Coaches' Blog

Blogger: Coach Rippee, Assistant Men's Basketball Coach
Date: 1/5/2009

Evangel Basketball Loses
Great Friend in David Fillmore

Due to our scheduled trip to Florida over the Christmas break we were unable to attend the funeral services of David Fillmore. Although Dave was not a visible figure by choice, his work touched countless lives over the years. Many athletes who never knew Dave reaped the benefits of his many hours of selfless dedication to an institution he loved and worked for. Our hearts are full of respect and admiration as he will be sorely missed. He made our jobs easier and was the envy of many institutions for his work as our Sports Information Director. We would like to offer our deepest sympathy to his wife Pat and daughter Deanna and are truly thankful for their sharing Dave with Evangel. EU has lost a treasure, but Dave's work ethic and legacy will be an example for those who follow.

Blogger: Dawn Neal, Assistant Coach
Date: 12/25/2008

Evangel Women's Basketball team travels to Florida to play in Northwood University Christmas Classic

The team will arive back on campus for practice Dec. 26. The team has had a week off and is eager to get back to playing. I have kept in touch with all of them throughout the week and they miss one another and basketball. We will play in West Palm Beach, Florida at Norhtwood University Christmas Classic and hope to come back to Missouri with 2 wins. The time in Florida will allow the team to reconnect, as we plan to stay in a condo that sleeps all 16 of us, on the beach in Daytona Beach. We are going to Florida to practice everyday and win 2 games. Once the games are over we plan to have some fun on the beach, visit Universal Studios/Adventure Island, go to Disney Boardwalk for the News Eve celebration, and spend quality time together continuing to build a successful team.

Blogger: Jerry Breaux, Head Softball Coach
Date: 12/15/2008

2009 Spring Break Trip is Set

Our spring break trip for 2009 is finalized and set. We will be in the San Antonio area the first week of March (March 1-8). This will be the 5th time in my 16 years I've taken the team to the great city of San Antonio. It's a historical and wonderful place I enjoy taking the team to. We invite our friends in the S.A. area to come out and see us play during our games that week. We could use the fans and support. We expect to have good weather and great softball to boot!

We will play three double-header games during this week. Tuesday March 3 will be our first playing date as we travel to Seguin outside S.A. to play Texas Lutheran University. We've played TLU in the past but it has been awhile. Since, they have switched from being NAIA to NCAA Division III. Game time is 12 noon for game 1 and 2:00 pm for game 2.

Our next playing date this week will be Thursday March 5 as we play Trinity University. This will be our first meeting with TU and game times are set for 4:00 & 6:00 pm under the lights. I always loved playing under the lights as a player and enjoyed my best performance games...something magical about playing ball under the lights and the night sky! And the feeling is no different for me now as a coach! Is it any wonder our EU teams have performed their best also under the lights...maybe my players see me and my "mojo" coaching a little different at night!

Our third and final playing date this week is Friday March 6 when we play at Incarnate Word University. IWU has a good team and program under Nora May ... she coached in our conference before moving on to S.A. and IWU. Coach May will give us a good test and challenge to see what kind of team we have. Playing the best brings out the best in you and your team...or maybe the worst huh! We're looking forward to playing IWU and our game times are 3:00 & 5:00 at the IWU campus field. And by the way, it will be the Crusaders against the Crusaders so the Crusaders will definitely win!!

We invite everyone in the S.A. area to come out and see us while we're in the city. If you would like to meet and greet the team and maybe impress our ladies with a good ol' Texas bar-b-que, we would certainly allow you to do so. Our days off are Monday March 2, Wednesday March 4, and Saturday March 7. Shoot me an e-mail at breauxj@evangel.edu or buzz me at 417-865-2811 extension 7265.

Our fundraising campaign for our San Antonio trip is going well and if you would like to make a donation to EU softball on behalf of our trip then earmark your check exclusively to Evangel Softball and mail to my attention, Coach Jerry Breaux. We appreciate your contribution and we sincerely look forward to being in the great city of San Antonio in March 2009! Thanks and "adios" for now!

Blogger: Scott Metcalf, Head Football Coach
Date: 12/12/2008

The Joy of Giving

What a great feeling I had in my heart today being able to share JOY with kids and their parents when visiting them at Cox South Hospital. You could see the faces of children recovering from illness or surgery light up when they saw members of our football team come into their room with smiles and gifts. The smiles from all in the room were geniune and joy filled the room.

Blogger: Jerry Breaux, Head Softball Coach
Date: 12/12/2008

Fall Season 2008

Another fall semester coming to an end. But another good semester though for EU softball. It all started with our outdoor workouts and fall schedule. We played about 10 games this fall against Missouri State U, Drury U, Crowder College, which is a top 20 junior college program.

These fall games and competition helps prepare us for the main spring season. The fall is always about blending our new players in with returners, where players will fit into the overall scheme of things, and determining our potential opening day lineup. The fall provides both our coaches and team a benefit getting a jump on the spring season. We feel we have an excellent squad with five seniors leading the way..."G" Richardson, "Bre" Canclini, "E-Beth" LeClaire, "Kimbro" Williams, and the "bulldog" Cara Bowling. The newcomers who will bring immediate help are highly recruited transfer Kendra Corbin (Howard College Texas), freshmen sensations Marriana Nelson (shortstop from Minnesota) and Kasey Spencer (catcher from Liberty MO). Others who will definitely add needed help are freshman Kortney Bellm (pitcher from Ash Grove MO), transfer Ashley Harris (pitcher from California by way of Ft. Scott JUCO), freshman outfielder Shayla Bullard (Red Oak Oklahoma), and transfer Misty Robbins (infielder from Wewahitchka, Florida who played one year at Gulf Coast CC).

If our pitchers stay healthy, look for big things to happen for EU softball in 2009. Our offensive and defensive unit will be better than ever...our outfield will be the fastest we've had in the program's history....they can run and track down the ball! It will also be good to have "Jazzy" Lopez back in our lineup after she missed most of the 2nd half of our season last year..."Jazzy" is one of our best players and will hit in the # 3 key spot in the order and hold down leftfield...if she stays healthy (hand injury) then she will be a most valuable player in our lineup.

Our junior varsity team and program also had an excellent fall going 14-1 and winning the fall league season touranment against area JUCO's. Our J.V. squad is made up of mainly freshmen and some sophomores and plays only against area JUCO's who are same age and expereience. Our J.V. players primarily play the fall season and usually get 15-20 games. This is their time to gain development, experience, and playing time for their possible future on the main spring squad. Our J.V. team no longer plays during the spring but only during the fall. This way our main squad and coaches can focus exclusively on the spring season.

The spring season will be here before we know it. We open on Valtentine's Day of Feb. 14 when we host Henderson State U. Weather permitting of course! Oh that finicky spring weather...anyone want to build us a dome to play in?? If so, contact me immediately!

Blogger: Coach Harley, Football Recruiting Coordinator
Date: 12/12/2008

Recruiting

Our coaching staff has hit the ground running since the end of the season. We have been to California, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Memphis, Tennesse. We still have trips to make to Northwest Arkansas, Texas and Florida. Some of our top prospects at this point are Eric Mateos (OL,KS), Jordan Nuckolls (QB,MO), Caleb Barnum (WR,MO), Mark Edwards (LB/FB,CA), Crew O'Cain (K,CO), Matt Dumond (OL,OK), Daniel Petrino (LB,AR). We believe these guys and the numerous others we are talking with are impact players on and off the football field, guys who are committed in their walk with God and passionate about the game of football. God Bless!

Blogger: Coach Rippee, Assistant Men's Basketball Coach
Date: 12/11/2008

Men's Basketball Team
Opens Conference Season 1-1

The men's basketball team just completed a disappointing weekend trip to the KC area to begin their conference season. They began the trip with a visit to Ballwin City, KS to play Baker U on Thursday and, despite leading 32-16 in the first half, lost to the Wildcats 88-71. It was a poor defensive effort from the Crusader team. After practicing at Mid America Nazarene on Friday morning we were able to watch a lot of film on our Baker game as well as watch some tape of Graceland, who we played on Saturday. We drove up from KC to Lamoni, Iowa on Saturday morning. Our team played better and won 89-80. We shot the ball awfully well, made some strides on the defensive end and escaped the weekend trip with a 1-1 record. It was disappointing how we started the long 20 game conference season at Baker, but it was just one stage of 20 stages in the conference season.

The Crusaders play their last game before Christmas this Thursday at home versus Lindenwood. The men's game begins at 7:30 pm.

Blogger: Chad Gehring, Special Teams Coordinator
Date: 12/11/2008

Special Teams Highlight
This Years All-Conference Team

2008 was another solid year for Evangel special teams. Several of our guys produced in big ways for us on the football field. Our punt team was the best we've had in a long time, lead by punter Trevor Gies. Our kick return team was a threat every time it took the field, and our punt return team was equally as dangerous. Three of our guys garnered Heart of America All Conference Awards for their contribution on our special teams.

Nathan Thomas was the 1st selection as Kick Returner, Trevor Gies was a 2nd team selection as punter, and Joel Stevens wrapped it up as an honorable memtion punt returner. As we look forward to the 2009 season, I hold fast to the qoute that "Tradition Never Graduates," so as we press on, it will someone else's turn to step up and carry on the great tradition of Evangel University Special Teams.

Blogger: Lance Quessenberry, Head Baseball Coach
Date: 12/10/2008

EU Baseball 2009 Spring Break Trip

We have finalized our baseball spring break trip and will be headed for Winter Haven, FL this year. After a great trip to Clearwater, FL to play in the Clearwater Invitational last year, a revamped conference schedule has caused us to change venues. We will be playing in the Russ Matt Invitational this year and our games will take place at the former Cleveland Indians spring training complex.

Our players are very happy about being able to fly this year after experiencing the 20 hour bus ride last year. We will leave on February 26th and get back on March 4th and will be staying at the Palm/Regal Resort in Davenport, FL. With pools, water slides, and a lazy river, our players will definately be comfortable and have a great time.

We are scheduled to play 5-6 games while we are there and getting to play at a top notch facility should make the games a lot of fun. After going 4-3 last year on our trip, we are excited about the opportunity to have another successful trip on the field.

Blogger: Mary Whitehead, Head Volleyball Coach
Date: 12/10/2008

Downtime

Well, the finish line has come. We finished our season in a four-game loss to Baker University. No matter how I look at it as a coach, it's disappointing. I'm not disappointed in my players at all. It's just hard to lose, always!!

I'm now in the "downtime" of my year in coaching. I try to take some time off and enjoy life outside the gym a little. I just keep finding myself back on the job, doing everything I can to make the 2009 team as good as it can be. E-mails to recruits and parents. Working on the budget to squeeze every penny I can to get the players we want and need. Working on a schedule that is competitive and enticing to the recruits and my current players as well. I learn a little more what it's like to have an office job this time of year. Not a bad thing—but I'd always rather be in the gym, or the weightroom, or even on a charter bus in route to our next match.

BUT, since I have about nine months before that can happen ... I'm on the trail of some great volleyball athletes and doing my best to make the 2009 Evangel volleyball team the best it's ever been.

Blogger: Dawn Neal, Women's Basketball Assistant Coach
Date: 12/9/2008

Lady Crusaders Basketball

The Lady Crusaders played 2 HAAC road games this past week Dec. 4 vs. Baker University and Dec. 6 Graceland University. We won both games. We are putting 2 halves together better and our defense is beginning to shine. There are still many areas to work on in our defense, but the team recognizes that and they are eager to work hard to better define themselves as a defensively strong team.

Kara Blankenship earned HAAC NAIA D-1 Player of the Week for the ES, MSSU, and PSU games from Nov. 25-29. She averaged 21 points a game, 34-36 Free-throw and 56% FG%. Caitlin Russell earned HAAC NAIA D-1 Player of the Week for the Dec. 4 Baker University and Dec. 6 Graceland University games. She averaged 15 pts per game, 64.3% FG, 6-10 3pt FG% and 7/7 Free throw in 2 games. The EU Lady Grusaders have played a tough non-conference schedule, which has prepared them for Confernence play. We have one more game before Christmas and that is on Dec. 11 at 5:30pm versus Lindenwood University. We will travel to Florida to play Northwood University and Bethel College in the Northwood Christmas Classic on Dec. 29, 30.

Blogger: Coach Rippee, Assistant Men's Basketball Coach
Date: 11/24/2008

Long weekend produces another victory

The men's basketball team made a long trip over the weekend to Campbellsville, KY to play Campbellsville University. Campbellsville was a final 4 team in NAIA D1 last season and was #18 in the pre season poll for this year. We rented 3 vans and drove our team 9 hours on Friday. To make it a little more challenging, we could not practice at CU on Friday due to some high school games. So we brought our team in at 5:45 am on Friday, then left after breakfast. We arrived in CU at 5:15 EST. We were able to shoot around in their gym later that evening after the high school games. We also had our normal shoot around on Saturday morning at 10 am, then played the game at 2:00 EST. We had not played in 10 days, while CU was playing their 5th game in 9 days. Our rust showed early as CU got off to a quick start, leading by 9 early. Our guys stayed the course and battled back to lead by 5 at half. We withstood a 3 point shooting barrage in the middle of the 2nd half by CU. We had an 11 point lead that was erased by four straight 3's by CU as they retook the lead by 1 point midway through the 2nd half. Senior Shane Nicholson hit a big bucket to give us back the lead, a lead that we never gave up. Jackson Capel led 4 players in double figures with 23 points. Sophomore Chad Gillaspy had a career high in scoring with 18 points on 8-9 shooting from the field. Nicholson had 15 points with 8 assists and Sophomore Michael Storey scored 10 points. Capel and Storey are both from Kentucky and had several family members and friends at the game. It was a good homecoming for each.

Of course after the game we had the long drive home, although after a win the drive sure was a lot easier.

The Crusaders play again Tuesday night at home against Friends University at 7:00 in the Ashcroft Center.

Blogger: Lance Quessenberry, Head Baseball Coach, PHED Assistant Professor
Date: 11/19/2008

Baseball Commitments

There has been some exciting news this fall about the future of the EU Baseball program. There have been 4 early commitments for the 2009-10 season...

- Seth Baily: Seth is from Harrisonville HS in Harrisonville, MO. He is a catcher who is also able to play the second base position. He has a lot of speed and will be a guy who can bat at the top of the order.

- Storm Bailey: Yes, Seth and Storm are brothers. Storm also attends Harrisonville HS. Storm plays CF and SS. Like his brother Seth, Storm will also bring a ton of speed to the top of the order. Both Storm and Seth will have a great chance to come in and contribute right away as freshmen.

- Nick Engleman: Nick is coming to the EU program from Stockton HS in Stockton, MO. He plays shortstop and also pitches for the Tigers. Nick will be a great addition as a position player and also to our pitching staff.

- Luke Warner: Luke will be the second Warner I have gotten to coach. His brother Matt was a senior SS for us my first year here (2007). Luke is from the Lee Summit area and has been been home schooled during his high school career. He is an outfielder, plays 1B, and also pitches

We are extremely happy that God has blessed us with all four of these players in the EU program. We are looking for great things from each of them.

Blogger: Coach Rippee, Assistant Men's Basketball Coach
Date: 11/13/2008

EU Men Earn First Win of Young Season

The basketball season is a marathon race. Our season begins with pre season workouts during the last week of August with our first official practice during the first week of October. The season lasts until the middle of March. The season is way too long for us to treat it like a sprint. Good thing for us, as we started out the season by losing both games of our own Classic co-hosted by CBC here in Springfield. Although we have a lot of experience returning, our players had a hard time adjusting to new roles left vacant by the graduation of 4 excellent players from a season ago.

Our third game was at home against College of the Ozarks. C of O was preseason ranked #5 in the nation at the NAIA D2 level and is a great team. Our players came out very aggressive and earned a hard fought 79-64 win. Several people asked if it was the same team as the one that started 0-2 over the previous weekend. The difference was our focus on playing as a team, making the extra pass, filling the helpside with our rotations, and our bench contributed a great effort as well. It is always great to win, we are proud of our players efforts and their willingness to do the little things it takes to make your team successful. This is yet another small part of the marathon, but our 3rd leg of the race was a lot more fun to watch from the bench than our first 2 legs!

Our players have a little break here as we do not play again for 10 days. This will give us a little time to rest some players who have been battling injuries. The other day we sent 7 of our 12 players dressing out for games to the training room for treatment. Rest is an important part of preparing for any race, especially a marathon. We next play at Campbellsville, KY at Campbellsville University, pre season ranked #18 in NAIA D1. It will be another tough test for our team and an opportunity for us to play a quality team that will make us better later on in our race.

Blogger: Dawn Neal, Women's Basketball Assistant Coach
Date: 11/11/2008

Lady Crusaders Basketball

Evangel Women's Basketball has been working very hard in the preseason/inseason practices and it paid off for them Nov. 3 vs. College of the Ozarks. EU was behind the entire game, but that did not hinder our ladies from working for a win. With cheering fans and game winning Free Throws the Lady Crusaders prevailed with a score of 65-64. Coach Neal is always referring to the team playing like a "Fist" where 5 fingers together forming a fist can breakdown any one opponent, if they stay together and fight to the end. "All of us alone are weaker by far than all of us together" Coach K - Duke University.

The team has been doing that from game 1 vs. SNU on Oct. 31. SNU has won 6 NAIA D-1 National Titles and we played them tight to the end. With 1:35 left to go in the game the score was 63-60 in SNU favor which allowed our team to see their potential. Nov. 1 we played OCU another NAIA D-1 National Title winner. Nov. 8 we played at OBU Ranked #1 in the Oklahoma Sooner Conference and #10 in The NAIA preseason polls. EU once again played to the end, playing with the idea in mind that if we stay together we will have a great chance to win. The score at halftime was 28-42 OBU favor. We outscored OBU in the second half 49-43 with the final score ending in favor of OBU 85-77. The more we play the more confidence the ladies build in one another and in their own abilities. The 2008-2009 Team Goal is "RUN TO WIN" and to run in such a way that would bring glory to God. EU Lady Crudaders play their next 2 games at Northwest Missouri State University NCAA D-2 tourn. The games will be 2 Non-Conference games vs. NMSU and Briar Cliff NAIA D-2.

Blogger: Coach Whitehead, Head Volleyball Coach
Date: 11/7/2008

The Last 10 yards.....

I've been coaching volleyball for ten years and it never ceases to amaze me how fast the season goes by. It feels like a hundred yard dash: the gun goes off, 9 days of pre-season, and then we play about 35-40 games in just over 2 months. Then post-season comes and I start to see the finish line. Funny, it's about that time I want the finish line to be a little further away...

GO CRUSADER VOLLEYBALL!!!

Blogger: Coach Rippee, Assistant Men's Basketball Coach
Date: 11/6/2008

PRE-SEASON PORTION OF SEASON COMPLETE

We like to break down our season into 4 sections: 1) pre-season, 2) non-conference schedule, 3) conference schedule, and 4) post-season. We just completed our pre-season scrimmages last week. We played 5 junior colleges in scrimmages, and then had an intrasquad scrimmage as well. After the 6 scrimmages, our leader in scoring was Jackson Capel, who was a 2nd Team All-American last season. Capel averaged 19.5 ppg. Spud Harbour was the only other player who averaged in double figures (11 ppg), although 5 others averaged 8 ppg or better. Sophomore transfer Michael Storey led the team in field goal percentage, making 87 percent of his field goal attempts. Senior Chad Simon led the team in rebounding and Senior Shane Nicholson, already the career leader in Evangel's history in assists, led the team in assists.

Evangel men's basketball team begins their 2008-09 season with a home game against Oklahoma Wesleyan University. Evangel is ranked #24 in the preseason NAIA D1 rankings while OWU is preseason #9 in the NAIA D2 rankings. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 in the Ashcroft Center.

Blogger: Lance Quessenberry, Head Baseball Coach, PHED Assistant Professor
Date: 11/5/2008

Baseball Team Continues Workouts/
Start Hitting League

The baseball team continued their off-season workouts and have started their hitting league this past week.

Team members have been working extremely hard and the coaching staff is seeing good results. A typical week for the baseball team would look something like this...

Monday: 6:00 AM Lift and Speed Workout.

Tuesday: 3:00 PM Lift and Agility Workout.

Wednesday: 6:00 AM Lift, Speed, and Distance Workout.

Thursday: 3:00 PM Lift and Agility Workout

Friday: 6:00 AM Lift and Distance Workout.

After workouts on Tuesdays and Thursdays, all hitters compete in a "hitting league". Hitters get three rounds of eight swings to accumulate as many points a possible. There are eight teams of four and the winning team will get dinner at Coach Quessenberry's house.

The team is having a lot of fun with this and it gets very competitive.

Blogger: Jerry Breaux,Head Softball Coach
Date: 10/30/2008

Softball Fundraiser

This Saturday November 1 will be the EU Softball Team's annual slow pitch fundraiser. This event was started 16 years ago when I took over the program. The purpose is to raise funds to help with our annual spring break trip. This is an annual weekend of not only raising a few hundred bucks to help our players and program, but also for our players to participate by playing and having some fun. It's actually kind of funny to watch our players try to hit a slow pitch ball being fastpitch players. This event happens after our fall season is over and the players are simply having fun while raising money. We usually have teams from on-campus that play but also an off-campus team or two comes in and plays. Since we play it on our fastpitch field with 200 foot fences, we only allow HR's to happen during select innings for the guys. The women can hit it out anytime and not just during select times. We do have some women who can hit the slow pitch ball out anytime. We also have mom's, dads, boyfriends, etc. of our players who participate and play. So it's an all-encompassing event that has our students, player's, coaches, families, etc. involved. This event usually happens annually at the end of October or first of November.

Blogger: Lance Quessenberry, Head Baseball Coach, PHED Assistant Professor
Date: 10/23/2008

Team Reed wins EU Fall World Series

The EU Baseball team competed in a best of 5 World Series to finish up the fall season. Two seniors (Phil Reed and Raphael Frias) chose teams and made line-ups each day.

Games started on Monday (10/13).

*Game 1: Pitching Match-up...Team Reed: Dale Bean (SO/RHP)

vs. Team Frias: Andy Pfeifer (SO/RHP)

Team Reed won a hard fought battle 3-0. Pfeifer gave up 1 earned run on 2 hits in 5 innings. He also had 6 K's. Bean gave up 0 runs on 0 hits in 5 innigs of work. He also had 5 K's. Kirk Pierce (FR/C) drove in the only earned run on the day.

*Game 2: Pitching Match-up...Team Frias: Rafael Frias (SR/RHP)

vs. Team Reed: Chad Culpepper (SO/LHP)

Team Reed again won in an unbelieveable 8-7 comeback win. After Frias and Culpepper left the mound after the 5th inning with the score 2-1, things really got going. Team Frias went up 7-1 with 5 runs in the top of the 7th. Zach Johnson (SO/1B) had 2 RBI's in that inning. The game looked over. But after a 3 run HR by Kirk Pierce (FR/C) and a passed ball to score a run, Chad Yates (FR/2B) hit a 3 run walk-off double to win it for Team Reed. Both teams wasted great starting pitching performances in Frias and Culpepper. Frias went 5 innings and gave up 1 earned run and racked up 6 K's. Culpepper gave up 2 earned runs in 5 innings and had 6 K's.

*Game 3: Pitching Match-up...Team Frias: Casey Staudt (JR/LHP)

vs. Team Reed: Craig Penley (JR/RHP)

With Team Frias looking to avoid the sweep, Team Reed scored 5 runs in the 3rd inning and cruised to a 6-1 win. Craing Penley picked up the win with 5 shutout innings and also drove in 2 runs on 2 hits.

After taking a week off, the team will start back up with conditioning and weights on 10/27.