5, 1-0) won its MIAA opener behind another dominant performance by a starting pitcher and some opportune offense.

Anthony Castaneda struck out 12 batters in seven innings as Missouri Western took game one of a three game “home” series with Fort Hays State (0-9, 0-1) in Edmond, Oklahoma.

NOTABLES

• Castaneda had his second outing of 12 or more Ks after tying the MWSU single-game high with 14 in his first start on Feb. 2
• The series was scheduled to be played at Missouri Western, but bad weather forced the move to the campus of Central Oklahoma
• Game one was delayed for two hours as Fort Hays State had some difficulty making it to Edmond
• Nine of the Griffons’ 10 hits came from the top four spots in the order, six from the top two
• Missouri Western hit four doubles in the game and stole four bases

LEADERS

• Castaneda moved to 2-0 on the season, allowing one earned run on three hits. He struck out 12 and walked two in seven innings
• Thomas Ruwe pitched the last two innings, giving up two hits and striking out two batters
• Conrad McMahon went 3-for-5 with three runs scored and one RBI
• Casey Danley was also 3-for-5 with a run scored
• Jordan Jackson drove in three in the first action of his career. Jackson came off the bench in the sixth and drove in two with a single through the left side. He had an RBI double in the eighth

UP NEXT

• The two teams finish the series on Monday with a doubleheader slated to begin at noon.

— MWSU Athletics —