Campbell, Missouri - The Bernie Mules finished the season with an impressive record of 15-5. They fell in their final game to the Bell City Cubs who went undefeated and won the Campbell Fall Tournament championship.
The Mules weren't able to score. Bell City defeated them 6 - 0.
Austin Hicks got the win for Bell City. He pitched seven shutout innings. Hicks struck out 13, walked none and gave up four hits.
Alex Guzman ended up on the wrong side of the pitching decision, charged with the loss. He lasted five innings, walked one, struck out seven, and allowed five runs.
"Alex threw well for the mules but a couple errors cost a couple runs, and against a good team like Bell City they will make you pay for any mistakes," commented head Bernie Baseball Coach Marcus Massey. "It is not how I wanted to end the season but over all we have had a great fall season."
"We have a young group that hasn’t had as much field time over the last couple season due to the strength and numbers in the baseball program. So this fall has been great for them to get some games under their belts and kinda see where we are at for the spring season," continued Massey.
"But over all I really like how we finished up at 15-5. We have a good group of boys. We had won 8 in a row leading up to this bell city game, and beat some really good teams in the process. So if we can keep building I think we have enough pieces to put together a solid spring," stated Massey.
This year’s annual wild-turkey brood-survey shows statewide turkey production in 2016 was lower than the five-year average – likely due to poor nesting success.
“Although we didn’t have many days with heavy rainfall in much of the state this spring, we did have quite a few days with at least some precipitation,” said MDC Turkey Biologist Jason Isabelle. “When hens are repeatedly getting wet while incubating, it can increase the chances of a predator locating the hen and her nest. Looking at this year’s brood survey results, only 29% of hens were observed with poults, which indicates poor nest success.”
Isabelle added June was fairly dry and ideal for brood-rearing in much of the state, but there were relatively few poults that were able to benefit from those conditions due to low nest success this year.
“Despite a poor hatch this year, there are still more turkeys on the landscape in many areas of the state compared to five years ago,” Isabelle said.
Each summer, citizen volunteers and MDC staff record the number of wild turkey hens and recently hatched turkeys, called poults, they see. These observations are then tallied for the annual brood survey. The number of poults is divided by the number of hens reported to create a poult-to-hen ratio (PHR). Isabelle explained this is a good measure of turkey nesting success and poult survival.
“Each year, thousands of citizens participate in the survey and we are grateful for their contribution,” Isabelle said. “During the three-month survey, participants typically report sightings of 60,000-80,000 turkeys, which is a testament to the large number of dedicated volunteers that take time to participate in the survey.”
This year’s statewide PHR was 0.8, which was below last year’s figure of 1.5 and the previous five-year average of 1.6. Regionally, PHRs this year ranged from 0.8 in the Northeast, Union Breaks, and West Prairie turkey productivity regions to 1.3 in the Mississippi Lowlands region (see image).
Given the poor hatch throughout the state, Isabelle says fall turkey hunting is going to be more challenging this year.
“Having fewer young birds on the landscape this year will likely result in hunters having to put forth more effort to be successful. This will be especially true in areas that experience good acorn production,” he said.
Isabelle notes where acorns are abundant, turkeys spend more time in forested areas and do not have to range far to locate food, both of which typically result in reduced turkey harvest.
In addition to considering this year’s hatch, Isabelle says hunters should be mindful of trends in regional turkey numbers. During the last five years, turkey numbers have been increasing in portions of north-central Missouri, as well as in the Ozark Border, Ozarks East, and Ozarks West regions (see image).
“Although the 2016 fall prospects are not as positive as years past, October is still a great month to enjoy the outdoors, and fall hunting provides an opportunity to pursue turkeys in the setting of Missouri’s beautiful fall woods, such as MDC’s conservation areas,” Isabelle said.
“Unlike the spring season, when more than 100,000 turkey hunting permits are purchased in Missouri, typically fewer than 15,000 hunters purchase fall firearms turkey permits,” he added.
Results of the 2016 wild turkey brood survey are available at http://on.mo.gov/2di1PXI.
Fall archery turkey hunting continues through Nov. 11 and resumes again Nov. 23 to Jan. 15. Shooting hours are one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset with a limit of two turkeys of either sex. Fall firearms turkey season runs Oct. 1-31 from one-half hour before sunrise to sunset with a limit of two turkeys of either sex. Details about fall turkey hunting regulations are found in the 2016 Fall Deer and Turkey Hunting Regulations and Information booklet available wherever hunting permits are sold, from MDC offices and nature centers, or online at http://on.mo.gov/2d7JPxc.
Buy permits from vendors around the state, online at mdc.mo.gov/buypermits, or through MDC’s free mobile apps, Mo Hunting and Mo Fishing, available for download through Google Play for Android devices or the App Store for Apple devices.
Campbell, Missouri - The Bernie Mules eliminated the Campbell Camels 4-3 in Campbell Fall Classic.
The Mules struggled for most of the game leaving 14 guys stranded on base; however scoring in the 8th inning to win the game.
Gavin Brown reached base from a hit by pitch which ended up being the winning run. Dalton Hobgood drove in the winning run off a double to right field.
Blake Beacham put together a tremendous outing. Beacham gave up just three hits, allowed one earned run, walked none and struck out two during his six innings of work.
Alex Guzman came in relief to get the win. He tossed two innings of shutout ball. He struck out four, walked one and surrendered no hits.
Hobgood, Brown and Josh Ellenburg combined for four hits and three RBIs for the Mules.
Ellensburg big hit came in the 6th inning with the Mules down one to score the tying run that eventually sent the game to extra innings.
Bernie posted one run in each of the second, sixth and eighth. In the second, they scored on an error, scoring Nate Dillinger.
The Bernie mules are now 15-4 on the year and will play Bell City Thursday, September 29th at 7:30 p.m. in Campbell.
Van Buren, Missouri - The Dexter Middle School Cross Country team traveled to Van Buren on Wednesday, September 21st to participate in the Van Buren Invitational.
The following athletes earned medals:
Gabrielle Barrett 6th Place
Brett Pollock 2nd Place
Andrew Ellinghouse 8th Place
Carter Dorton 10th Place
Gavin Cartwright 15th Place
Shown in the photo from left to right are Andrew Ellinghouse, Brett Pollock, Gabrielle Barrett, Carter Dorton and Gavin Cartwright.
Broseley, Missouri - The Bernie Mules traveled to Twin Rivers High School on Tuesday, September 27th. They attacked the Royals winning 25-13, 25-21.
Kayli Tanner, Mabree Stone, and Taylor Lovelady each had 1 ace.
Kayli Tanner had 4 blocks, Madisson Wooldridge had 3 blocks, and Mabree Stone and Taylor Anthony had 1 block.
Kayli Tanner had 7 kills, Cymber Arnold had 4 kills, Madisson Wooldridge had 3 kills, and Mabree Stone and Morgan Baker had 1 kill. Morgan Baker had 12 assists.
Taylor Lovelady had 8 digs, Morgan Baker had 7 digs, Mabree Stone had 4 digs, Cymber Arnold had 3 digs, Kayli Tanner had 2 digs, and Taylor Anthony had 1 dig.
In Junior Varsity action the Lady Mules defeated Twin Rivers 25-5, 25-4.
Alivia Cobb dominated with serving in the 1st set by serving 12 points in a row, 7 of which were aces. It was Ryleigh Foster in the 2nd set, serving 14 points in a row, with 4 aces. Makayla Turner scored 5 aces out of her 8 serves, and Haylee Robinette scored 1 ace.
"The girls did an excellent job with their attacks," stated head coach Monica Collier.
Cassidy Freed and Makayla Turner both scored 7 kills and Daisy Eaton and Nia Walker scored 6 kills. Nia Walker also had 1 block. Ryleigh Foster had 15 assists.
Alivia Cobb and Daisy Eaton had 4 digs, Cassidy Freed and Haylee Robinette had 2 digs, and Ryleigh Foster had 1 dig.
The Lady Mules will be back in action on Thursday, September 29th when they host the Bloomfield Wildcats.
