The third and final game of the Mid Plains League postseason series between the Junction City Brigade and the Midwest A’s that was scheduled Tuesday night in Belton, Missouri was rained out.
The series is tied 1-1. The teams will play one more game. The teams are now scheduled to play at 7 p.m. Wednesday evening in Belton.
The Junction City Brigade lost to the Midwest A’s 6-1 in game two of their Mid Plains League postseason best two out of three playoff series in Belton, Missouri.
The series is tied at one game apiece. The teams play the deciding game three tonight at 7 in Belton.
Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby would prefer to have every conference playing nine league games, but he says even that wouldn’t be enough to make all things equal.
The number of conference games is one of the points of discussion related to the Power Five leagues qualifying for the four-team College Football Playoff. The Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast have eight-game conference schedules, while the Big 12, the Pac-12 and Big Ten play nine.
But the 10-team Big 12 is the only conference with a round-robin league schedule.
Bowlsby said as media days opened Monday in the Dallas area that a “level playing field” isn’t possible “because in a league with 14 or 15 members, even if you’re going to nine you’re going to have a bunch you don’t play.”
The Big 12 boss also said he doesn’t think it’s realistic to dictate to conferences how many league games each should play.
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Rising junior Pierson McAtee, along with former Wildcats Kade Kinnamon and Mason Schoen, were honored for their excellence in the classroom on Monday, as the trio was selected to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court for the 2017-18 season.
It was the second career Honors Court honor for Schoen, while Kinnamon and McAtee were named to the list for the first time in their respective careers. The three selections tied Texas Tech for the most of any Big 12 school.
The trio was among just nine Big 12 student-athletes to earn the honor, joining Kansas’ Clay Young, Texas’ Ryan McClurg, Texas Tech’s Justin Gray, Norense Odiase and Andrew Sorrells and West Virginia’s Jevon Carter.
To be eligible for the Honors Court, a student-athlete must be either a junior or senior academically and must boast a cumulative grade point average of 3.2 or higher at the conclusion of the 2017-18 academic year.
The honor was yet another for Kinnamon, McAtee and Schoen, who were each named to the Academic All-Big 12 First Team this past season. The three First Team selections were the second-highest total in school history.
The team’s lone senior in 2017-18, Schoen was named to every Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll in his career and will start work as a graduate assistant at Clemson this Fall. Kinnamon played in 19 career games in three seasons before giving up his final season of eligibility in 2018-19 to concentrate on the student teaching portion of his degree. McAtee, a rising junior who played in 10 games this past season, was the winner of the team’s Keith Amerson Academic Award and has been named to each of the last five Commissioner’s Honor Rolls.
The honors added to another outstanding academic year for the Wildcats, which saw four players (Kinnamon, McAtee, Schoen and Xavier Sneed) named to the Academic All-Big 12 team. Eight student-athletes were each named to the Fall 2017 and Spring 2018 Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Rolls, raising the number of recipients to 91 under head coach Bruce Weber. Freshman Mike McGuirl, who was named to both the Fall 2017 and Spring 2018 Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll, was also selected to the Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team.
TOM GILBERT
Director for Men’s Basketball Communications | K-State Athletics
The Junction City Brigade rode their hitting to a first round Mid Plains League playoff opening win over the Midwest A’s by a 10-5 margin at Rathert Field Sunday night.
Brigade Head Coach Derek Francis said, “Our bats have come alive here toward the end of the season, after the All Star break really. I think those four or five days off really helped us offensively because since then we’re been really hot with the bats.”
In the win over the Midwest A’s ( 20-10 ) the Brigade got big triple in the fourth inning from Blake Burrows that scored three runs. Drew Rapp pitched five innings to get the pitching victory for Junction City ( 23-7 ).
The two teams play again Monday night at 7 p.m. in Belton, Missouri. This is a best two out of three game series, so if there is a third game it will be Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. in Belton.
CHICAGO (AP) — Although the White Sox head into the All-Star break with nearly twice as many losses as wins, the players remain optimistic.
Sunday certainly provided a reason for hope.
Daniel Palka and Yoan Moncada homered, and Lucas Giolito tossed two-hit ball into the seventh inning, lifting Chicago to a 10-1 victory over the struggling Kansas City Royals.
Moncada was 3 for 3 with a walk and three runs scored a day after leaving a game with a bruised right knee. Palka also had three hits and two RBIs while Tim Anderson and Kevan Smith each hit a two-run double as Chicago pounded out 13 hits.
The rebuilding White Sox had dropped seven of nine before Sunday and are 33-62 overall.
“It wasn’t a very good first half in wins and losses, but I think that’s part of the process,” Moncada said. “We’re all trying to do our best. We improved during the first half, and I think in the second half we’ll be much better.”
Adalberto Mondesi homered leading off the eighth for the Royals, who are 2-11 in July.
“Losing (stinks), and we’ve lost a lot,” second baseman Whit Merrifield said. “It hasn’t been fun as far as all that goes. We got four days off. Hopefully, we can regroup and everyone can kind of step back and reset.”
Kansas City decided to go with a bullpen day instead of a regular starting pitcher. The relievers were no match for Giolito (6-8). The right-hander allowed just two hits in 6 1/3 innings, striking out six and walking three.
“Today was one of those days where we put it all together,” Giolito said. “I’m looking forward to more of those.”
After Giolito worked out of his only jam in the top of the first with an assist from the defense — Jorge Bonifacio was thrown out trying to score from second on a single to left with one out — Palka’s two-run blast off starter Burch Smith (0-1) gave the White Sox a 2-0 lead.
“I’m not really feeling my best in the first and then an unreal play,” Giolito said of the play at the plate. “It gets me fired up. It’s like, ‘Alright, no one’s crossing the plate this inning.'”
The lead grew to 4-0 in the third as Jose Abreu scored on a wild pitch and Leury Garcia followed with an RBI single against left-hander Brian Flynn. Chicago then broke the game open with a five-run fifth against left-hander Enny Romero. Moncada, who was hit in the knee by a pick-off throw on Saturday, started things with a lead-off homer. It was his 12th of the season and first right-handed. Anderson and Smith each had a two-run double to make it 9-0.
Moncada doubled and scored in the sixth to make 10-0 before Mondesi’s homer off Jeanmar Gomez broke the shutout.
“It was one of those days,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said. “We didn’t pitch good.”
The Junction City Brigade improved to 22-7 on the season with a 9-7 win over Baldwin City Thursday evening in Baldwin City.
After an 0-5 start to the season, the Brigade have gone 22-2.
A huge fireworks display capped off a successful Wednesday evening for the Junction City Brigade at Rathert Stadium.
The Midwest A’s ( 19-9 ) jumped on top of the Brigade early 3-0 in the first inning but led by a Tim Bell home run in the third inning the Brigade battled back to claim a 6-3 win, salting away the victory with two runs in the bottom of the 8th inning.
Junction City ( 21-7 ) will play at Baldwin City tonight.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Brian Dozier hit a two-run home run, going deep for the second straight game to give the Minnesota Twins a boost on their way to an 8-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday.
Lance Lynn (7-7) recovered from a three-run homer by Salvador Perez in the first inning to win his second straight start for the Twins, who used the bottom third of their lineup to launch rallies in the second and the fourth against Royals starter Burch Smith (0-1).
Max Kepler, Jake Cave and Bobby Wilson went 6 for 11 with five runs scored. Wilson, whose batting average fell to .114 last week, had two RBIs and was one of three Twins with three hits, joining Dozier and Joe Mauer. Wilson, the backup catcher, is now hitting .169.
Mike Moustakas homered twice for the Royals, who have the fewest home runs in MLB, but took the Twins deep five times over the last two games of this series. Kansas City has lost 23 of its past 27 games.
Dozier sent his 15th homer of the season into the second deck above left field in the sixth inning against reliever Enny Romero. Logan Morrison hit a solo shot one out later, padding Minnesota’s lead.
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State offensive lineman Dalton Risner and defensive back Kendall Adams have been named to the Preseason All-Big 12 team as chosen by media representatives who cover the league, the conference office announced Wednesday.
It is the second-straight year that Risner, a Preseason All-American by numerous publications, has been named to the Preseason All-Big 12 team, while Adams is a first-time honoree.
A product of Wiggins, Colorado, Risner enters his senior year coming off First Team All-America accolades in 2017 from Pro Football Focus (PFF), while he earned second-team honors from CBSSports.com. Risner started all 12 regular-season games at right tackle and graded out at a 98.9 mark on pass blocking efficiency to tie for the fourth highest among FBS tackles, according to PFF. Additionally, he allowed only three quarterback pressures according to PFF, the fewest among 2018 draft-eligible tackles.
A First Team All-Big 12 pick by the league’s coaches for a second-straight year, Risner led the Wildcats to a tie for third place in school history in rushing yards per carry (4.98), while they finished seventh in program history with 2,584 total rushing yards.
Risner, who earned 2017 First Team Academic All-Big 12 honors, was named the 2017-18 Big 12 Male Sportsperson of the Year among all conference-sponsored sports due to his caring side away from the football field.
Adams, who has started 28 career games entering his senior year, started 10 contests in 2017 before an injury cut his campaign short. Despite the setback, Adams still finished fourth on the team in tackles with 63 stops, while he carded three picks on the year to rank fifth in the Big 12 in interceptions per game (0.3).
Perhaps Adams’ best game of the year came against Charlotte when he returned an interception 30 yards for a touchdown and a fumble 46 yards for another score en route to Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week honors. The Fort Worth, Texas, native became the first Wildcat with both a pick-six and a fumble recovery score in the game same since in Dyshod Carter against Missouri in 1999, while he was just the third Big 12 player to accomplish the feat (Texas Tech’s Paul McClendon vs. North Texas in 2001).
Kansas State travels to The Star in Frisco, Texas, to participate in 2018 Big 12 Football Media Day next Tuesday. Live coverage of media day will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., on FS2 and various FSN regional affiliates.
Fans can also follow Big 12 Media Day on K-State’s various digital media outlets – www.k-statesports.com, Twitter (@KStateFB and @KStateSports), Facebook (@KStateSports) and Instagram (@KStateFB and @KStateSports).
Kansas State University, the nation’s first operational land-grant institution and a Carnegie Foundation Tier One university, is recognized as one of the nation’s best colleges with world-class research and academic excellence located in America’s No. 1 College Town (Manhattan, KS).
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RYAN LACKEY
Director of Football and Golf Communications | K-State Athletics
