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Showing posts from March, 2020

Three Track Athletes Returning to Indoor Nationals

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Tim Folliard Sports Writer Anderson, Fleming and Garcia will all compete at the 2020 NCAA Div. III Indoor Championships. Photo courtesy of benueagles.com and naccsports.com. After completing their fifth consecutive indoor conference title, the men’s track team is sending three athletes to compete at nationals. Matt Fleming, Marcos Garcia and DJ Anderson all enter the meet holding a 7 seed or better in their competitions. Matt Fleming is making his return to the national meet where he has had success at both indoors and outdoors. Matt has placed 4th and 5th in long jump at his two other appearances at the indoor championships. In the 2017 Outdoor Championships, he took home runner-up honors as he also was a part of a national championship relay team. This season Fleming finished first at the conference championships in long jump as well as finishing third in the 55m dash and triple jump. He was named NACC Field Athlete of the Year and was also NACC Athlete of the Week aft...

Cricket Coming to Benedictine

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Tim Folliard Sports Writer Last week, Dean of Students, Marco Masini, announced in an email that cricket is coming to Benedictine University. The club anticipates to start in the fall of 2020. The email was asking students to “to assist with the planning and implementation of this global sport for our campus.” Cricket is played on a 22-yard playing area with a wicket at each end. Each wicket is composed of two bails balanced on three stumps. The objective of cricket is to score more runs than your opponent. Runs are scored by the two batsmen on the pitch running back and forth between the wickets. The sport of cricket is very popular around the world. Over one hundred countries are members of the International Cricket Council with the oldest members being Australia, England, South Africa and India. It’s popularity in the United States is growing. According to an  article  published by the BBC, an estimated 200,000 people play cricket in 44 states. The Cricket team ...

Are the Astros Guilty of Sign Stealing?

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Tim Folliard Sports Writer The Astros stole opposing pitcher’s signs using a camera placed in center field. Photo credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty In a sport that has been historically plagued by cheating, the Houston Astros are in the middle of another scandal. This scandal accuses the Astros for using cameras to steal opposing team’s pitching signs during the 2017 season. The Astros ended up winning the World Series in 2017 and were the runners-up in the 2019 World Series. In an article written by  The Athletic  in November 2019, former Astros pitchers Mike Fiers said that Astros hitters stole signs with the help of a camera placed in the outfield. This article sparked an investigation by the Astros and the MLB. On January 13th, the MLB gave a 1-year suspension to Astros Manager A.J Hinch and General Manager Jeff Luhnow. They also fined the Astros $5 million and suspended their first and second round draft picks in 2020 and 2021. After the suspension came out, the As...

Baseball Looking to Improve on Third Place Finish

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Tim Folliard Sports Writer Photo courtesy of benueagles.com The Benedictine baseball team is another spring sport who enters the season with high expectations. Last year, the Eagles went 23-15 overall and had a conference mark of 14-8. That record was good enough for a third-place finish in the NACC. This year, they hope to improve on that and then some. The Eagles want to prove that they can hang with the best teams in Division III. With most of the team returning from last year, it is realistic expectation. “Our team goals for the season are to prove that we can play with anyone in the country.” Brendan Norberg said. “We want to hit that 30-win mark, win the conference and get the chance to play in a regional, super-regional and a world series.” The Eagles will have the opportunity to play against some top teams. When they visit Florida, they will play a total of nine games against some great competition. They square-off against Webster University, who is currently ranked #2...

Men’s Lacrosse Has Eyes Set on Conference Title

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Tim Folliard Sports Writer Photo courtesy of benueagles.com Lisle, IL – Despite the snow and chilly temperatures, spring sports are right around the corner. The first spring team to play at the Benedictine University Sports Complex is the men’s lacrosse team. They hope to improve on a 2019 campaign that saw them finish the year at an 11-4 record. The Eagles ended up finishing third place in conference and this year they have their sights set on the top spot. “Our team goal this season is to win conference,” said junior Brogan Hall. “We want to go undefeated in the conference and be conference champions. We’ve come up short the last couple of years but have been increasingly closer each year.” They are matching their talk by doing whatever they can do to be successful. Their preseason training is rigorous and even includes team yoga sessions. “Now that it’s somewhat warmer, we’ve been able to get out on the field more as well,” said Hall. “Typical week entails field practi...