Spring struggles for mid-major NKU
It hasn’t been the easiest of springs for NKU athletics but there is a remarkable consistency in the baseball and softball programs that through Thursday showed both standing at 20-23. Not sure that will ever happen again – or has ever happened – with the numbers matching exactly. But there it is, both teams with a .465 overall winning percentage and with almost matching Horizon Conference records: 9-9 for the baseball team which is third in the Horizon League with the 8-7 softball team in fifth place.
Checking out the schedules of the two teams, it can’t be easy as a mid-major in the spring. Baseball, for example, has managed to play eight road games against Power Four programs with a 1-7 record after being outscored 90-35 (an average score of 11-4) on trips to South Carolina, Florida State, Louisville and Tennessee with the lone win, 3-2, at South Carolina. One final Power Four game will be May 12 at UK.
The softball team has had better luck in scheduling, with Northwestern and UK both playing in Highland Heights, but the results of four games against Power Four programs (also North Carolina and Louisville) are actually a bit worse than baseball – 0-4 and outscored 43-7.
But neither has to worry about the toughest spring as NKU’s second-year Stunt program (cheerleading with scoring) ended the season April 11 with a 2-18 record for its 25-strong squad.
But don’t let those numbers fool you. NKU coach Shayla Myles-Aaron was voted the Mid-American West Conference Coach of the Year for the tremendous improvement in her Norse women who scored 8.5 points a game this season compared to 1.7 a year ago as the NKU women did manage to defeat the Big Ten’s Purdue, 24-7. Also freshman Sophie Schoulties from Alexandria was named second-team all-conference.
From bass fishing to bowling, CovCath athletes on a rod-and-roll trip to college
If you think the world of sports isn’t a different place from not too long ago, check out this annual spring signing of college athletic scholarships at Covington Catholic. Two of the sports that Colonel athletes will pursue with college scholarship aid are bass fishing and bowling, both KHSAA-sanctioned sports.
And in words we’ve never heard at one of these school signings this week, here was this sendoff for Eli Scroggins, who is headed to Campbellsville University “to continue your academic and fishing career,” his coach said.
This year’s eight other CovCath seniors represent five more sports including bowling, where the state runner-up Colonels were led by Dylan Davis, “who has really put his stamp on our program,” his coach said of the all-time top Colonel bowler who will be heading to Owensboro’s Brescia University.
The others who have signed with colleges, with comments from coaches or AD Tony Bacigalupo, are as follows:
Baseball: Pitcher Tison Collins, coming back from a recent injury to move into a key spot after four games back this spring and a “fantastic young man”, Shawnee State University
Football: Two-way starter wide receiver/defensive back Zach Brooks, son of Bengals’ all-pro James Brooks, DePauw University
Football: A “don’t-go-to-the concession-stand” highlight guy, also a basketball starter, Dylan Gaiser, Centre College
Football: Six-position player Brady Guard — “everything you’d want in a football player,” Thomas More University
Football: Cash Harney, like Gaiser, a football-basketball “do-it-all” starter on his way to show the SEC what the athletic ex-quarterback can do, University of Kentucky
Soccer: Tanner Robertson, “aggressive, knowledgeable” all-state defender on state runner-up Colonels, Transylvania University
Track and Field: Garrett Gallagher, “I love to watch him run,” his coach said, Thomas More University
Also signing earlier, basketball all-stater Athens McGillis, who will attend Nova Southeastern University in Florida. The other senior basketball starter, Donovan Bradshaw, has yet to decide on his college choice.
Walker walks away from So. Carolina, heads to home-state Western Kentucky
And now we know. Lloyd Memorial alum EJ Walker, who went from redshirt freshman to starter in this past season at South Carolina, is returning to the state through the transport portal that will take him to Bowling Green and Western Kentucky.
The 6-foot-8, 252-pound Walker finished with game averages of 2.9 points and 2.7 rebounds while shooting 42.9% from the field and 24.1 percent from the 3-point range. EJ is one of six South Carolina basketball players to transfer out after this season, all to mid-major programs.