Tag: Lewis and Clark Community College

Blazer Beat: L&C 77, Rend Lake 72, Revenge Is A Dish Best Served On A Cold December Evening

After a brief respite from action thanks to the fall/Thanksgiving break, the women’s basketball Trailblazers looked to pick up their fourth straight win, hosting the Lady Warriors of Rend Lake College. Heading into the December 9 contest, Jaron Young and the Trailblazer women righted the ship after a rocky start, and look to avenge their November 18 loss to Rend Lake, where they were blown out, 98-61. 

As L&C found out in their previous encounter with the visiting Lady Warriors, their opposition is loaded with talent, and can run up the score on anyone lacking effort on defense. The Trailblazers, not wanting to fall victim to such a scoreline at home, had to play a drastically different game than the one they played before Thanksgiving. 

The first half was more like a track meet than a basketball game, with both teams running up and down the court and almost scoring at will. Rend Lake was lethal from beyond the three-point arc, and the Trailblazers were playing an entirely different game, working the ball into the paint and getting looks around the basket that resulted in points or free throws. 

“We shot it a lot better from the line tonight, we didn’t shoot great, but we shot terrible from the line against (Rend Lake) last time.” Trailblazer head coach Jaron Young said following the game. Young also touched on his team’s effort down low in rebounding, which led to many easy looks for L&C in the key. “They’re real physical, and they rebound well, we made it a point in practice this week that we rebounded well against this team.”

The Trailblazer women held a slim, two point lead, 47-45 after a frenetic first half of basketball. The defense for the Trailblazers locked down, and the Lady Warriors of Rend Lake struggled to find the basket in the third quarter. Rend Lake scored just ten points in the ten minute period after scoring forty-five in the previous twenty.

“We try to keep teams as close to 60 as possible, they had 45 at the half, we talked about how defensively we needed to do a better job, and that we needed to stop #2 (Rend Lake star scorer Madison Buford) because she can play.”

Jaron Young, Lewis And Clark women’s basketball head coach

Notable in this contest was that the referees, for the most part, swallowed their whistles, and allowed a physical contest between two physical teams, that occasionally got chippy. Rend Lake’s head coach Dave Brown took exception to the way the officials were calling the game all night, as did the dozen or so Rend Lake fans sitting behind me, and was somewhat silenced after drawing a technical foul. 

The fourth quarter was about survival for Jaron Young and his team, as a talented Rend Lake offense attempted to claw back into the ballgame. Some silly turnovers almost gave the visitors the contest, but the end saw L&C hang onto their lead, and pull out a 77-72 victory, with big nights on offense for Marika Owens, Shaquira Cardine, and Mary Penland-Holmes. The trio combined for 51 of Lewis and Clark’s 77 points on the evening. 


After a big revenge win, the Trailblazer women are winners of four straight, and have grown drastically as a team in a short time span. Their next challenge will see them travelling to the city to take on the Archers of St. Louis CC on Sunday, December 15. For more information about the women’s basketball team or any Trailblazer sport, visit LC.edu/Athletics.

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Blazer Beat Double Feature: Trailblazers Blank Blue Storm

Women’s game: Lewis and Clark 1-0 SWIC

In the very first matchup of top 25 NJCAA Division 1 women’s soccer sides of the season at Tim Rooney Stadium, #8 in the country Lewis and Clark hosted the #20 side, the Blue Storm from Southwest Illinois College, more cordially known around here as SWIC. L&C entered play with a 11-2-0 record, while SWIC came to Godfrey boasting a 12-1-2 record of their own. 

The game would prove to be an incredibly tight contest, both because the teams are in the top 20 of junior college soccer in the country, and because of the sweltering heat, which seems to be lasting later and later every year. The lack of energy due to heat and exhaustion gave some added help to the already strong defensive units, and kept the vaunted offenses of both sides at bay in the first half, with neither team able to break the deadlock in the first 45 minutes. 

The sun continued to beat down on the pitch at Tim Rooney Stadium, and as the second half wore on tiredness became a real factor. The extra step or two that a cooler temperature would offer the energy for was the difference in several passes, runs, and offensive chances. Even NJCAA leading scorer Boitumelo Rabale couldn’t make a breakthrough, often left stranded up top without her fellow Trailblazers supporting her attempts to attack.

Despite the desperate pleas of “Run to the ball!!” from the Trailblazer fans in attendance, the team was gassed. SWIC was gassed. Both teams would have probably rather played a game of  futsal in the air conditioned gym. Despite the heat and exhaustion, the game was incredibly tense, maybe due in part to said heat and exhaustion. Every play was a fight to maintain possession. This is in incredible contrast to every other game L&C has played, other than their two losses. 

Most scoring chances came late in the game, off of free kicks and corner kicks, as open play was a bit of wash between the evenly matched and evenly tired sides. The Storm made inroads in the late stages, and if not for the heroics of L&C goalkeeper Mercedes King, would have probably won the game in regulation. With minutes remaining in regular time, King rushed out to meet a breaking Blue Storm attacker and made a tackle to knock the ball to the corner. Without a goal scored, we headed to extra time to decide a winner. 

It wouldn’t take much extra time to find the golden goal. L&C charged down the field and forced a corner kick. The kick created frenzy in the box, and who else but Boitumelo Rabale turned the loose ball into the SWIC goal, winning the game 1-0 for the Trailblazers, in what’s definitely been the most gripping contest at Tim Rooney stadium this season. 

Tim Rooney’s side is back in action at his namesake ground this Saturday, as the Trailblazers welcome Parkland. 

Men’s game: Lewis and Clark 4-0 SWIC

Unfortunately for SWIC, their men’s soccer team is not quite the threat that their women’s team has been this season. Where the women are ranked #20 in all of NJCAA Division 1, the men’s team have had their struggles this season, bringing a losing record to Tim Rooney Stadium. 

On the other side, the Trailblazer men have been almost as impressive as the women’s team. Also nationally ranked, also a threat on offense, and they made their talent known right away. A sixth minute goal from Reshaun Welkes pushed L&C ahead early on. Ten minutes later, L&C sophomore Luke Mellon latched onto a pass across the face of goal to add to the early lead, and the Trailblazers never looked back. Another Reshaun Welkes goal just before halftime, a superb individual effort, seemingly put the game out of reach for the visiting Blue Storm before they played 45 minutes. 

It didn’t magically stop being hot for the men’s game, both sides grew weak and sloppy in the second half, with L&C’s firm grip on the game slipping a little. SWIC started to ask questions of the tiring Trailblazer defense, but to little avail. Kofi Awuah netted a fourth for Lewis and Clark with about twenty minutes left in the match, putting any notion of a Blue Storm comeback to rest. 


The convincing win for the men and nail-biter for the women sees both teams improving their record after this in-conference clash. Men’s coach Ryan Hodge’s side has six days till their next contest, as they travel to St. Charles on October 8. For more information about the soccer teams and all Trailblazer athletics, visit LC.edu/athletics.

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Blazer Beat #2

Photo from a home double-header against Jefferson College April 9. Photo by Jan Dona, L&C Media Services.

A beautiful afternoon for baseball welcomed the Lewis and Clark Trailblazers home to the Godfrey Ball Park on Sunday, where they hosted the Spoon River College Snappers in a doubleheader, their second of the weekend. The first doubleheader happened on Spoon River’s home turf in Canton, where both sides won a game.

The teams had seemingly become quite familiar with each other over the weekend, and you could feel the tension on the diamond at the Godfrey Ball Park as the day waned on.

Game 1: Lewis and Clark 11, Spoon River 1 (F/6)

After Spoon River jumped out to a 1-0 lead early on the back of a few hits, Trailblazer pitcher Conner Pinsker really settled down, fanning two in the next inning, and didn’t allow another run all game. In the fourth inning, Spoon River’s Trey Kazubowski gave a pitch a long ride that went just foul for a loud strike two. Next pitch, Pinsker struck out Kazubowski swinging, a great recovery after his previous pitch was sent about 380 feet.

On the offensive side, LC’s bats were humming, and Spoon River starter Colin Fenili couldn’t find the zone consistently. Three runs in both the 2nd and 4th innings chased Fenili, who gave up nine hits to Trailblazers in the process. Landon Cummins relieved him, and was clearly not right. Cummins couldn’t get over, or control, his pitches. He hit a few LC batters, and walked another, and gave up three hits, accumulating three more runs. He was relieved by Jarrot Stealy, who got out of the long 5th inning after giving up a sac fly.

That’s when player and coach frustrations started to show, and also when an umpire decided to aggravate those frustrations. After striking out in the 6th, the previously mentioned Trey Kazubowski was ejected from the game, and therefore not eligible for the second of the doubleheader. I was about 20 feet from him, separated by fence and dugout, and while players were chirping at the umpires, he specifically was just getting his equipment from what I could see and hear, and yet he specifically was thrown out.

“We’re losing 10-1” said Spoon River coach John Dyke, “You don’t need to say a thing to the umpires.”

Dyke’s frustrations also turned to his players. “It’s all ‘I didn’t do this, I’m hurt, it’s all me, me, me’.”

Now while not hustling is one thing to complain about, a pitcher trying to pitch hurt and failing to do so probably isn’t the thing to get mad at here. That’s a coaching decision to put him out there and simply a failing of coaching to let him pitch hurt and then complaining about it.

In fitting ironic fashion, a mental lapse by Spoon River’s catcher scored the run-rule winner for Lewis and Clark, a pass ball walk-off. Something I’m sure coach John Dyke was thrilled to see.

Game 2: Lewis and Clark 3, Spoon River 1

The second game proved to be a much tighter contest, till the very end. Spoon River had slightly more luck at the plate in this game, facing LC starter Zach Seavers, but that luck rarely became runs. A triple and an RBI double in the 3rd inning led to the lone Snapper run in game two, rarely enough to win a ball game.

Trailblazer bats were largely stifled by Spoon River game two starter Jake Fosdyck in this pitcher’s duel. Godfrey Ball Park’s vaunted infield grass played a part in some of the hits he gave up, producing some infield hits that would have been routine outs on some other diamonds. Lewis and Clark tied the game 1-1 in the 5th, setting up a tense final few innings.

A 6th inning fielder’s choice scored Dylan Walker of LC, and Jake Fosdyck’s good day on the bump ended the next at bat, when he was ejected from the game by the same umpire who ejected Trey Kazubowski in game one. Fosdyck didn’t agree with the call at first, and let the umpire know, who very quickly threw him out of the game. He was relieved by pitcher/infielder James Shaw, who gave up an RBI single to Chris Iazzetta to make it 3-1 in favor of the Trailblazers in the 6th.

Zach Seavers went back on the mound to close out his complete game, and gave up a few more hits in the process. With runners on and only one more out to win the game, Lewis and Clark coach Randy Martz went out and asked his hurler if he could get one more out. Seavers stepped up to that challenge in a big way, and confidently recorded the final out of the ballgame.

Winning three of four against Spoon River propels the Trailblazers to an impressive 26-13 record on the campaign. They close out the season with another home-and-home doubleheader series, facing off with Heartland Community College.

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Blazer Beat #1: Spring!

Nick Wilke at the dish for the Trailblazers from a game earlier this season. Photo by Pete Hayes of the Alton Telegraph

April 9th might have been the most pristine day of the Lewis and Clark Trailblazer spring sports season yet. Beautiful blue skies, temps in the 70s, spring had officially sprung, just ask my allergies. On this high pollen spring afternoon, both the softball and baseball teams were in action, both in doubleheaders. The baseball team welcomed the Jefferson College Vikings, and softball welcomed the Parkland College Cobras to the cozy confines of Godfrey Ball Park.

Game one over on the softball diamond was (spoiler alert) the lone victory in the four games played April 9th, winning 6-4 over Parkland. A big four-run first inning wasn’t enough for the visiting Cobras, failing to score at any other point. LC starting pitcher Sydney Henrichs recovered and kept composure after the first, at one point retiring twelve straight Parkland batters and throwing a strikeout in for good measure. Cobra starting arm Kate Beckemeyer picked up her fifth loss of the season, which was a “death by many cuts” scenario. Beckemeyer didn’t give up an extra base hit all game, but gave up a litany of singles.

The second encounter wasn’t quite as enjoyable for the Trailblazers, falling 8-1. Parkland got a complete game out of their starter, Kirbie Mendenhall, who gave up three hits and an unearned run in the victory. Lewis and Clark’s lone run came in the first, but the offense couldn’t figure out Mendenhall’s arsenal throughout the day, striking out seven times. A Brie Poehler dinger was the only ball to leave the yard in the doubleheader, her fourth this season.

Strolling the few hundred feet over to game one of the baseball doubleheader, Lewis and Clark really couldn’t get a word in edgewise, and fell 3-0 as a result of Jefferson College’s dominant pitching, led by starter Anthony Green. Green fanned five of twenty batters faced and only allowed a single hit, a masterful performance by the Viking pitcher to improve to 2-0 on the season. Christian Stelling recorded the two-batter save in the 7th to close out the game, his third save of the campaign.

Game two at the baseball diamond wildest game of the four, a 20-9 oddball game in favor of Jefferson College. A wild, seven-run first inning for the Trailblazers assisted by three Jefferson errors was not enough, as Jefferson’s offensive explosion continued throughout the ballgame. By the time the Trailblazers scored their next run, the Vikings had already put sixteen of their own on the board. Homers for Nick Hagedorn and Alex Harbin were nice but unnecessary in the grand scheme of things, with Parkland winning so comfortably. In mop up duty after the big first inning, Jefferson pitcher Adam Parker picked up his fourth win, mostly pitching to contact, only striking out one Trailblazer batter.

Of note but not related to actual baseball happenings: the wood backstop at the baseball diamond is clearly a home to wasps now that it’s warm enough for bugs to, well, bug us. I was chased from my usual post at the backstop by multiple wasps, and I don’t handle bugs or stings from bugs well. We’ll see if this will be a continued theme at baseball games I attend, or if my cowering has shown the wasps who’s boss once and for all.

Trailblazer softball sits at 16-10 after April 9th, and baseball at 13-10. Respectable records at this point in the season for both, but both will be out to prove they’re the real deal in the coming games. The baseball team has a .800+ OPS (on base percentage + slugging percentage), meaning they’re seeing the ball well, but inconsistencies on the mound have cost them games. On the other hand, the softball team is 5th best in NJCAA D2 overall in opponent batting average, and 12th in earned run average, but with offensive numbers more towards league average that keeps them from reaching that “really really good” level.

Softball continues with a doubleheader in St. Louis against St. Louis Community College on April 10th, baseball at the weekend with a two-day, four game trip to Indiana to face Vincennes starting April 12.

#BlazeUp

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