Baseball: Pitching, defence limit host Gaels in Sunday road sweep
Sept. 19: Game 1 - Western 11 Queen's 1 / Game 2 - Western 9 Queen's 1
By Andy Watson

 

Where are they Now?
Shawn Robinson - Baseball
individual player stats

KINGSTON, Ont. - The Western Mustangs improved to 7-1 with a pair of lopsided wins over Queen's on Sunday afternoon.

In Game 1, Paul Lytwanec earned the victory in an 11-1 win over the Gaels. William Cook earned the win in Game 2, a 9-1 Mustangs victory.

The Mustangs have won their past five games including two Friday night wins over Laurier (6-3 in Game 1, 2-0 in Game 2).

With only six games remaining in the regular season, the Mustangs travel to Toronto for a Saturday double-header. Western then hosts Brock on Sunday afternoon in a double-header and closes with Guelph on Oct. 2, also in the double-header.

---

Men's Rugby: Andrew Crow collects trio of tries as Western wins in home opener
Sept. 19: Western 38 Laurier 10
By Andy Watson

 

Where are they Now?
Tim Ruffilli - Rugby

LONDON, Ont. - Andrew Crow scored three tries in front of over 300 fans at the UWO Rugby Field on Sunday afternoon, leading Western to a 38-10 win over the the Laurier Golden Hawks.
Cody Thistle added 10 points on a pair of tries, while Jesse Kliman collected one try in the win. Tom Bridger added four converts.
After both teams spent the opening 10 minutes to settle, Western (2-0) looked to be the stronger team both fundamentally and physically for the remaining 80 minutes.
The Mustangs opened up a 14-0 lead on a pair of converted tries, and then seconds before the opening half expired, Western extended the lead to 21-0 and looked comfortably in control.
In the second frame, Western benefited from an early Laurier turnover, as Crow pushed the ball over the touch line to stretch the lead to 28-0 on another converted try. Western used it's physical advantage and excellent push from locks and props to create opportunities.
Midway through the second half, the physicality of the game picked up with high tackles, late exchanges behind the play and hard hitting.
Laurier seemed to benefit from the change in style.
"We got sucked into something that was not in our game-plan," said Steve Thomas, Western's first-year head coach. "It started as a very fast-tempo game. The change in style slowed the game down. We got distracted and they scored on a couple of plays catching us off."
The Golden Hawks scored their first points of the game, catching Western focused on retribution at the physical end.
"We have still got some issues with confidence in each other and in chemistry," Thomas said.
But Crow scored his third try of the game to calm his team down, converting on great field position off a Laurier defensive miscue.
Eric Santos added the other Laurier try ending a nice run off a Western turnover at midfield, stretching the Mustangs defence and capitalizing on a missed Western tackle early in a series of stretch passes toward the wing.
Western showed sure tackling in the closing minutes, including a bone-crushing Rory Tomlinson hit on James Stewart which drew a chorus of "ooohs" from the crowd.
Cody Thistle and Tomlinson both showed great defence in the match for the host Mustangs.
"Generally it was a solid performance today," Thomas said. "Our forwards played well, our defence was good. And it was a better performance than the other night (a 19-0 road win over Guelph)."
Next the Mustangs visit Queen's in Kingston, Ont., on Saturday Sept. 25 in a battle of undefeated teams.

---

Football: Bull catches two TDs in win over Windsor
Sept. 18: Western 30 Windsor 15
By Andy Watson

 

Where are they Now:
Mike Hegarty, Kody Campbell, Joe Greenwood, John Murray

WINDSOR, Ont. - It wasn't pretty, or perhaps as one-sided as many would have predicted, but the No. 5 Western Mustangs improved to 3-1 with a 30-15 win over the Windsor Lancers (1-3) at the University of Windsor Stadium on Saturday night in front of 2,500 fans.
Zach Bull of Port Colborne, Ont., pulled in two Donnie Marshall throws for touchdowns to lead Western in scoring. He had six catches 122 yards. The other Mustangs touchdown came from Jerimy Hipperson, while Lirim Hajrullahu added a pair of field goals.
"It was good to get points on the board when we did," Bull said. "But we need to execute better on offence. We need to shut down the other team on defence. Penalties were a major factor. We need to play more disciplined football."
Donnie Marshall of London, Ont., threw 13-for-26 for 180 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, along with 15 carries for 158 yards and one fumble. Craig Butler of London had a pair of interceptions and three solo tackles on defence, while Brent Wheeler had 2.5 sacks.
Rookie Austin Kennedy of Windsor threw 19-for-38 for 266 yards along with two interceptions and two touchdowns along with 12 carries for 88 yards.
Perhaps the most notable stat - other than the fact that both teams were led in rushing by quarterbacks - were the penalty yards. Western had 16 penalties for 185 yards, and overall, the game had 275 yards off the flags.
Western head coach Greg Marshall was stoic after the win, but the dressing room atmosphere carried that of a team that had lost a big game.
"If anything, this was a wakeup call for us," coach Marshall said. "We really need to be mentally tougher. We needed to be better tonight."
Hipperson, a junior running back out of St. Catharine's, Ont., opened the scoring on a 12-yard off-tackle run to score with 2:52 left in the opening quarter.
He benefited from a huge hole created by right guard Eric Armitage and right tackle Brendan Dunn.
The Mustangs led 7-0 after the opening quarter.
Bull pulled in his first touchdown, a 34-yard catch with 6:50 left in the opening half. As Marshall threw the ball, he was hammered on a late hit. Hajrullahu booted a rouge getting great field position on the ensuing kickoff - from Windsor's 50 yard line - to extend the lead to 15-0.
A 46-yard punt from Windsor's kicker Robert Eeuwes gave the Lancers their first points of the game on a rouge, making it 15-1.
Bull ran up a middle-seam to get open, splitting the secondary and Marshall found his outstretched arms for a 62-yard bullet with 38 seconds left in the first half to make it 22-1.
"I was running a stop-and-go route, we tried to get the corner to bite and Donnie just threw it right to the spot," Bull said.
In the third, a 25-yard Hajrullahu field goal just over five minutes in increased the lead to 25-1 for Western.
Windsor conceded a safety later in the third quarter to extend the Mustangs cushion to 27-1, after the Lancers were pinned deep in their own territory.
Rookie quarterback Austin Kennedy hit Windsor teammate Cory Fernandes for a 45-yard touchdown on the last play of the third quarter as Windsor trailed 27-9 after a two-point conversion.
With 10:01 left, Hajrullahu booted his second field goal of the game from 16 yards out, making it 30-9 for Western.
Sophomore Jamal Darius added a late Windsor touchdown on a Kennedy pass from two yards out to cut the lead to 30-15.
Western travels to face Guelph on Sept. 25 at 1 p.m. and the game will air live on The Score.
NOTES: Conor Elliott left the game on the first play after making a tackle and remained on the sidelines...
 

---