ORU Mourns Loss of Former Baseball Player

The Oral Roberts athletics department is mourning the loss of former baseball player Ryan Iannelli, who died Wednesday in a helicopter crash during combat operations in Afghanistan. Iannelli was serving his country as a pilot in the Marines.

Iannelli graduated from ORU in 2006 and was a member of the Golden Eagle baseball team that advanced to face Clemson in the NCAA Super Regional. Originally from Clarksboro, N.J., Iannelli was a four-year member of the team, seeing time in the outfield and as a pinch runner.  

Click here to read the full story.

UMKC Head Coach Matt Brown Speaks in Washington D.C. for Coaches vs. Cancer

UMKC head men's basketball coach Matt Brown made a trip to Washington D.C. as one of four Division I basketball coaches to participate in the Coaches vs. Cancer Capitol Hill rally, along with his 12-year-old daughter, Ally, who is a thyroid cancer survivor. Brown spoke in front of hundreds of cancer survivors and advocates from every state at the West Front of the U.S. Capitol, in an event gaining national media attention.

He joined coaches Jamie Dixon of the University of Pittsburgh, Matt Doherty of Southern Methodist University and Paul Hewitt of George Mason University, as each spoke at the rally to urge Congress to protect federal funding for cancer research and prevention programs. Joining with cancer survivors and advocates from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), the coaches led the rally to emphasize that the federal investment in cancer research, prevention and early detection programs is vitally important to helping people prevent and fight the disease.

Click here to read the full release.

Photo Gallery | NBC Action News Video Feature

IPFW SID Yovich Accepts AD Position after Nine Years with the Mastodons

Current IPFW Assistant Athletic Director for Media Services Rudy Yovich has been named the new Athletic Director at Owens Community College in Perrysburg, Ohio.

Yovich, who is in his ninth year with IPFW, has been involved with two web site re-builds, the addition of multi-media to the website, and was the road play-by-play voice of the IPFW men's basketball and baseball teams. He also oversaw the cross country and track & field teams, as well as the pep band and the cheerleaders.

Click here to read the story.

Women's Soccer League Play Set to Begin

This weekend marks the first full slate of women's soccer league games with all 10 teams in action. League play officially kicked off on Sept. 16 when Southern Utah visited Oral Roberts. Four matches will be contested Friday with one Saturday and four on Sunday.

Click here for the complete women's soccer schedule.

USD's Kendall Kritenbrink Featured in Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan

South Dakota freshman volleyball player Kendall Kritenbrink was featured in an article by the Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan after helping the Coyotes get off to a 3-1 league start in its first season in The Summit League.

At one point during a timeout last weekend, the Missouri-Kansas City coaching staff was making clear that stopping “number 12” was the main goal. One assistant was even overheard telling a player, “That’s why you’re in there. Now stop here.”

But it came as no surprise to Kendall Kritenbrink — who wears No. 12 — or her University of South Dakota volleyball teammates.

Everyone knows the freshman is the one opposing teams want to shut down.

Click here to read the article in its entirety.

WIU Names Shane Davis Assistant Baseball Coach

Shane Davis has been named assistant coach for the Fighting Leatherneck baseball program. He comes to Western Illinois after two seasons as an assistant coach at Cleveland State.

Davis assisted with Cleveland State's recruiting efforts, focusing primarily in the Midwest. He also helped with summer ball placement and worked to arrange the team's travel plans and future scheduling.  Following Cleveland State's baseball program being dropped in May of this year, Davis served as an associate scout for the Texas Rangers prior to this appointment.

Davis was a four-year letterwinner as a catcher for Eastern Michigan and earned his Bachelor's degree in secondary education in 2007.

Click here to read the full release.

WIU Student-Athletes Take Part in Bowl for Kids Sake

The Fighting Leathernecks participated in Bowl for Kid's Sake, a fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters, Friday, Sept. 24 at Diggers College City Bowl.
 
All the teams began bowling at 7 p.m. and continued until 8 p.m. Swimming and diving had three teams, men's basketball had two teams, men's golf had two teams and football had one team compete. Volleyball collected money, but did not participate due to competition.


Each team, made up of five bowlers, collected pledges prior to the event. Throughout bowling there were prizes awarded for different accomplishments, for example, bowling the first strike.


Click here for the full photo gallery.

Charity Basketball Game a Success at Oakland

The 10th Annual DMC Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan’s Celebrity Wheelchair Basketball Game was held last week at Oakland's Athletics Center O'rena. Oakland partnered with Detroit Lions standout Ndamukong Suh to bring the celebrity game to campus in an effort to raise money and awareness for the DMC Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan’s SportsAbility program.

Suh was the celebrity coach of the Detroit Jam which played against the Motorcity Rollers, coached by former Detroit Pistons player John Long, in the celebrity pro-am wheelchair basketball game. The Motor City Rollers won by two points before a crowd of more than 1,500 fans

To read more about the event, see Oakland's release here.