Baseball opens in Arkansas
The Truman State University baseball team begins its 2019 season today with a doubleheader against the Harding University Bisons in Searcy, Arkansas. Temperatures in the Central Arkansas town are expected to hover around freezing all weekend, and the scheduled four-game series between the Bulldogs and Bisons changed from its previous three-day format to avoid a Sunday game.
In January, the Bulldog baseball team finished last in the 14-team GLVC coaches preseason poll with 24 points and no first-place votes. Bellarmine University finished in first place with 156 points, and University of Illinois Springfield and Quincy University rounded out the top 3. Last season, the Bulldogs went 12-36 overall. The team fared even worse in conference play, posting a 6-22 record.
Conference play for the Bulldogs begins in March.
Basketball black-out
The men’s and women’s basketball teams play back-to-back games against their counterparts from Quincy University tomorrow afternoon. Both teams will wear their black alternate jerseys for military appreciation and alumni day. Bulldog fans are encouraged to dress in black as well.
The women’s basketball team is surging, having won seven of eight before falling to the undefeated, top-ranked Div. II team in the nation, Drury University, last weekend. Overall, the women’s team has an 18-4 record and currently sits in third place in the GLVC with a conference record of 9-3. The Bulldog women have fared especially well at home with only one loss in Pershing Arena this season. The Quincy Hawks have lost four games straight.
The men’s basketball team enters the Quincy game at an even .500 both overall and in conference play — 11-11 and 6-6, respectively. After three straight games of winning and scoring 70 or more points, the men’s team lost to Drury 65-59 last weekend. Sitting in a three-way tie for seventh in the GLVC, the Bulldogs face a Quincy team that has only won one game on the road all season.
The women’s game begins at 1 p.m. and the men’s game begins at 3 p.m. tomorrow, Feb. 9, at Pershing Arena.
Quick notes
The Bulldog swim team competed at the GLVC Championships earlier this week where the women’s team took fifth place with a score of 191 and the men’s team took seventh place with a score of 109.
The wrestling team postponed its scheduled dual against Graceland University at home Thursday as the University closed for the day in response to inclement weather. As of now, there is no make-up date for the dual. The team competes this weekend at Central College in Pella, Iowa.
The men’s and women’s track teams compete today and tomorrow in Maryville, Missouri, at the Mel Tjeerdsma Classic at Northwest Missouri State University. The team earned five first-place finishes last week at the University of Missouri.