Monday Afternoon Sports – Kearney Baseball Run-Rules Papio-South, McGowens Goes Pro, Husker Volleyball Transfer Named to US Collegiate Team, Sports Nightly Schedule, Local Sports Schedule

KEARNEY BASEBALL RUN RULES PAPILLION-LaVISTA SOUTH, HEADS TO METRO TUESDAY:

The Kearney High Bearcat baseball team dominated the Titans of Papillion-LaVista South Monday afternoon with a run-rule 11-1 win at Memorial Field. 

Riley Miller earned the win on the mound, pitching all 5 innings. 

Kearney now sits at 3-0 and heads to Papillion-LaVista on Tuesday afternoon. Pregame on KGFW starts at 3:50 PM with first pitch set for 4 PM. 

BRYCE MCGOWENS GOES PRO:

Nebraska freshman Bryce McGowens announced Monday morning that he is declaring for the 2022 NBA Draft and will sign with an agent.

McGowens, who was named the Big Ten Newcomer of the Year by the Associated Press, averaged a team-high 16.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game during the 2021-22 season en route to third-team All-Big Ten honors from both the coaches and the media.

The 6-foot-7, 179-pound guard was ninth in the Big Ten in scoring this past season, while ranking among the conference leaders in free throws made (162, 1st), free throws attempted (195, sixth), free throw percentage (.831, third) and minutes played (33.3, 13th). His 16.8 scoring average ranks third among true freshmen nationally, as McGowens is one of five true freshmen averaging at least 15.0 points per game entering this week’s postseason action. He also ranks second among Big Ten freshmen in rebounding.

The 2022 NBA Draft will take place on Thursday, June 23, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

HUSKER VOLLEYBALL TRANSFER NAMED TO US COLLEGIATE NATIONAL TEAM:

USA Volleyball has announced players and staff on the 2022 U.S. Women’s Collegiate National Team (WCNT), including incoming Nebraska volleyball transfer middle blocker Kaitlyn Hord. 

The team includes 38 of the country’s top collegiate women’s volleyball players and a coaching staff of seven, including three Olympic medal winners and two others with Olympic coaching experience. 

Hord announced her transfer from Penn State to Nebraska in January. Hord earned All-America recognition each of her four seasons at Penn State, including first-team honors in 2019, second-team accolades in 2021 and third-team recognition in 2020. She was an honorable-mention All-American as a freshman in 2018.

HUSKER BASEBALL BLOWN OUT BY ISLANDERS SUNDAY:

Nebraska fell 21-4 in the series finale vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Sunday afternoon at Hawks Field. The Huskers (8-11) scored four runs on four hits and four errors, while the Islanders (12-10) totaled 21 runs on 23 hits and committed two errors.

Dawson McCarville dropped to 2-2 on the season after allowing seven runs on seven hits in two innings.

Nebraska continues its 10-game stretch at home, as the Huskers take on South Dakota State on Wednesday. First pitch is set for 6:35 PM.

HUSKER BASKETBALL WELCOMES HOME LINCOLN NATIVE:

One of the Summit Leagues best stars and an alum of Lincoln East will return home for his final season on the hardwood as former Spartan Sam Griesel announced Sunday he will return to Nebraska to complete his final collegiate season at the Big Red. 

This season will become his added COVID-19 season of eligibility, as the point guard averaged 14 points per contest and led his team with 88 assists and 7 rebounds per game. 

Although the Cornhuskers struggled this past season going 10-22 overall and 4-16 in Big Ten play, Head Coach Fred Hoiberg had his contract restructured to give him another chance to build a winning team. Changes to the roster have yet to be officially announced, although some coaching changes had been made over the weekend including the dismissal of fan-favorite assistant coach Doc Sadler. 

SWEET SIXTEEN SET AFTER UPSET RIDDLED ROUND OF 32:

The Sweet Sixteen has officially been set at the conclusion of the first two rounds of March Madness on Sunday night. Matchups include:

THURSDAY:

No. 1 Gonzaga v. No. 4 Arkansas

No. 2 Villanova v. No. 11 Michigan

No. 2 Duke v. No. 3 Texas Tech

No. 1 Arizona v. No. 5 Houston

FRIDAY:

No. 3 Purdue v. No. 15 Saint Peter’s

No. 1 Kansas v. No. 4 Providence

No. 4 UCLA v. No. 8 North Carolina

No. 10 Miami (FL) v. No. 11 Iowa State

Winners advance to the Elite Eight set for Saturday and Sunday. The Big Ten only has two schools remaining – Purdue and Michigan – after Ohio State, Illinois, Michigan State, and Wisconsin all fell on Sunday. 

STORM DROP FINAL GAME OF WEEKEND TO DES MOINES:

The Tri-City Storm dropped the final game of a three-game road weekend to the Des Moines Buccaneers by a final score of 5-2 on Sunday.

Tri-City fell to 37-10-2-0 on the season in the loss. The team remains the top team in the USHL’s standings.

Tri-City hits the ice again on Friday, March 25th, in a home game against the Omaha Lancers. Puck drop is set for 7:05pm CT.

RECORD-BREAKING STORM PERFORMANCE:

Saturday night marked a pair of USHL records falling as both Stephen Halliday (Dubuque Fighting Saints) and Mitchell Miller (Tri-City Storm) set new highs for regular season points in a career and points in a season by a defenseman, respectively. Both players now hold the individual records among USHL Tier I skaters, dating back to the 2002-03 season. 

Miller, who scored a goal Saturday night, moved into first place in Tier I history for single season points by a defenseman with his 66th point (29-37-66) through 48 games this season.

NEBRASKA WRESTLING SECURES TOP FIVE FINISH:

Husker sophomore Ridge Lovett (149) ended his stellar run at the 2022 NCAA Championships with a runner-up finish, and the Nebraska wrestling team scored 59.5 points to claim fifth overall. 

Lovett, the first Husker finalist since Tyler Berger in 2019, faced top-ranked and undefeated Yianni Diakomihalis of Cornell.

As a team, the Huskers’ fifth-place marks their first Top 5 finish since 2009 and ninth all-time. The Penn State Nittany Lions (131.5 pts) led all teams with five champions. Michigan (95.0 pts) took second place, while Iowa (74.0 pts) and Arizona State (66.5 pts) rounded out the Top 5. 

Overall, five of the eight Huskers who competed this week earned All-America honors, which ties for the most since 2008.

LOPER SOFTBALL CLOSES OUT WEEKEND CONTINUING WINNING STREAK: 

The Nebraska-Kearney softball team ran its win streak to nine games, the longest by the Lopers in 18 years, as it snuck past both Bemidji (Minn.) State, 7-6, and Upper Iowa, 3-2, Sunday afternoon in St. Joseph, Mo.

This was the second and final day of the Fairfield Inn & Suites Classic hosted by Missouri Western State. UNK (14-12) went 4-0 this weekend after starting MIAA play 4-0 last weekend. The win streak started with a 6-2 decision over William Jewell (Mo.) on March 5 and on the last day of the Drury Invite in Springfield, Mo.

This is the program’s longest win streak since the 2004 squad strung together 10 wins at the end of the season.

After playing its first 26 game away from home (9-9 neutral sites and 5-3 true road games), the Lopers will be at home next Saturday vs. Fort Hays State. First pitch for the double header at Patriot Park is set for 1 p.m.

HUSKER SOFTBALL WRAP UP UNDEFEATED WEEKEND:

Courtney Wallace pitched a complete game shutout for the fourth win of the weekend for the Nebraska softball team as they moved to 19-9 on the season. Abbie Squier led the Huskers to a win in game one on Sunday over South Dakota with two homers and three RBIs for a 9-3 victory over South Dakota. 

In game two, Wallace led the Big Red to a 3-0 shutout victory over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, who moved to 10-17 on the year. 

The Huskers return to Bowlin Stadium this Tuesday, March 22, for a matchup against the Stanford Cardinals. The game is set to start at 5 p.m.

NEBRASKA BOWLING FINISHES TWELFTH:

The Nebraska bowling team placed twelfth on the final day of the Music City Classic Sunday afternoon. 

The Huskers kicked off best-of-seven baker-style bracket play against No. 7 Louisiana Tech and fell 4-0. Nebraska lost the first two games (182-174, and 216-206). The bowlers fought hard in the third game, but were edged out (209-206), and fell in game four (179-172).

The Huskers will return to competition April 8-9 for NCAA Regionals.

MONDAY SPORTS NIGHTLY SCHEDULE:

Greg Sharpe and the rest of the Sports Nightly crew will be joined by University of Nebraska President Ted Carter and will also share an appearance with Head Baseball Coach Will Bolt after a mixed start to the season for Big Red Baseball. 

Catch Sports Nightly on KGFW from 6 – 8 PM. 

Local Results & Schedules:

THIS WEEK IN LOCAL SPORTS:

MONDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • BASEBALL: v. Papillion-LaVista South
    • KHS 11-1
  • GIRLS SOCCER: @ Lincoln Northeast – 6 PM
• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • BASEBALL: v. Papillion-LaVista South
    • 11-1

TUESDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • BASEBALL: @ Papillion-LaVista – 4 PM
    • Pregame on KGFW at 3:50 PM
  • GIRLS SOCCER: v. North Platte – 5:30 PM
  • BOYS SOCCER: v. North Platte – 7:30 PM
• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • GIRLS TENNIS: @ GICC – 4 PM
  • BASEBALL: @ Papillion-LaVista – 4 PM
    • Pregame on KGFW at 3:50 PM
  • BOYS SOCCER: @ GINW
  • GIRLS SOCCER: @ GINW
• UNK:
  • N/a
• HASTINGS COLLEGE:
  • N/a

WEDNESDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • N/a
• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • N/a
• UNK:
  • N/a
• HASTINGS COLLEGE:
  • N/a

THURSDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • T&F: Lincoln Northeast Relays (Girls Only)
• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • GIRLS TENNIS: v. Hastings – 4 PM
  • T&F: @ Minden Triangular – 4 PM
• UNK:
  • N/a
• HASTINGS COLLEGE:
  • N/a

FRIDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • BASEBALL: @ Lincoln Pius X Tournament
    • 11 AM v. Norris
    • 1:30 PM v. Lincoln Pius X
  • T&F: UNK Invite (Boys Only)
• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • BASEBALL: @ Lincoln Pius X Tournament
    • 11 AM v. Norris
    • 1:30 PM v. Lincoln Pius X
• UNK:
  • M/W TRACK & FIELD: @ Emporia Relays – 3 PM
• HASTINGS COLLEGE:
  • MENS GOLF: @ Doane University Invite

SATURDAY:

• KEARNEY HIGH:
  • BASEBALL: @ Lincoln Pius X Tournament
    • Time & Opponent TBA
• KEARNEY CATHOLIC:
  • BASEBALL: @ Lincoln Pius X Tournament
    • Time & Opponent TBA
• UNK:
  • M/W TRACK & FIELD: @ Emporia Relays – 3 PM
  • SOFTBALL: v. Fort Hays State @ Patriot Park – 1 PM, 3 PM
• HASTINGS COLLEGE:
  • MENS GOLF: @ Doane University Invite
  • MENS TENNIS: @ Mount Marty University
  • WOMENS TENNIS: @ Mount Marty University
  • BASEBALL: v. Dordt University @ Duncan Field – 1 PM (Doubleheader)
  • SOFTBALL: v. Briarcliff – 1 PM (Doubleheader)