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The Wellington-Napoleon Tiger basketball team takes to the court tomorrow afternoon at the historic Hearnes Center in Columbia. The Tigers are going up against the Bernie Mules in one of two Class 2 state semi-final contests. We’ll have coverage of the game on AM1430 KAOL and online at kaolradio.com, starting at about 3:10. The scheduled tip-off is slated for 3:20 p.m. The other class 2 boys semi-finalists are the New Bloomfield Wildcats and the Crane Pirates. Rod Tompkins and Brock Kerr will bring you the call of the action from Columbia.
FAYETTE, Mo. – After picking up three wins, including one over No. 7 Lee University, Central Methodist University freshman Aubrey Utley (Trenton, Mo.) earned the Heart of America Athletic Conference softball pitcher-of-the-week honors, announced earlier this week. Utley pitched three complete game wins for Central Methodist over the weekend at the Gulf Coast Invitational in Gulf Shores, Ala. She allowed just two earned runs in 21 innings, while striking out 12. Utley finished the tournament with a 0.67 ERA. She improved to 6-1 on the season with the wins.
SPRINGFIELD — Missouri State will entertain several prospective NFL hopefuls and a number of professional team scouts this Friday (March 18) at Plaster Sports Complex in the Bears’ second annual “Pro Day” event. The event will feature physical and intellectual testing as well as on-field performance and strength evaluations for the prospective pro players. The festivities begin at 9 a.m. at Forsythe Athletics Center and will move to the stadium around 10 a.m.
LAKELAND, Fla. — Albert Pujols made up for two games’ worth of frustration against Phil Coke with a grand slam off Adam Wilk, capping a six-run fourth-inning that supported Chris Carpenter and sent the Cardinals to a 9-4 win over the Tigers Wednesday afternoon at Joker Marchant Stadium. Coke was facing St. Louis for the second time in six days, having faced the Cardinals in Jupiter last week, when he held Pujols to a strikeout and a double play. He seemed to pick up where he left off in their second meeting Wednesday, sending Pujols swinging and missing at a breaking ball in the dirt in a first-inning encounter. Pujols came back up in the third after Colby Rasmus’ solo homer and nearly did the same, but his drive to deep left wandered foul. Coke escaped with a groundout to third. Coke gave up seven runs, three earned, on five hits in 3 2/3 innings, walking three and striking out three. Carpenter was scheduled to face the Tigers last Friday but was scratched as a precaution .Today he allowed six hits over four-plus innings, leaving after Austin Jackson’s double off the center-field fence leading off the fifth.
SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) – The Royals will open the season with a four-man rotation because of three off days in early April. Right-handers Luke Hochevar and Kyle Davies and left-handers Jeff Francis and Bruce Chen have all but locked up those first four spots. The leading candidates for the fifth spot are Vin Mazzaro, who was acquired in a November trade with the Oakland Athletics, and Sean O’Sullivan, who was obtained last July in a trade with the Los Angeles Angels. Both could open the season in the minors.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – Tiger Woods says he will play the Arnold Palmer Invitational next week at Bay Hill. Woods is a six-time winner at Bay Hill, including one stretch of four straight victories. He last won in 2009 with a dramatic birdie on the final hole, but did not defend his title last year while coping with the crisis in his personal life. His commitment to play was not surprising, although until a year ago, Woods typically waited until the Friday before a tournament to announce he was playing. Woods says he watched the tournament on TV last year when Ernie Els won. Bay Hill will complete a full year for Woods from when he returned to golf last year at the Masters. It will be the 20th tournament since that time. He has not won since the Australian Masters in November 2009.
BASEBALL SPRING TRAINING
Final Atlanta 4 Boston 3
Final Minnesota 4 N-Y Mets 3
Final St. Louis 9 Detroit 4
Final Tampa Bay 6 Florida 3
Final Toronto 5 Pittsburgh 3
Final Houston 8 Washington 7
San Francisco vs Chi White Sox 4:05 p.m., Glendale, Ariz.
L.A. Angels vs Arizona 4:10 p.m., Scottsdale, Ariz.
Baltimore vs N-Y Yankees 7:05 p.m., Tampa, Fla.
Colorado vs Texas 9:05 p.m., Surprise, Fla.
Kansas City vs Cincinnati 10:05 p.m., Goodyear, Ariz.
Milwaukee vs Seattle 10:05 p.m., Peoria, Ariz.
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Denver at Atlanta 7:00 p.m.
Indiana at Boston 7:30 p.m.
Toronto at Detroit 7:30 p.m.
Oklahoma City at Miami 8:00 p.m.
Orlando at Milwaukee 8:00 p.m.
Phoenix at New Orleans 8:00 p.m.
Charlotte at Houston 8:30 p.m.
Minnesota at Utah 9:00 p.m.
Cleveland at Sacramento 10:00 p.m.
Dallas at Golden State 10:30 p.m.
Philadelphia at L-A Clippers 10:30 p.m.
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Toronto at Carolina 7:00 p.m.
Washington at Detroit 7:30 p.m.
Colorado at Vancouver 10:00 p.m.
St. Louis at Anaheim 10:00 p.m.
