Interstate 70 closure delays JUCO arrival for some teams

It’s all part of making adjustments on the field, or in this case, on the road. Spartanburg (S.C.) Methodist College baseball coach Tim Wallace talked to his bus driver Wednesday morning in Denver before the Pioneers boarded the bus to Grand Junction, where they open play Saturday in the Alpine Bank Junior College World Series. The driver had heard of the wreck that closed Interstate 70 through Glenwood Canyon and thought they might have to change course. “He was staying in ...

---

052013 sports poll

 ...

---

Kaskaskia lands its first berth in JUCO World Series

Mitch Koester was happy to see his baseball team dog-piling in the infield Sunday. Like every coach, though, in the back of his mind, Koester was thinking, “Don’t get hurt.” “We’ve got more things to look forward to now,” the Kaskaskia (Ill.) College baseball coach said Sunday after the Blue Devils became the first team to win the Northern District other than Iowa Western since 2006. Kaskaskia defeated Wabash Valley (Ill.) College 16-6 in the district ...

---

JUCO field complete

The Alpine Bank Junior College World Series field is complete Cochise (Ariz.) College erupted for 10 runs in the fourth inning when play resumed today in the Western District final in Sterling to beat Western Nevada 18-11 and clinch the final spot. Spartanburg (S.C.) Methodist College won the Eastern District this morning going away, 17-2 over Potomac State College (W.Va.), and Kaskaskia (Ill.) College claimed a 16-6 win over Wabash Valley (Ill.) College to win the Northern District. The ...

---

Iowa Western out, Connors State, Walters State in at JUCO

Iowa Western Community College’s reign in the Northern District is over. The defending Alpine Bank Junior College World Series champion, ranked second in the latest NJCAA Division I baseball poll, was eliminated Saturday by Wabash Valley (Ill.) College 5-2. That ended the Reivers’ streak of Northern District titles at six. Iowa Western won the 2010 and 2012 JUCO titles. Connors State (Okla.) College and Walters State (Tenn.) Community College, both of which were last in Grand ...

---

Defending JUCO champ ousted

Iowa Western Community College, which won last year’s Alpine Bank Junior College World Series title, was eliminated from the Northern District tournament today. A 5-2 loss to Wabash Valley (Ill.) College ended the Reivers’ six-year hold on the Northern District. Both losses came to Wabash Valley, including a 2-1 loss on Friday. Wabash Valley plays Kaskaskia (Ill.) College today for the right to advance to the World Series. Kaskaskia, which has never qualified for JUCO, is ...

---

Connors State upends top-ranked Delgado

Connors State (Okla.) College claimed the seventh spot in the Alpine Bank Junior College World Series. The Cowboys (52-9) defeated top-ranked Delgado (La.) Community College 3-1 today to win the South Central District championship. Connors State, ranked fifth in the nation, will be making its sixth appearance at JUCO, the most recent in 2008.  ...

---

Walters State joins JUCO field

Walters State (Tenn.) Community College has joined the field for the Alpine Bank Junior College World Series. The Senators (37-16) defeated Columbia State 6-0 in the East Central District title game in Morristown, Tenn. Walters State won the 2006 JUCO World Series title and was last in the tournament in 2008.  ...

---

Central Alabama brings JUCO field to five teams

Wynn Fletcher coaches the baseball team at Central Alabama Community College. He’s also the athletic director. And he drives the team van. More importantly, he’ll be making travel arrangements today for his baseball team to visit Grand Junction and play in the Alpine Bank Junior College World Series. The Trojans won the Southeastern District title with a 13-5 victory Thursday over Southern Union (Ala.) State Community College in Ozark, Ala. “We’re on the ...

---

JUCO field half full

Central Alabama Community College (38-13) went undefeated through the Southeastern District to claim the fifth berth in the JUCO World Series. The Trojans defeated top-seeded Southern Union State 13-5 today in the championship game. Central Alabama was seeded second in the tournament. The last time the Trojans qualified for JUCO was 2001.  ...

---

JUCO bound

Life was a beach Tuesday — Palm Beach (Fla.) State College became the first of four teams to qualify for the 2013 Alpine Bank Junior College World Series. The Panthers (38-19) ran through the Gulf District tournament in Lakeland, Fla., undefeated, shutting out State College of Florida 3-0 in the championship game. Joining Palm Beach in the JUCO field Tuesday were two Texas teams, Midland College and Navarro College, and Neosho County Community College from Kansas. The district ...

---

Neosho returning to GJ

Neosho (Kan.) County Community College defeated Coffeyville 7-3 tonight to clinch the Central District championship and a spot in the JUCO World Series. The Panthers (35-25) became the fourth team to qualify for JUCO today and avenged Monday night’s 5-2 loss to the Red Ravens by scoring four runs in the first inning and never really being threatened. Neosho plays the Sunday night game of JUCO against the qualifier from the Western District.  ...

---

Midland joins JUCO field

Midland (Texas) College defeated Grayson 8-2 today to become the third team to qualify for this year’s JUCO World Series. The Chaparrals, ranked 16th in the latest NJCAA poll, went undefeated in the Southwest District, Grayson lost its first game of the tournament, then won four straight to reach the title game.  ...

---

Navarro returning to JUCO

Navarro (Texas) College, which won the 2011 Alpine Bank Junior College World Series, claimed the Southern District championship today, 4-2 over Alvin College, to return to Grand Junction. The ninth-ranked Bulldogs went undefeated in the tournament. Alvin won the consolation bracket 4-3 over San Jacinto College-North earlier today to reach the championship game. Navarro (45-15) scored three runs in the sixth inning to overcome a 2-0 deficit, added one run in the eighth and turned the game ...

---

Palm Beach first JUCO qualifier

Palm Beach Community College claimed the first berth to the Alpine Bank Junior College World Series today, defeating State College of Florida 3-0 in the title game of the Gulf District tournament in Lakeland, Fla. The Panthers (38-19) will be making their first JUCO World Series appearance.  ...

---

Four districts about to punch JUCO tickets

Junior college baseball teams in the Central, Gulf, Southern and Southwest districts are one game away from clinching berths in the Alpine Bank Junior College World Series. Neosho County (Kan.) could have been the first qualifier Monday, but instead, Coffeyville took an early 3-0 lead and held on for a 5-3 victory over the Panthers to force a second championship game tonight in the Central District tournament in Wichita, Kan. Gulf District Three teams remain, each with one loss, in ...

---

Top-ranked NJCAA teams tumble

It’s almost a curse to be one of the top-ranked teams in the nation heading into the NJCAA district playoffs. Sunday, the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the most recent NJCAA Division I baseball poll, Tallahassee (Fla.) Community College and Cowley (Kan.) College, were eliminated from their respective district tournaments, ending their quests to reach the Alpine Bank Junior College World Series. Cowley won its Central District opener in Wichita, Kan., but then lost back-to-back games, ...

---

Tallahassee CC is No. 1 in latest poll

Mike McLeod has been coaching baseball at Tallahassee (Fla.) Community College for two dozen years. He’s been oh, so close to winning the Gulf District title, but has yet to visit Grand Junction. “I think it takes a little luck,” he said, “and I’m ready to get lucky.” The Eagles (45-8) won the Panhandle Conference and are the top seed in the district tournament, which begins Friday in Lakeland, Fla. Tallahassee is ranked No. 1 entering the playoffs as ...

---

Clutch Kozel

 ...

---

For love of the game

When she was 8 years old, Makayla Kovac knew. “I was watching the women’s College World Series,” said the freshman shortstop for the Colorado Mesa University softball team. “I said, ‘Mom, I’m gonna play for UCLA.’ That doesn’t happen, but I wanted to be there at 8 years old, and it just continued. “I loved it. I’m still watching the (Division I) conference games, streaming them on ESPN3. I can’t get enough of ...

---

The best team no one sees

It’s quite likely the best team in Grand Junction you’ve never seen play. It’s the curse of college baseball teams that slog through chilly — and downright cold — game days in February, March and April, just hoping for a warm front to show up on weekends. The Colorado Mesa baseball team is 37-7, 31-3 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, ranked fourth in the nation and No. 1 in the South Central Region. And oh, yeah, the Mavericks wrapped up their 20th ...

---

Sweet sweep

If ever there was a time to sweep a series, it was Sunday for the Colorado Mesa softball team. The Mavericks, who won or split every Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference series this season except one, had to sweep Chadron State at Bergman Field to lock down the No. 2 seed in this week’s conference tournament. “We hit a little lull in that fourth game,” CMU coach Candace Abrams said. “That’s something we’ve been talking about all year, overcoming that ...

---

Double no-no is a historic moment for Central Arizona College

It doesn’t happen often, and as it’s happening, it’s one of those things you just don’t talk about. Central Arizona College pitchers Niccoli Blank and Tatum Hendrix each threw no-hitters for the Vaqueros — in the same April 13 doubleheader. “I had never heard of it (being done) before,” Central Arizona coach Jon Wente said of the double no-no. It has been done before, but it’s rare. An Internet search turned up a few doubleheader gems ...

---

Rockies game postponed

Yet another spring snow storm in Denver has postponed tonight’s Colorado Rockies baseball game against Atlanta. The teams plan to play a doubleheader on Tuesday, with games at 1:10 and 6:40 p.m. Both games will be televised on ROOT Sports (Ch. 36).  ...

---

Cruel finish

It’s almost cruel the way the NCAA rules dictate play in that all tennis matches stop once a team winner is determined in tournament play. Case in point: Sunday during the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championships at the Elliott Tennis Center. The only two seniors on Colorado Mesa’s men’s team were about to wrap up victories at No. 5 and No. 6 singles. Just before that, though, Western New Mexico claimed victory at No. 2 singles, and just moments later, at No. 1, ...

---

Making his pitch

When Drew Bridges was a little kid, just like every baseball player, he dreamed of making the big play in the big game. He was the guy with the game-winning hit or making the spectacular play for the third out in the bottom of the ninth in Game 7 of the World Series. Those little-boy daydreams never had him standing on the mound. He wasn’t the guy staring down the cleanup hitter and throwing the dramatic third strike. But during a scrimmage this past fall at the University of New ...

---

Teaming up again

Sam Haggerty grew up playing basketball and baseball against Drew Bridges. Now they’re teammates at the University of New Mexico, both starting on the baseball team as freshmen. Haggerty’s family moved from Grand Junction to Denver the summer before his freshman year of high school, or they would have been fierce rivals then, too, with Bridges at Fruita Monument and Haggerty at Grand Junction. Instead, Haggerty graduated from Mullen High School last spring and, like Bridges, ...

---

Rifle’s Taylor Walters signs to play golf at Mesa

If ever there was a kid born to be a golfer, it’s Taylor Mae Walters. “They named me after TaylorMade (golf clubs),” the Rifle High School senior said with a laugh Wednesday evening after signing a national letter of intent to play — what else? — golf at Colorado Mesa University. “It’s kind of fitting. My birth announcement said a tee time (for her time of birth) and ‘Our twosome has become a threesome.’ They played it all ...

---

RMAC tennis championships moved back

The RMAC men’s and women’s tennis championships, scheduled for Friday and Saturday at the Elliott Tennis Center and Canyon View Park in Grand Junction, have been moved to Saturday and Sunday. The spring storm has affected teams traveling across the Rocky Mountains to Grand Junction. The women’s tournament begins at 8 a.m. Saturday, with the first men’s matches at 11 a.m. Saturday. Colorado Mesa’s women play Colorado Christian in the first round Saturday. The ...

---

Rockies game postponed

Tonight’s game between the Colorado Rockies and New York Mets has been postponed because of snow in Denver. No makeup date has been determined, but will be announced by the Rockies when that is finalized.  ...

---

Sporting events snowed out

All School District 51 athletic events scheduled for today have been postponed because of the snow. It was a light varsity schedule, as is usually the case on Wednesdays, with Fruita Monument’s tennis team playing at Montrose and the boys lacrosse team playing Grand Junction tonight. All junior varsity events have also been postponed. Dates and times for games rescheduled will be announced once they are finalized by the school athletic directors.  ...

---

Take it from a pro

 ...

---

Wildcats make early goal stand up

 ...

---

PHAT BIKES

 ...

---

Heinsma’s grand slam keys Tigers’ rally

Tyler Heinsma picked the right time to hit his first grand slam. The Grand Junction High School baseball team was on the verge of being blown out Friday by Durango, falling behind 10-0 after only 1½ innings at Suplizio Field. It was 12-4 going into the bottom of the fifth when the Tigers finally saw balls that had been finding leather find grass. And, in Heinsma’s case, the parking lot. Owen Taylor led off the inning with a base hit, and two walks loaded the bases with one ...

---

Spicer settles in as Mesa’s AD

Tom Spicer stops for a second to glance out the window of his corner office at The Maverick Center. “I’ll tell you what, this is nice. I’ve got to find a house that’s got this view,” the new athletic director at Colorado Mesa University says, eyeing the view to the west, then to the north. The second is over, and Spicer is quickly settles in behind his desk. The day planner open on the desk is filled with appointments every morning, noon and night. On the ...

---

Lamar CC cools off after hot start on diamond

Scott Crampton drove out to the baseball field at Lamar Community College on Tuesday morning just to make sure there was still dirt on the infield. The spring storm that howled through much of the state Tuesday didn’t bring snow to the southeastern plains. Instead, Lamar got wind. Bitter, cold wind. “I drove out there this morning to see how much of our dirt was in our grass,” the Lamar Community College baseball coach said. “The joke is really not that big a joke ...

---

Crowder new No. 1 in NJCAA baseball

Crowder (Mo.) College, which has won nine of its past 11 games, moved up one spot in this week’s NJCAA Division I baseball rankings. Crowder (30-5) received five first-place votes to edge Tallahassee (Fla.) Community College (37-5) for the No. 1 overall ranking. Defending national champion Iowa Western (29-7) moved up three spots to No. 4, followed by College of Southern Nevada (28-9), Grayson (Texas) College (28-8), Cowley County (Kan.) Community College (29-7) and Lamar Community ...

---

040713 sports poll

 ...

---

Dahl opens up about his demotion

David Dahl, the Colorado Rockies’ top minor-league prospect and former Grand Junction Rockies center fielder, answered questions Sunday about being sent back to extended spring training after one game. On his Twitter account 
(@ddahl21), Dahl posted Sunday that he missed a flight and that the Rockies also had “questions about attitude.” The 19-year-old 2012 Pioneer League MVP said he respected the Rockies’ decision and “will continue to improve as a ...

---

THE SWELL LIFE

 ...

---

Dazzling in debut

 ...

---

Former GJ Rockie Dahl sent back to extended spring training

David Dahl, who started his second professional season in Class A Asheville, has been “unassigned” and sent back to extended spring training after one game. The Colorado Rockies’ first-round draft pick last year who was the Pioneer League’s Most Valuable Player, went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts Thursday in the Tourists’ 3-0 win over the West Virginia Power. Friday afternoon, he was sent back to Scottsdale, Ariz. Doug Maurer, the media relations manager for ...

---

Cage Wars is a win-win for CMU, Bush Cree promotions

The partnership between Bush Cree Promotions and Colorado Mesa University has proved beneficial to the Mavericks’ athletic department. With promoter Alex Trottier booking his Cage Wars events at Brownson Arena, it sends thousands of dollars into the CMU athletic program and gives mixed-martial arts fans a venue with better views of the action in the ring. Trottier has 10 bouts scheduled for Saturday at Brownson Arena. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., with the first fight at 7 p.m. Tickets ...

---

JUCO Notes: Eddie Mort honored for Suplizio green thumb

The neck of the swan on Grand Mesa hasn’t broken yet, but the grass at Suplizio Field is green. JUCO is 51 days away. The turf at Suplizio, which took a beating one year ago because of construction at the sports complex, then the addition of practices and games by the Grand Junction Rockies, is in midseason form already. Part of that is because Eddie Mort is living up to being honored as the Colorado Turfgrass Professional of the Year for 2012 by the Rocky Mountain Regional ...

---

040213 sports poll

 ...

---

Honors still pouring in for CMU’s Sigl, Selsor

Kelsey Sigl and Katrina Selsor continue to receive national attention for their senior seasons on the Colorado Mesa University women’s basketball team. Sigl, a 6-foot forward from Bismarck, N.D., on Monday was selected to the Women’s Division II Basketball Bulletin’s All-America first team, with Selsor, a 6-1 forward from Glenwood Springs, making the honorable mention team. It’s the third such honor this season for Sigl, who made the Women’s Basketball ...

---

Former GJ Rockies receive 2013 assignments

Now the alumni watch begins for Grand Junction Rockies fans. The Colorado Rockies assigned 13 players who played in Grand Junction last summer to Class A Asheville after spring training ended, including their top two 2012 draft picks. Another will start the season in high Class A baseball. Reliever Scott Oberg was assigned to the Modesto Nuts, the Class A advanced affiliate in the California League. Oberg had 13 saves in 25 appearances for the Rockies in 2012. The closer struck out 29 in ...

---

Time to catch them all at Miramonte Reservoir

 ...

---

Roping’s in his blood

 ...

---