Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
May 10, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
CAMP POINT, Ill. — The final week of the regular season is mirroring the rest of the spring — windy, rainy and unpredictable. Thursday’s game between the Mendon Unity and Camp Point Central baseball teams saw sunny skies turn to dark clouds, wind kick up and a steady rain that halted play in the top…
Read Full Article May 8, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — What do you get when you put arguably the most versatile boys basketball player in Northeast Missouri alongside a top-flight scorer, a couple of lethal jumpers and a backcourt of nose-to-the-grindstone workers? It’s an all-star team capable of challenging Illinois’ best for supremacy. The Missouri roster for the third annual Muddy River Showcase…
Read Full Article May 7, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — Griffin Kirn proved unbeatable in Great Lakes Valley Conference play. David Broughton became the tone-setter for one of the GLVC’s hottest teams. The league’s coaches couldn’t ignore either player’s success. Kirn, the Quincy University baseball team’s left-handed ace, was named the GLVC PItcher of the Year on Tuesday night by a vote of…
Read Full Article May 7, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — The game and everything about it felt tedious. None of the Quincy University baseball players will deny that. “When you’re getting your butt kicked, it is a chore,” first baseman Austin Simpson said. A five-run loss in the series finale against the University of Indianapolis on April 14 left the Hawks eight games…
Read Full Article May 7, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — Winners. That’s the best way to describe the Illinois boys roster for the third annual Muddy River Showcase. The 10 players selected to represent the Land of Lincoln helped their teams to a combined .727 winning percentage last winter. One was the leading scorer on a state championship squad. One quarterbacked his football…
Read Full Article May 7, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — Elliott Hendrian might as well have taken a flashing neon sign screaming “Hit it here” with him to second base. The baseball gods were well aware he was there. Quincy Notre Dame coach Rich Polak made an abrupt switch in the top of the fourth inning Monday, pulling starting second baseman Oliver Triplett…
Read Full Article May 7, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — Mark Thomas has never concerned himself with which side of the ledger the higher number exists, but he understands the preoccupation with wins and losses. In the postseason, wins are all that matter. Leading up to the postseason, they aren’t always the measure of progress. “Sometimes when you look at a bigger perspective,…
Read Full Article May 7, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Quincy native Luke Guthrie took the first step toward returning to major golf competition Monday, winning a local U.S. Open qualifier to advance to the sectional round to be played in June. Guthrie shot a 7-under 65 at the Plantation at Ponte Vedra Beach to earn medalist honors. He earned…
Read Full Article May 7, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — A pitcher’s duel turned in the favor of the Quincy Notre Dame baseball team when the Raiders were able to manufacture a pair of runs in the fifth inning of Monday’s 3-1 victory over West Hancock in West Central Conference action at Ferd Niemann Jr. Memorial Ballfield. Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman…
Read Full Article May 5, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
EAST MOLINE, Ill. — Before leaving Flinn Stadium on Friday night, Quincy High School girls soccer coach Travis Dinkheller told his leg-weary team he needed 80 more quality minutes from them to complete a weekend sweep. “If it takes 100, then we’ll play 100,” Dinkheller said. How prophetic. Saturday’s Western Big 6 Conference championship showdown…
Read Full Article May 5, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — Austin Simpson knew he couldn’t go home empty-handed or he’d never live it down. His roommates — Dustin DuPont and Adam Lewis — both hit home runs Saturday in helping the Quincy University baseball team build an insurmountable lead in the finale of its Great Lakes Valley Conference series with Illinois-Springfield. So when…
Read Full Article May 5, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — The Quincy University baseball team had reason to celebrate Saturday afternoon. Not only did the Hawks honor the seniors following the final home game of the regular season, but the 21-7 victory over Illinois-Springfield punctuated a weekend series sweep that earned the Hawks the No. 4 seed for the Great Lakes Valley Conference…
Read Full Article May 4, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — Just how much the Quincy High School girls soccer players fully embrace the “do hard better” mantra will become obvious by the time their team bus departs East Moline sometime Saturday afternoon. Nothing the Blue Devils have faced this regular season will be as hard as playing two emotionally charged games in the…
Read Full Article May 4, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — The frustration showed in their eyes, never in their effort. The Quincy Notre Dame girls soccer players refused to give up their pursuit of a game-tying goal over the final 40 minutes of Friday night’s crosstown showdown with Quincy High School even when the equalizer never came. “All the girls worked their butts…
Read Full Article May 4, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — For the second year in a row, the Quincy High School girls soccer team has swept the city series, winning 2-1 Friday night at Flinn Stadium behind two goals from senior midfielder Bri Lannerd. Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman spent the evening at the venerable facility and put together this photo gallery:
Read Full Article May 4, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — The situations were strikingly similar, the circumstances decidedly different and the outcomes remarkably the same. Credit Logan Mueller and Roman Harrison for each having a little Harry Houdini in their act. Mueller, a sophomore right-handed reliever, was summoned from the Quincy University baseball team’s bullpen with the bases loaded and one out in…
Read Full Article May 4, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — The Quincy University baseball team is heading toward the postseason with some steam. The Hawks won three games Friday — the resumption of Thursday’s suspended game and both ends of a Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader — to secure their spot in the GLVC Tournament. Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman spent time…
Read Full Article May 2, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — Let’s start with an explanation of an omission. Last week on “The List,” Travis Dinkheller joined me to break down a list of our top 10 Chicago Cubs players. We tried to make it clear we selected players we saw either in person or on television. That meant no Ernie Banks, no Bill…
Read Full Article May 2, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — They waited as long as they could. Finally, the Quincy University baseball players had to leave QU Stadium before the threatening skies dumped rain and hail and ruined a Thursday afternoon at the ballpark. The Hawks and Illinois-Springfield were tied at 2 when lightning strikes within 7 miles of the stadium forced the…
Read Full Article May 2, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
WENTZVILLE, Mo. — Quinn Thomas is bookending his high school golf career with trips to the Class 4 state tournament. Could he begin and end with state titles as well? The Hannibal senior qualified for the state tournament by finishing tied for third Thursday at the Class 4 District 2 tournament at the Golf Club…
Read Full Article May 1, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — The emotion spills out in ways Brock Boynton can’t always contain. Sometimes it’s a bat flip that goes a little too high or a little too far. Other times it’s the barbaric yawp everyone hears as he rounds the bases on a home run trot. And every now and then, it’s the toss…
Read Full Article May 1, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
NORMAL, Ill. — Four local golfers are headed to the NJCAA Division II national tournament after helping the Danville Area Community College men’s golf team finish third in the two-day Region 24 tournament played at Illinois State University’s Weibring Golf Club. The Jaguars posted a 54-hole score of 906, four shots clear of Heartland Community…
Read Full Article May 1, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
NORMAL, Ill. — Illinois State University junior golfer Alex McCulla will tee it up in the NCAA West Lafayette Regional, hosted by Purdue University on May 13-15 at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex. The Quincy Notre Dame graduate was one of 10 individuals to receive an at-large regional bid. The West Lafayette Regional features 13…
Read Full Article May 1, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — Lauren Bogle openly talked about how coaching the John Wood Community College women’s basketball team enabled her to grow both in her ability to draw up Xs and Os and the organization of a program. So what was the most important thing she learned in two seasons at the helm? “Besides everything?” she…
Read Full Article May 1, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — Abram Wiewel understands the need for a pitch count, but it doesn’t dampen the disappointment of being pulled one out away from a complete game. “I wanted to finish it really bad,” said Wiewel, the Quincy Notre Dame junior right-hander who left Tuesday’s game against the Quincy High School baseball team with a…
Read Full Article May 1, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — It all comes down to the rubber match. The Quincy High School and Quincy Notre Dame baseball teams split their first two meetings this season, with the Raiders evening the series with a 5-1 victory Tuesday night at the QHS field. The third meeting comes next Monday at Ferd Niemann Jr. Memorial Ballfield.…
Read Full Article Walk it off, walk it off: Allison's two-run single finishes off Galesburg as QHS wins third straight
April 30, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — Aurora Allison didn’t realize what she had done. Her single to center field with one out in the sixth inning drove in a pair of runs as the Quincy High School softball team walked off with a 14-4 victory Monday over Galesburg in Western Big 6 Conference play. Allison, the senior first baseman,…
Read Full Article April 30, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — On a night when the Quincy High School softball team celebrated its three seniors, one of them provided the exclamation point on a 14-4 victory over Galesburg in Western Big 6 Conference action at the QHS field. Aurora Allison’s one-out single in the bottom of the sixth inning Monday drove in two runs,…
Read Full Article April 28, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — The work isn’t done because the pads came off. Come August, Quincy University football coach Jason Killday and his staff will see if the players embraced that message. The Hawks wrapped up spring practice Saturday at QU Stadium with an energetic, determined effort that highlighted many of the positives gleaned from five weeks…
Read Full Article April 27, 2024 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
CHARLESTON, Ill. — Lucas Loos has made moving back to the infield look seamless, even if it was at a position he hadn’t played in college. A month ago, during a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series against Tennessee-Martin, the Eastern Illinois University senior slugger was penciled in to start at shortstop. He has been the…
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