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Stevens, Dockery turn in impressive times at Hillsdale

HILLSDALE, Mich. — Sam Stevens and Kyle Dockery both turned in impressive times on Friday at the Hillsdale College Invitational.

Running in races filled with Division I and Division II athletes, Stevens finished 17th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9:19.38, but the race wasn’t without incident for the Lawrence junior. With just over 200 meters left, Stevens fell while clearing the final barrier. Stevens got up and continued the race but lost about 10 seconds because of the incident.

Dockery finished 25th in the 10,000 meters in his first attempt at that race this season. The freshman ran a time of 31:53.78, and that is the best time by a Midwest Conference runner this season by more than 20 seconds.

The remainder of the Lawrence team competes on Saturday at the UW-Whitewater Invitational.

Vikings split doubleheader with Finlandia

The Lawrence University softball team cruised to a win in the opener on Thursday, but Finlandia University took the nightcap to split a nonconference doubleheader at Whiting Field.

Lawrence (8-19) won the opener 9-1 in six innings, and Finlandia (24-8) took the second game 9-4.

In the opener, Shannon Murray went the distance to pick up the win. She allowed only four hits and one unearned run. Murray struck out four and walked one.

Cathy Kaye powered the Lawrence offense by going 3-for-3. Murray and Alissa Geipel both went 2-for-3 and each drove in a pair of runs.

Lawrence took a 3-1 lead with three runs in the second. Geipel drove in Kara Vance with a run-scoring single to tie the game at 1-1, and Kaye then scored on a passed ball. Brittany Garland then uncorked a wild pitch to score Geipel and give Lawrence a two-run edge.

Lawrence added a run in the fourth on Geipel’s RBI single, and the Vikings pulled away with three runs in the fifth. The Vikings loaded the bases on a pair of singles and a hit batsman, and Murray followed with a two-run single to put Lawrence up 6-1. Kaye later singled up the middle to score Murray to make it 7-1.

Lawrence ended the game on the mercy rule with two runs in the sixth. Lawrence had two runners aboard when Coley LaChance dumped a two-run double down the right field line to end the game.

Garland allowed 11 hits over 5 2/3 innings and took the loss.

In the nightcap, Finlandia collected 12 hits and took advantage of three Lawrence errors to pull away. Garland went the distance to get the win. Garland also went 2-for-4 with a solo homer, and she scored two runs and drove in a pair.

Garland led off the game with a homer, and Finlandia manufactured a run in the second to go up 2-0. The Lions then scored four times in the third with only one hit, but they took advantage of two errors and a wild pitch to go up 6-1.

Finlandia added three runs in the fourth with Garland, Sam Walters and Ashley Benavidez all picking up run-scoring singles to give the Lions a 9-1 lead. Lawrence trimmed the lead to 9-2 with Kaye’s RBI single in the fourth, and the Vikings added two more runs in the seventh for the final margin.

Kaye went 2-for-3 and drove in two runs for the Vikings in the nightcap. Kara Vance made the start and took the loss after pitching only 2 1/3 innings.

Lawrence plays its final home doubleheader on Saturday when it hosts Elmhurst College.

Game one box score

Game two box score

 

 

Big inning helps Lawrence cut down Lumberjacks

A big third inning lifted the Lawrence University baseball team to a 6-4 nonconference victory over Northland College on Wednesday at Whiting Field.

The Vikings (13-14) scored all six of their runs in the third inning and have now won their last seven nonconference games.

Eric Bohling went 2-for-4 and drove in a pair of runs on his second home run of the season to lead the Vikings. Freshman outfielder Jake Gordon went 3-for-4 for Lawrence.

Sophomore John Doran worked three innings of relief to pick up his first career victory. Doran allowed four hits, struck out three and walked one. Phil Clark worked a perfect ninth to get his second save of the season.

Shane Ellias started and lasted only 2 2/3 innings. He allowed all six runs and took the loss for Northland (12-19).

Northland led 1-0 heading to the bottom of the third when Gabe Henriques started the rally with a one-out single. Bohling followed with a homer down the left field line to give the Vikings a 2-1 lead.

After Joel Birch walked and Phil Wisniewski singled, Sam Kossow singled to score Birch. Gordon laid down a bunt single, but a throwing error on the play allowed Wisniewski to score. Another error allowed Marc Linger to reach and Kossow and Gordon both scored on that play to put Lawrence up 6-2.

Northland added a single run in the sixth and two more in the seventh, but Kelton Jenkins came on in relief to shut down the rally in the seventh. Dan Taylor worked a scoreless eighth, and Clark worked a 1-2-3 ninth, including striking out the final batter to get the save.

Lawrence returns to Midwest Conference play when it travels to St. Norbert College on Saturday for a doubleheader.

Box score

 

Inside LU Athletics: Young pitchers showing the way for Vikings

The odds of having a successful baseball season with a starting staff made up of four freshmen are slightly better than the Publisher’s Clearinghouse prize van pulling into your driveway.

Lawrence University baseball coach Jason Anderson may want to consider buying a lottery ticket because he picked some winners this spring. With four first-year players in the starting rotation and another two freshmen playing key roles out of the bullpen, Lawrence seems to have turned a corner where its pitching staff is concerned.

The Vikings are 12-14 entering play this week, and Lawrence is 4-4 in the Midwest Conference’s North Division. With half of the conference games complete, Lawrence is battling for a spot in the MWC Tournament.

“All we talk about is throwing strikes,” Anderson said. “If we believe in that, we are just fine. The end result is we’ve had two shutouts this season.”

Starters Drew Doares, Kelton Jenkins, Atley Gay and Davis Ogilvie have combined with relievers Phil Clark and Dan Taylor to form a formidable freshmen force.

“They’ve made a nice progression, and we’ve really cut down our ERA this season,” Andersons said. “We want to have the hitters get themselves out.

On or out in four pitches is our mantra.”

Lawrence’s earned run average went from 11.18 in 2011 to 6.21 thus far in 2012. The more innings these young hurlers log, the lower that ERA is going. Since the team returned from its spring break trip to Florida, the ERA is 5.64 over the last 16 games.

The other big change from a season ago is the number of free passes issued by Lawrence. The Vikings walked an average of 7.3 batters per nine innings in 2011, and that is down to 5.5 in 2012.

“Our pitchers have been doing as well as can be expected,” said Jenkins, a native of Bainbridge Island, Wash., with a 2-3 record and 4.91 ERA. “We’ve had some great coaching, and there are a lot of people pushing us every day to improve. I knew coming in that we were going to be a pretty talented group, but we have truly risen to the occasion as a pitching staff and rallied behind each other.”

Gay, who hails from nearby Manitowoc, Wis., leads the team with a 3.48 ERA and has a 2-0 record on the season. He was chosen as the MWC Pitcher of the Week after picking up his first career win and save recently.

Doares, who came to Lawrence from Holly Springs, N.C., has a team-best three wins and a 4.46 ERA. He has struck out a team-best 28 and posted his first career shutout, a five-hit, 1-0 win over Beloit last Saturday. Ogilvie is the hardest thrower in the group and has a 1-3 mark with a 7.46 ERA.

“They are all very different and that’s why the staff is very good,” Anderson said.

Clark has posted a 2-1 record with a save and a 4.66 ERA while working strictly in relief. Clark, an Omro, Wis., native whose brothers Louie and Jordan were both stars for the Vikings, came in as a position player but has found a home in the bullpen. Taylor, who came from a very small California high school, has pitched from the bullpen and played in the field. He is 0-2 with a 7.50 ERA.

“I didn’t think I would have six,” Anderson said. “The reality is that I thought three of them would be huge contributors this year.”

After winning only three games a season ago, the Vikings are four times better than that already this season. Lawrence also split the four-game series with both defending conference champion Ripon College and defending North Division champ Beloit. The pitching has been a big part of that, and Jenkins believes this young group will continue to improve.

“We can be as good as we want,” Jenkins said. “I see the sky as the limit. As long as we keep pitching with confidence, good things will happen. The goal for this year was to make it to (the conference tournament) so I’m pretty focused on that, but I imagine we’ll only go up from there, especially as we get more college experience under our belts.”

Anderson said it is up to the pitchers to decide their level of excellence.

“The answer lies within the guys,” Anderson said. “It depends on how hard they work in the off-season. My goal for those guys is to be pushing to be on the all-conference team. Baseball is about pitching and they are all buying into it.”

Streaking Vikings

Lawrence saw its baseball win streak stop at seven games after winning the opening game of last Saturday’s doubleheader against Beloit. That matches the seven-game win streak the 1980 squad put together.

Running with the big boys

Sam Stevens and Kyle Dockery will face their toughest competition of the season when they travel to the Hillsdale College Gina Relays this week.

Stevens will run the 3,000-meter steeplechase on Friday, and Dockery will run the 10,000 meters on Thursday against an elite field featuring multiple Division I athletes. Stevens is coming off a win in the steeplechase at UW-La Crosse last Friday, and Dockery won the 5,000 last Saturday at St. Norbert.

Tennis records fall

The women’s tennis team beat UW-Stevens Point 8-1 last Saturday to set a season record for victories. Lawrence finished 14-8 to top the record of 13 wins set in 2005 and again in 2008.

Senior No. 1 singles player Beth Larson finished her season with an impressive 24-3 record and eclipsed the season wins record of 21 set by Appleton native Linda Tomtshak in 1985.

Feeling left out

The men’s tennis team tied for first place in the North Division with Carroll University and St. Norbert. All three teams had a 2-1 record and a 1-1 mark against each other, but Lawrence came up short in the tiebreaker of total matches won.

Carroll and St. Norbert won the tiebreaker and will play in the four-team MWC Tournament on Friday. Lawrence will go for individual singles and doubles titles on Saturday and Sunday at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison, Wis.

Lawrence finished sixth in the MWC Championships a season ago.

Editor’s Note: Inside LU Athletics is a notes package written by Lawrence University Sports Information Director Joe Vanden Acker. It will feature teams and individual players, recap weekly awards or highlights and take a look at what’s ahead for the Vikings.

Vikings left out in the cold despite victory over St. Norbert

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s tennis team beat St. Norbert College 5-4 on Sunday at Western Racquet Club, but a three-way tie means the Vikings will not make the Midwest Conference Tournament.

Lawrence (9-12, 2-1 MWC), St. Norbert (5-12, 2-1) and Carroll University all ended in a three-way tie for first place in the North Division, but St. Norbert and Carroll will play in the four-team conference tournament next Friday.

Since the three teams all went 1-1 against each other, the tiebreaker was individual matches won and Lawrence was the odd man out in that scenario.

The singles players gave Lawrence the win over St. Norbert on Sunday. Lawrence won only one doubles match, Jason Dunn and Max Zlevor at No. 1, but won four of the six singles matches.

Dunn (No. 1), Caleb Ray (No. 3), Cooper Smith (No. 4) and Craig Sherwood (No. 5) all won singles matches for Lawrence.

Box score

Lawrence breaks season wins record by topping UWSP

STEVENS POINT, Wis. — The Lawrence University women’s tennis team broke the school record for a wins in a season with an 8-1 nonconference victory over UW-Stevens Point on Saturday.

It was the 14th victory of the season for Lawrence (14-8) and breaks the mark of 13 wins set by the 2008 and 2005 squads.

The Vikings got the match off to a great start by sweeping the doubles matches, and Lawrence then won five of the six singles contests.

It was the final match of a stellar career for No. 1 singles player Beth Larson. She beat Rachel Brown 6-2, 6-0 and teamed with Christina Schaupp for an 8-2 win at No. 1 doubles.

Gayatri Malhotra (No. 3), Hannah Geoffrey (No. 4), Polly Dalton (No. 5) and Tess Vogel (No. 6) all picked up singles victories.

Box score

Doares tosses shutout as Vikings split with Beloit

Freshman pitcher Drew Doares tossed a shutout to lead the Lawrence University baseball team to a Midwest Conference doubleheader split with Beloit College on Saturday at Whiting Field.

The Vikings (11-13, 3-3 MWC) won the opener 1-0, and Beloit (14-15, 6-4) hung on for a 4-2 win in the nightcap.

Doares was simply outstanding for Lawrence in the opener. He picked up his first career shutout and allowed only five hits. He struck out four and walked three. It was the first 1-0 shutout by a Lawrence pitcher since Aaron Leitner beat Grinnell 1-0 on March 22, 2009, but that was a seven-inning contest.

Eric Bohling paced Lawrence’s 10-hit attack by going 3-for-4 and driving in the game’s only run. Gabe Henriques and Joel Birch both went 2-for-4 for the Vikings.

Lawrence scored the game’s only run in the bottom of the first inning. Davide Harris led off the game with a double and went to third on Henriques’ groundout. Bohling followed with a run-scoring single and the Vikings led 1-0.

Beloit did not have a runner reach third base in the game, but the Bucs did threaten in the ninth after Emory Nelms had a two-out double. After a walk, Doares got Will Mack to fly out to end the game.

Alex Norman went the distance for Beloit and took the loss.

In the nightcap, the Vikings rallied late but came up short. Grant Henrickson went 8 1/3 innings to get the win, and Al Loth got the final two outs to pick up the save.

Kelton Jenkins pitched well for Lawrence and took the loss after six innings of work.

Sam Kossow, Harris and Birch all had two hits for the Vikings, and Kossow smacked his first career homer.

Beloit led 4-0 heading to the eighth, but Lawrence loaded the bases on singes from Harris, Bohling and Birch. Phil Wisniewski grounded into a fielder’s choice to score Harris and trim the lead to 4-1. Henrickson then got Jake Gordon to ground into another fielder’s choice to end the inning.

Lawrence cut the lead to 4-2 when Kossow blasted a one-out solo homer in the ninth. Loth came on in relief and got Tanner DeBettencourt to ground out for the second out of the inning. Loth then walked Harris and Henriques, but he struck out Bohling to end the game.

Lawrence wraps up the four-game series with a doubleheader at Beloit on Sunday.

Game one box score

Game two box score

Inside LU Athletics: Murray powers Vikings’ offense and pitching staff

They broke the cardinal rule, but the sporting gods were on the side of pitcher Shannon Murray.

The Lawrence University softball team was in the midst of blowing out Grinnell College last Saturday at the Midwest Conference Classic when pitching coach Ron Harke asked head coach Kim Tatro what she thought about pulling Murray. The Vikings were in the first of three games on Saturday, and Murray would definitely be needed to pitch later in the day.

“We were talking about making a change in the fourth inning,” Tatro said, “and I said, ‘You know she’s got a no-hitter going.’ ”

Tatro figured that would jinx it, but Murray cruised through the rest of the contest to post her second career no-hitter and only the third in Lawrence history. It is the latest highlight this season for Murray, who leads the team in hitting and is the Vikings’ top pitcher.

“To be honest, it would not have been possible without the entire team,” a modest Murray said of her no-hitter. “We shut them down defensively, and offensively we hit the ball right away.”

It’s her offense that makes Murray very unique among softball pitchers. A junior from Lawrenceville, Ga., Murray leads the team with a .441 batting average, but she is far from a singles hitter. Murray has a team-high eight doubles, is tied for the team lead with two triples and has a team-best 19 runs batted in.

“In terms of being pretty dominant in both areas, that doesn’t happen very often,” Tatro said. “Pitchers often grow up with the mindset that they are going to pitch, and that’s what they’re going to do well. They don’t often become the type of hitter that Shannon is where you can hit for power and hit for average. From that standpoint, she’s pretty unique.”

Murray is oblivious to the numbers she’s posting. In five games last week, the young woman from Georgia nicknamed Peach by her teammates hit a blistering .571 and had a 1.000 slugging percentage.

“To be honest, I don’t really keep up with the numbers. It takes the fun out of the game for me,” Murray said. “I couldn’t tell you if it was my best season, but it’s been productive. I try to go up there and do what’s productive for the team.”

Murray also has been the workhorse of the pitching staff by throwing 80.1 of of Lawrence’s 131 innings this season.

“I don’t care who you’re playing, to throw a no-hitter is pretty special,” Tatro said. “The mindset was to get the day off on a good note and get Shannon going. The idea to start the day was to throw her and then come in with someone else if we got a lead.”

The no-hitter threw a wrench in those plans, but that’s not the first time this season the Vikings have seen the best-laid plans altered. Murray was expected to form a great 1-2 pitching punch with senior Emily Perish, but an injury has sidelined Perish for the nearly a month.

“It’s definitely different without Em,” Murray said. “We came into the season not knowing what the freshmen were going to be like. The two freshmen have done a great job of stepping up. As a pitching staff, we’re a good working team.”

Perish’s injury has left Murray as the staff ace with freshmen Kara Vance and Liz Barthels lending a hand. Murray, who hasn’t pitched with a lot of luck this season (almost one-third of the runs she has allowed are unearned), is 5-8 with a 4.36 earned runs average.

“When Shannon came in, we were equally impressed with her skills from an offensive and defensive perspective,” Tatro said. “She has evolved into a team leader and one of the most competitive players we have on our team come game time.”

That competitive fire has left Murray wanting more this season. The young Vikings have struggled to a 6-15 record, but Murray believes the team is capable of piling up some victories.

“Sometimes we’re thinking so much about what we need to do on the field that we’re not doing it,” Murray said. “We’re focusing on just playing and just doing. If we can do that, we will start to have some more wins.”

The Vikings enter a busy stretch where they will play 12 games in the next 11 days.

Stormy weather

The Midwest Conference Classic was canceled after one day of play in Waukegan, Ill., this past weekend. The Classic pits the North Division teams against their South Division rivals and the games count in the conference standings. Because all of Sunday’s scheduled play was washed out and will not be made up, all three of Saturday’s games will not count in the conference standings.

Aces in the house

Ironically, the only other player in Lawrence softball history to toss a no-hitter, Lauren Kost, just happened to be at Murray’s no-hitter against Grinnell. Kost, a 2005 Lawrence graduate, lives in the Chicago area and went to the MWC Classic, which was being played in Waukegan, Ill., for the first time.

Streaking Vikings

The Lawrence baseball team has run its win streak to six games, and that is the longest season winning streak for the Vikings (10-12) since 1980. The 1980 squad won seven straight, and the longest win streak is nine games, which began at the end of the 1988 season and continued into the start of the 1989 season.

Vikings sweep honors

Lawrence baseball standouts Gabe Henriques and Atley Gay swept the Midwest Conference Performer of the Week awards. Henriques, a junior infielder from Chicago, Ill.,was named Player of the Week, and Gay, a freshman right-hander from Manitowoc, Wis., was chosen as Pitcher of the Week.

Henriques led Lawrence to a 6-0 record on the week by hitting .500 (10-for-20) with seven runs batted in. Henriques scored 10 runs and collected two doubles, a triple and a homer.

Gay picked up his first collegiate win and his first collegiate save during the week. Gay went the distance in Lawrence’s 11-1 win at Finlandia University this past Saturday to get his first win. He allowed two hits, struck out four and didn’t walk a batter. Gay earned his first save by pitching the final inning of Lawrence’s 8-5 victory over the Milwaukee School of Engineering last Wednesday.

Tennis records fall

Lawrence women’s tennis star Beth Larson broke one school record last Saturday, and the Vikings tied another in a 9-0 nonconference victory over Concordia (Wis.) University at the Lawrence Courts.

Larson, Lawrence’s No. 1 singles player, beat Concordia’s Meagan Harrington 6-3, 6-2, to record her 22nd victory of the season. That breaks the record of 21 set by Appleton native Linda Tomtshak in 1985.

Lawrence (13-7) picked up its 13th dual meet victory of the season and that ties the mark set by the Vikings in 2005 and 2008.

Henriques, Gay sweep MWC weekly baseball honors

Lawrence University baseball standouts Gabe Henriques and Atley Gay swept the Midwest Conference Performer of the Week awards on Monday.

Henriques (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) was named Player of the Week and Gay (Manitowoc, Wis./Roncalli) was chosen as Pitcher of the Week.

Henriques, a junior infielder, led Lawrence to a 6-0 record on the week by hitting .500 (10-for-20). Henriques scored 10 runs and collected two doubles, a triple and a homer. Henriques, who drove in seven runs in the six games, had a .630 on-base percentage for an impressive 1.130 OPS.

Henriques is batting a team-high .381 on the season with four doubles, four triples, a homer and 20 RBIs.

Gay, a freshman right-hander, picked up his first collegiate win and his first collegiate save during the week.

Gay went the distance in Lawrence’s 11-1 win at Finlandia University this past Saturday to get his first win. He allowed two hits, struck out four and didn’t walk a batter. Gay earned his first save by pitching the final inning of Lawrence’s 8-5 victory over the Milwaukee School of Engineering last Wednesday.

For the week, Gay pitched eight innings and posted a 1.12 earned run average. On the season, Gay has thrown 27 innings and lowered his ERA to 4.33.

The Vikings picked up a doubleheader sweep of MSOE last Wednesday and then swept doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday at Finlandia.

The Vikings return to action on Saturday when they host Beloit College.

Vikings post another shutout win over Ripon

FOND DU LAC, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s tennis team rolled to a 9-0 Midwest Conference shutout against Ripon College on Sunday at Center Court.

It marked the fourth consecutive time that Lawrence (8-11, 1-0 MWC) has beaten the Red Hawks (1-11, 0-3) by a 9-0 score, and the Vikings’ fifth consecutive victory overall against Ripon. Lawrence coach Kevin Girard remains undefeated (10-0) against Ripon during his tenure as the Vikings’ men’s and women’s coach.

The Vikings didn’t drop a set en route to the victory. Jeremy Andereck, playing No. 6 singles, led the way for the Vikings with a 6-0, 6-0, victory over Andrew Carballo. Following close behind was Cooper Smith’s impressive 6-0, 6-1, win over Brian Schumacher at No. 4 singles.

Andereck and Smith also teamed up for an 8-0 win over Schumacher and Ryan Slowinski at No. 3 doubles.  

Box score