The Belleville News-Democrat from Belleville, Illinois • 36

Sunday Febhuahy 203011 LOCAL SPORTS BELLEVILLE NEWS-DEMOCRAT MCKENDREE Bearcats move Rakers and Ruckman both post double-doubles in win at Harris-Stowe 74-46 a free throw by junior guard Kyle Heckert at the 123 mark Wolff dished out five assists for McKendree and moved past Chad Storck into sole possession of second place on the career assist chart Wolff now has 505 career assists and is eight behind Tim Schumacher for the top spot on the list 'Tferry Hollins was the only player to score in double figures for Harris Stowe with 22 points Rakers took over the closing minutes of the first halt scoring the final 1J points of the period for McKendree as part of an 11-4 burst to give the Bearcats their nine-point lead at the break The Bearcats quickly took control to start the second halt using A 19-4 run to extend its lead to 47-22 third 3-pointer of the half capped the spurt for McKendree which also included eight points front Rakers The largest lead of the night came at Thanks to Park University! 75-73 loss at Hannibal-LaGrange the Bearcats climbed back atop the AMC standings McKendree is now a half-game in front of both Columbia (02) and Park (103) in the league! Rakers finished the contest with game-high totals of 22 points and 12 rebounds while- Ruckman came off the batch to add 13 points and 10 rebounds for McKendree Senior for-ward Eric Hobbie netted Special to the Newt-Democrat The McKendree 'Bearcats defeated Harris-Stowe State 7651 for their fifth consecutive victory cm Saturday in St Louis Junior forward Sean Rakers and sophomore forward David Ruckman both registered double-doubles as McKendree the No 20-ranked team in NAIA Division I moved to 16-11 overall and 10-2 in American Midwest Conference play COLLEGE BASEBALL major trade with Colorado New bats should offer Avalanche in 2007 An offensive defenseman with big upside the rookie had seven goals and 26 paints in 46 games with Colorado despite not scoring in his previous eight contests Heto an excellent puck mover a right (-hand) 'Armstrong add "He can help us on the power play and help our transition Ipme and can help generate Here is Blues coach Davia Rsyneto take on Stewart "With Stewart you've got your prototypical big forward that can shoot can skater plays with an edge and spends a lot of time around the blue paint which we fed is a definite asset for our hockey Rqme said "(Heto) a bigbodied skilled guy with that type of edge and tenao- ity we fed will add into our jj top six Johnson joined the Blues i after his freshman year at the University of Minnesota He bunt onto the scene with five goals and 33 points in 69 gunes during his rookie season of 2007-08 'dominated the boards in the victory outrebounding HarrisStowe 5229 The two teams combined to score just' 15 points in the first 10 minutes of play with the Bearcats holding a 9-6 advantage After Harris- -Stowe (11-17 56 AMC) grabbed its final lead of the contest at 10-9 McKendree used a 3-pointer and short jumper from senior guard Andy Wolff to quickly regain the lead at 14-10 BLUES I Make Continued from Page D1 June for the 16th overall pick which was used on impressive Russian power forward Vladimir Tkrasenko Ttoraaenko helped lead the Russians to a gold medal in the Vforid Junior Championships and has been playing in the Russian pro KHL league Eller was the primary bait used to acquire goat tender Jaroslav Halak from -MontreaL The latest move immediately upgrades the struggling Blues offense and gives the club two of the NHLto top young power forwards in David Backes and Stewart The 23-yearold Stewart (6-foot-2 228 pounds) had 13 goals and 30 points in 36 games with the Avalanche this season Heto also a fearless competitor and the 18th overall pick in the 2006 draft was off to another good start this season before missing 21 games after breaking his hand in a Nov 27 fight Roster makeover The emergence of defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and continued progress by Roman Rrtak and prospect Ian Cole plus the arrival at Shattenkirk made the Johnson trade a little easier to absorb an emotional standpoint or human standpoint thereto no difference between moving the first overall pick or the 50th or 150th Armstrong said people But competitively I think when you want to get a player of Stewartto caliber a potential budding power forward and someone that we think that we can continue to build 'and grow with and around you have to give up some-tiling of In short it takes talent to get talent rRuns per contest jin recent seasons jjftr Norm Sanders -Newt-Democrat New NCAA-mandated aluminum bat specifications may bring down power numbers this season while increasing the smile totals of the nationV college baseball pitchers Tfeams no longercan use file composite bat models that had been used in recent yean with NCAA switching to a new alu- minum standard that great- -fy reduced the bath spot The changes will be mandated on the high school level in 2012 The new rating is known as Batted Ball Coefficient of Resolution which limits the trampoline-like effect of a pitched ball making contact with the surface -and returning toward the -field The hope is that new alu- minum hats will behave a Jot more like wood bats -creating more of a realistic -offensive gune rather than '-the home-run dominated college baseball displays of think tins' is a show of the great Character and the great strength and the great hockey ability of Erik Johnson that we were able to acquire a player like what it cost us to acquire a player like Chris Stewart" Armstrong said coning in fills the void somewhat that Erikto going to leave a frln Breaxng oown tne trace So are the new-look Blues as currently assembled still in the middle of the much-talked about rebuilding plan? no fouryear plan or five-year plan weYe five or six points out a few gunes at hand to make a playoff push this Backes said' "Thatto what we plan on doing Thereto no selling the farm and just giving guys away for picks and prospects and not getting any help on the way bade "This was a deal to bolster our offense and get a very good offensive player Shattenkiikto a guy thatto going to be developing into a very good defenseman A year ago Stewart led Colorado with 28 goals and was second on the team in scoring with 64 points in 77 games There was little doubt he loved facing the Blues scoring 'eight goals and 15 points in nine career gunes against them don't have their stats but I think heto only averaging about nine or 10 points against Backes said "Heto a prototypical power forward jtto down the wall hard and you don't want to get in his way because he'll run you over "If you think you Ye going to get a good lick on him heV makings move around you and making a good Play Shattenkirk is another forma first-rounder taken 14th overall by the 12 of his 17 points in the second half for the Bearcats who completed a three-game sweep of HarrisStowe on the season McKendree overcame a sluggish start to build a 27r 18 halftime lead then blew past the Hornets in the final 20 minutes by shooting nearly 57 percent from the floor Defensively the Bearcats limited HarrisStowe to just 294 percent from the field in the second half McKendree also the pitchers" Collins said "The hat companies got into an arms race to see who could make the bat with the ball jumping off the farthest and fastest and scores kept going up "They finally realized they hoi to do something about SIUE gets all its bats from Wilson and Collins nl1 AL- t- fmiroatcci tnc cot for cacti bat being anywhere from $165 to $320 depending oa the model used them for almost three weeks and we haven't broken one we haven't dented one and we had one Collins said "The coaches that used them all fall said the same thing" Other Division I baseball rule' changes far 2011 include pitchers having only 20 seconds between pitches with no one on base Violations will lead to a ball being called by the umpire -Umpires also have been instructed to limit time between inning to 90 seconds Contact reporter Norn Sanders at nsandersbndxomor239- 2454 2008- when brothers Kent and Kyle William both placed "Itto a great way for both of those young men to end their Indians coach Chris Lindsay said "The difference between the and Lavion and Mike is that tiie two this year have gone through our program in junior high and now high school The Williams transferred in They're all four great kids though makes it even better is that both Mike and Lavion are both great Two other Mississippi Valley Conference wrestlers also earned medals Civic Memorial's Chris Wiliams placed third in Class 2A at 135 while THadto Jake Tlndle earned a fourth-place medal after losing 10-9 to Mattoonto Ttoeye Williams in a third-place match Contract reporter Dean Criddleat dcriddlebndxom or recent years According to the NCAA Division I teams averaged 698 runs per game last season ufi from 61 in 2007 The change also should help pitchers use mere of tiie strike zone than before "Thereto a noticeable difference" Southern Illinois University Edwardsville baseball coach Gary Collins said "They are closer to wood than any metal bat fheyVe come out within tiie lak 15 years If they hit them of the end or off the handle it doesn't go anywhere Collins think horrid runs will become rarities but believes there wort be as many of them you hit them on the sweet spot it will go he said "But it won't go like those composite bids we had two years ago where you had Httie infielders hitting them 400 feet in hat ting One of the biggest reasons for the change is safe- ty fear of pitchers being injured because they have enough time to move out of the way of a line drive "Everybody just got the point where it wasnY fair to years talking about two wrestlers who have both been involved in this sport for most of their lives They've dedicated themselves to wrestling in the summer and- done everything weVe asked at them during the past four Seas said "For them to both end their high school careers with state medals I can't think of abetter way for them to go The other two Class 3A medal winners berth were at 189 where Altonto' Ttoylor McGiffen defeated Granite Cityto Brendan Brooks 93 While Gantt and Pearce led the way for Class 2A wrestlers Mascoutah senior Mike Graf and junior Lavion Mayes combined to do what only one other duo has accomplished: win medals in the same year Graf placed fourth at 189 while Mayes was third at 140 The only other time the Indiana have accomplished that feat was in 1 I I i The next year was lost when Johnson suffered a seasonending knee injury in golf cart accident just before the start of training camp He had 10 goals and 39 points a year ago and signed a two-year $52 million contract extension In 55 games this season Johnson had five goals and 19 points but did not seem to display tiie dominance of a forma first overall pick In his sixth Blues season McClement leaves sfter scoring 56 goals and 156 points in 448 career games His best value was as a defensive-minded forward and penalty killer Contact reporter Norm Sanders at nsandersbndxomor239- 2454 SILVER I Three area grappler take 2nd i Continued from Page D1 just how good Thomas really is why I have jdl these D-I schools calling me about him all the Spraggins second place 1 wasn't the only bright spot 1 of the weekend for West which finished the state finals with three medal winners for the first time in school history Dyion Viglasky (44-5) a fouryear starter scored a thinlperiod takedown to edge DeKalbto Doug Johnson 42 in the fifth-place Class 3A 125-pound bout Fellow senior cocaptain Dustin Vintimigllia placed third at 17L Like Viglasky Ventimiglia won two 'hutches Ftiday to reach the semifinals before suf- fering a loss Ventimiglia defeated Downers Grove Sam Apland 16-4 'in his third-place match Sears had nothing but 'praise for both of his sen-iora who have been cornerstones of the I program for the past four CARDS Still have holes to fill on roster Continued from Page D1 La Ruaaa and general will join third baseman manager John Mozeliak David Freese and catchei La Ruaaa said pfo- said the club might need a Yadier Molina in batting mote competition within right-handed hitting out- behind the big three the roster fielder but that they are "I think we have really "The healthiest thing is not actively shopping good people I think wc to embrace around for one have really good talent La Ruaaa said "If you La Ruaaa said he plana La Ruaaa said "I think have a healthy competi- to tinker with the front there are other teams that tion among your team- and back of the lineup to have good people good mates' the way that moat try find the moat effective talent which malm ft teams do it including combination to surround writing ours you can be really Ptyols left fielder Matt' "I also know thereto Holliday and Berkman nothing automatic One player who 1 Theriot centerfielder Because you've been real be there is outfielder Jim Colby Rasmus and second ly good mear IJdmonda who had baseman Skip Schumaker really good thfr agreed to a minor league will compete for the top year Thatto the charm ol contract but announced two spots in the order this game You got to re-his retirement on Friday and whoever loses out establish and mOUii nmm BIBfc aL tsmlJtmm: BREAKING NEWS TODAY'S FRONT PAGE NEWSLETTERS HOT TOPICS DISCUSSION BOARDS SPECIAL SECTIONS YOUR COMMUNITY OUR WAR: WWII LETHAL LAKES UNO THE BEAGLE BLOGS VIDEOS In print and online we deliver 1 '7.