Poplar Bluff

What I learned from living the initial 52 years of my life in the state of Indiana was that Hoosiers are passionate about three things: religion, farming, and sports. And depending on the time of year and whether the Indiana University men’s basketball team is underachieving or not, the order of those things could fluctuate.

The list of Semoball Awards finalists is complete. In Tuesday's selection show streamed exclusively on Facebook, the 45 spring sport finalists were revealed, along with the Lifetime Achievement Award winner, 13 nominees in Coach of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year and Best of Sportsmanship...

Poplar Bluff alum Kameron Misner was drafted 35th overall in the first round by the Miami Marlins on Monday after going into the day ranked as the 27th overall prospect by MLB.com. Misner hit .286 as a 6-foot, 4-inch, 213-pound junior at Missouri this season with a .921 OPS and a .481 slugging percentage. He led the Tigers with 10 home runs, 20 stolen bases, 54 walks, 59 hits and 54 runs scored. He also had 10 doubles and 32 RBIs...

After being teammates for years, Poplar Bluff’s Sam Pierce and Johnathon Thurman will be opponents next season. Pierce and Thurmon both signed recently to play baseball at Region XVI colleges, with Pierce committing to Three Rivers and Thurman with Mineral Area...

The all-region softball team has been released. Kennett freshman Kyra Jaco, Oran junior Kaylee Payne, Campbell senior Elizabeth Steward, Puxico senior Bailey Burns, Holcomb sophomore Bailey Cupples, and Malden sophomore Hailey Rojas were selected first-team all-region infielders...

Poplar Bluff had four track and field athletes earn All-State honors. Khelie Spence, Xzavier Bartlett, Marquis Johnson and Gage Rowland all finished in the top eight while the Mules sent 12 total athletes to the MSHSAA Class 5 meet Saturday at Battle High School in Columbia...

A dozen Mules will go to state. Poplar Bluff had 12 track and field athletes finish in the top four at the MSHSAA Class 5 Sectional 1 meet at Waynesville on Saturday. The boys' team finished second overall while the girls finished eight. The qualifiers are Jadarius Pigg (110-meter hurdles), Xzavier Bartletts (400), Marquis Johnson (long jump), Preston Taylor (shot put), Luke Barousse (pole vault), Gage Rowland (pole vault) Khelie Spence (100 hurdles), the team of Colby Tomlinson, Austin Tinsley, Bartlett and Shemyron Townsend in the 4x200, and the team of Tinsley, Townsend, Justin Mitchell and Josiah Kilgore in the 4x100.. ...

The Jackson boys track and field claimed the Class 5 District 1 championship Monday in Hillsboro, Missouri. Running events were completed Saturday (check Monday's newspaper for a full listing of local state qualifiers in those events), and field events were suspended until Monday...

Cedar Hill, Mo. — Against the top-seeded Jackson Indians, Poplar Bluff was starting five freshmen and had one available sub. Jackson scored four goals in the first half and beat the fourth-seeded Mules 7-0 in the MSHSAA Class 4 District 1 semifinals on Monday at Cedar Hill, Mo...

HILLSBORO, Mo. — Poplar Bluff will send 25 track and field athletes to the MSHSAA Class 5 sectional meet in Waynesville. Sixteen boys and nine girls finished in the top four at the MSHSAA Class 5 District 1 meet in Hillsboro to qualify for sectionals...

IMPERIAL, Mo. — It took the Mules a good hour to wake up Monday. Second-seeded Poplar Bluff was trailing 1-0 to seventh-seeded Northwest Cedar Hill in the bottom of the fifth. The Mules had three singles on the day and had just committed back-to-back errors to start the fifth...

Cape Central senior Devon Tiemann and the Jackson duo of Blake Barnes and Timothy Baird both finished second in Friday's Class 2 District 1 individual tournament at Cape Girardeau Central High School to advance to the sectional tournament. Tiemann finished second in the singles tournament, falling to Poplar Bluff's Ben Stewart 7-5, 6-4 in the championship. The top two singles and doubles finishers advanced to next week's sectional tournament...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — Poplar Bluff’s Ben Stewart kept his quest for a state qualification alive by winning. Stewart won the MSHSAA Class 2 District 1 singles tournament Thursday at Cape Central to advance to sectionals at 4 p.m. Tuesday, also at Cape Central...

The field is beginning to take shape. The second group of Semoball Awards finalists, the winter sports selections, were revealed Wednesday in an hour-long radio show on SEMO ESPN. That group of 30 student-athletes will join the fall sports finalists, announced earlier this year, at the 2019 Semoball Awards presented by SoutheastHEALTH on July 13 at the Donald C. Bedell Performance Hall on Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus...

Poplar Bluff wanted to win every inning. It did, and only needed to play five innings to get the win. The Mules scored in each of the first four innings, and put six runs on the board in the fourth before committing an out, to beat East Carter 12-2 in five innings on Wednesday at Strenfel Memorial Field...

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Mo. — Poplar Bluff had a chance in the final 10 seconds to force overtime. After a foul just outside the 18-yard box with the clock winding down, Sophie Rowland tried to score on the free kick, but her shot went right at the keeper as time expired with Poplar Bluff losing 4-3 to Mountain View-Liberty...

JACKSON, Mo. — For just the second time since 1998, Poplar Bluff will not have a representative at the state golf tournament. Alex Wiseman and Dylan Pierce both shot an 84 in the sectional round Monday at Kimbeland Country Club in Jackson, Mo., missing the cut for state by six strokes. Poplar Bluff also didn’t have a player qualify in 2014...

A little while back, Poplar Bluff cancelled the remainder of its JV season because injuries had taken so much of the roster. The Lady Mules went into senior night Friday against Farmington with two subs available. They finished the game with none. Tired, outnumbered, and without any help off the bench through two overtimes, the Mules and Farmington were still tied at 1-1, then the Mules lost 4-3 after six penalty kicks...

SIKESTON — This past week has not been the best for the Sikeston boys tennis team. Friday’s Senior Night was also not one to remember, as the Bulldogs fell to Poplar Bluff 6-3. The loss was the third-straight for Sikeston (9-4), with the Class 1 District 1 Tournament beginning on Monday...

Poplar Bluff has earned its first winning streak of the season. The Mules beat Sikeston 3-0 on Monday at Mules stadium on the heels of beating Kelly 10-0 on Friday, giving the team not just two wins in a row, but two SEMO Conference wins in a row. “The last two games, our defense has played really well,” Poplar Bluff coach Rusty Crafton said. ...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — Stepping to the plate for what would be his final at-bat, Sikeston senior Jeffery Thornbrough did not have a day to remember. The lefty stood in the batter’s box without a hit and his four-game hitting streak in jeopardy. Jeffery, though, turned what was a bad day at the plate into a good one with just one swing of the bat. ...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — Poplar Bluff nearly overcame three errors. A fourth proved too costly. The Mules lost to Sikeston 8-7 in the consolation final of the SEMO Conference Championship on Monday in Cape Girardeau. Poplar Bluff rallied with four runs in the sixth inning to tie the game, but Sikeston added one last run in seventh on Poplar Bluff’s fourth and final error...

Poplar Bluff’s Alex Wiseman and Dylan Pierce advanced to state sectionals after finishing 22nd and 25th in the MSHSAA Class 4 District 1 tournament at Crowne Point Golf Club in Farmington. Wiseman shot an 88 while Pierce had an 89. The sectional round will be held at Old Kinderhook, which Poplar Bluff coach Billy Pyland said favor the Mules...

The Jackson track and field team swept the north division titles at Saturday's SEMO Regional Conference Meet at Notre Dame Regional High School. The Indians bested the host Bulldogs by 14 in the North Division to clinch the girls title while the boys finished 38 points ahead of Poplar Bluff for the championship.

The SEMO Conference Tournament kicked off Friday with second-seeded Jackson rolling to a 10-0 win over Dexter at home in six innings due to the mercy-rule. With the victory, Jackson (16-6) advanced to Saturday's 12:15 p.m. semifinal game against sixth-seeded Cape Girardeau Central at Capaha Field. Cape Central defeated third-seeded Poplar Bluff 5-4 in another first-round game Friday at Capaha Park...

Wyatt Parker went 2-for-3 as the Class 2 state-ranked Chaffee baseball team remained hot and rolled to its eighth-straight win of the season in its 5-0 victory over Saxony Lutheran on Friday at Frisco Park in Chaffee. Breven Yarbro was the winning pitcher and also went 2-for-4 at bat for the Red Devils (16-3). He threw three innings and gave up no runs on two hits with five strikeouts and three walks...

With the SEMO Conference Tournament kicking off today, teams are looking to iron out any wrinkles as they prepare for the postseason. Notre Dame and Jackson headline the eight-team tournament as the top two seeds, as both finished with 6-1 records in conference play to finish as co-champions. Notre Dame earned the top seed by winning the head-to-head matchup. Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett noted he's thrilled having the top seed but to not expect the Bulldogs to rest on their laurels...

Blake Bohnert earned medalist honors with a 79 to lead the St. Vincent boys golf team to a JCAA Conference Tournament championship Wednesday in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. The Indians' top four golfers all finished in the top 10. Perryville's Drew Elder came in second, leading the Pirates to a third-place finish...

NEW MADRID, Mo. — The comeback was nearly complete for the New Madrid County Central baseball team on Tuesday. Trailing the entire game, the Eagles tied the game up in the sixth inning, before the Mules used a three-run eighth to take home the win. Gabe York finished with three RBI, going 2-for-4 at the plate, while Austin Davis tacked on two RBI of himself. Davis went 2-for-4 at the plate, with his lone hit coming on a double...

POPLAR BLUFF — The Mules lost 3-0 to Cape Central at Mules Stadium on Tuesday, with the Tigers scoring all three goals in the second half as Poplar Bluff fatigue mounted. Along the way, Poplar Bluff’s Ella Zgaynor and Ady Kingree left the game with injuries...

WEST PLAINS, Mo. — Poplar Bluff got its top player back from an ankle injury and beat West Plains on Tuesday. The Mules swept doubles, with all three teams winning 8-4, and took the head start forward to a 7-2 win. The Mules’ top player Ben Stewart came back and teamed up with Tommy Holland once again as they beat Daegen Green and Andrew Eby...

NEW MADRID — Poplar Bluff needed every bit of eight innings to beat New Madrid County Central. The Mules held on to win 7-6 after Carson Webb got a comeback and a strikeout in the bottom of the eighth with runners on second and third. “We had to fight for everything we had,” Poplar Bluff coach Steve Edwards said...

The Jackson boys golf team cruised to victory at the SEMO Conference Tournament on Monday at Foxhaven golf course in Sikeston, Missouri. The Indians finished with a team score of 301, 26 strokes better than second place Dexter's 327 and had three golfers finish in the top five at the tournament as Carsen Silliman took home the individual championship with an even par 71. Case Englehart tied for 2nd with a three-over 74, and Seth Waters finished 5th with a six-over 77...

FARMINGTON — Under brutal conditions, Poplar Bluff finished sixth overall out of 15 teams at the Mehlville Invitational, played at Crowne Pointe Golf Club and Resort in Farmington, which is also where the district tournament will be held. Alex Wiseman led the Mules with a 78 and finished fourth overall. ...

O’FALLON, Mo. — The Poplar Bluff boys track and field team won eight events Thursday to claim the Ft. Zumwalt North Invitational while the girls won three events and finished fourth. The Mules won two relays and three field events, finishing with 149.5 points, 69.5 ahead of second-place Northwest-Cedar Hill...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Sophie Rowland nearly earned a double hat trick. The senior midfielder for Poplar Bluff scored five goals against Springfield Parkview as the Mules won 6-3 to earn their first win since their season opener. “It was a good win for us, good for morale going into next week,” said Poplar Bluff coach Rusty Crafton, highlighting Monday’s matchup against Jackson...

The SEMO Conference baseball title may have been decided Wednesday, and if it was, a timely hit will be a big part of the reason. Jackson got it; Poplar Bluff did not. The Indians went on to win 4-0 to clinch at least a share of the regular-season conference championship. Poplar Bluff (14-3, 3-2 SEMO Conference) would have tied Jackson (15-6, 6-1) with a win.

CAPE GIRARDEAU — Poplar Bluff shot a 186 as a team in their second round at Dalhousie Country Club on Wednesday. Freshman Alex Wiseman led the group with a 42 while Ian Martinez had a 46, Keeton Carr shot a 47, Jack Pierce had a 51 and Woodrow Innes got a 52...