The Opening Drive: Week 10

Welcome to “The Opening Drive!”  This is where we take a look at some of the sport stories making news in the Grant County area this past week.  I’m Tim Decker.

The World Series may have finished up a couple of weeks ago but Grant County High School baseball is making noise this week.  Numerous NCAA Division one baseball teams like Michigan State, Louisville, and Cincinnati were doing all they could to get Oak Hill Senior Ryan Spaulding to join their team.  In the end, Spaulding chose a more local college to play baseball for – the Ball State Cardinals in Muncie.  Spaulding becomes the 2^nd player in Golden Eagles baseball history to sign a NCAA Division I scholarship.  Nick Millspaugh signed with IPFW in 2004.  Spaulding has a career .463 batting average, 12 home runs, and 78 RBIs in his career.  Those stats have helped Oak Hill to win 2 consecutive Central Indiana Conference Championships as well.  Spaulding hasn’t decided a major at Ball State but he knows he’ll be playing baseball for the Cardinals.

In women’s college basketball, the #3 Indiana Wesleyan Wildcats played an exhibition game against NCAA Division I school Northern Illinois on Tuesday.  Coach Steve Brooks’ team stunned the Huskies to win, 61-52.  IWU’s hot shooting kept them out front as the Wildcats shot 64% from 3-point land while holding Northern Illinois to just 18% from 3-point land.  Junior Guard Claire Freeman and Senior Center Krystal Stoneking led the way for IWU scoring 15 points each.  The Wildcats are in Kentucky this weekend to play in the Elswick Classic hosted by Georgetown College.

We finish the drive this afternoon with a high-stakes rematch in college volleyball.  The IWU Wildcats and Taylor Trojans will be playing in the Mid-Central College Conference Championship game tomorrow night.  The second seeded Wildcats advanced to the championship round after defeating Grace College,  3 games to none.  The top seeded Trojans defeated Spring Arbor, 3 games to 0, in Upland last night as well.  This will set the stage for a rematch in Upland tomorrow night starting at 7 pm.  IWU defeated Taylor just over a week ago to snap the Trojans 53-game winning streak in the MCC. 

That does it for “The Opening Drive” this week!  Make sure you catch the Fortress Sports Update airing throughout the week that updates you on the local sporting events in Grant County.