The Junction City Blue Jay baseball team is 6-0 on the season.
According to the Blue Jay Athletics Twitter feed, Junction City defeated Hayden 9-2 and 7-4 in a doubleheader Wednesday in Topeka.
Junction City will host Topeka High in a doubleheader Friday beginning at 4 p.m. at Rathert Field.
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State head coach Bruce Weber announced the signing of junior college All-American forward Austin Trice (Chicago, Ill./Wabash Valley College) to a National Letter of Intent on Wednesday.
A 6-foot-7, 230-pound forward, Trice joins the Wildcats after a one-year stint at Wabash Valley College in Mount Carmel, Ill., where he helped the Warriors post a 21-10 overall record as a sophomore in 2017-18. He transferred to Wabash Valley after starting his college career at Moberly Area Community College in 2016-17.
Trice, who ranked fourth nationally among junior college players in rebounding at 12.1 per game this past season, was recently named as one of 30 players to the NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association) All-America Team, earning recognition to the organization’s Third Team. He also rates among the top junior college players in the country by a number of recruiting services, including No. 5 by 247Sports.
“Austin is a great addition and we are excited to welcome him, his parents, Wayne and Regina, and their family to our program,” said Weber. “Obviously, our biggest need this season was rebounding and our focus this recruiting period has been finding an elite rebounder who fits in the framework of our team. We feel like we have found that player in Austin, who was one of best rebounders in all of the junior college ranks.”
Coached by Mike Carpenter at Wabash Valley College in Mount Carmel, Ill., Trice ranked among the Top 10 in four rebounding categories in the community college ranks, including third in total rebounds (362), fourth in average (12.1 rpg.), fifth in defensive rebounds (233) and sixth in offensive rebounds (129). He was responsible for nearly a third of the Warriors’ rebounds (362 of 1,336), while he was the team leader in both offensive and defensive rebounds by more than double. He posted double-doubles in 18 of his 30 games played, which included 10 games of 15 or more rebounds and a season-high 21 rebounds in a 113-94 win over West Kentucky Tech on Nov. 10.
“Austin’s No. 1 asset is that he has a great motor,” said Weber. “He has the athleticism to not only get up and down the court and be a terrific defender in transition, but also can guard multiple positions. We feel that he is a great fit for our team and we are really excited to get him to campus.”
Trice averaged a double-double for the season for Wabash Valley, as he ranked second on the team in scoring at 12.6 points on 55.3 percent shooting (161-of-291) to go with 12.1 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 0.9 steals per game. He ranked first or second among all players in 10 statistical categories, including team bests in every rebounding category (overall, offense and defense), double-doubles and blocked shots. In helping the Warriors to a third-place finish in the Great Rivers Athletic Conference with a 13-5 mark, he averaged 13.5 points on 57.7 percent shooting (101-of-175) to go with 11.9 rebounds per game.
Although known for his rebounding ability, Trice was still an effective scorer, registering double figures in 22 of 30 games played, which included a season-high 30-point performance on 15-of-20 field goals in a 92-91 loss at Lake Land College on Nov. 29 and three other outings with 20 or more points.
Trice started his college career in 2016-17 at Moberly Area Community College in Moberly, Mo., playing for head coach Pat Smith. He saw action in 25 games with one start for the Greyhounds, which posted a 27-5 overall record, including an 8-1 mark in conference play, and advanced to Region 16 Tournament Championship game. He averaged 4.8 points on 55.3 percent shooting (42-of-76) with 4.0 rebounds per game as a freshman.
Trice spent three years at Morgan Park High School in his hometown of Chicago before transferring to Hales Franciscan as a senior in 2015-16. In his lone season, he helped the Spartans and head coach Gary London to a 20-14 overall record and a fourth-place finish at the Illinois High School Athletic Association (IHSA) Class 2A State Tournament. He averaged 14.5 points on 50 percent shooting with 11.0 rebounds in the Spartans’ two games at the finals of the state tournament, including a 17-point, 11-rebound effort in the third-place game. For the season, he averaged 12.1 points and 8.8 rebounds per game as a senior.
Trice is the second member of the 2017-18 signing class, joining high school standout Shaun Williams (St. Louis, Mo./Hazelwood Central) who signed with the Wildcats during the Fall Signing Period on Nov. 8.
A 6-foot-3, 170-pound point guard, Williams helped Hazelwood Central to a 27-3 record during his senior season in 2017-18, where the Hawks lost to prep power Chaminade in the Class 5 quarterfinals. He averaged 16.7 points on 46.3 percent shooting (156-of-337), including 36.2 percent (38-of-105) from 3-point range, to go with 5.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.2 steals per game. A high school teammate of current Wildcat Xavier Sneed, Williams was named the Suburban XII North Conference Player of the Year and was named First Team Class 5 All-State selection by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association for the second consecutive season.
TOM GILBERT
Associate Director for Athletics Communications | K-State Athletics
MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State Football’s Spring Game will be among the first events streamed on a newly launched AppleTV app released by K-State Athletics along with digital media partner SIDEARM Sports, further expanding the Wildcats’ digital reach.
K-StateHD.TV, which was available for download in the AppleTV app store last week and carried Saturday’s conference baseball game against Oklahoma State, joins a similarly named Roku app designed to deliver live and on-demand K-StateHD.TV content for free to Wildcat fans’ televisions via the popular over-the-top (OTT) devices or integrated into newer smart TVs. In addition to AppleTV and Roku, the Spring Game will also be streamed live via the K-StateHD.TV video portal at K-StateSports.com and through the K-StateSports Facebook feed.
“We set out to provide maximum exposure for our student-athletes and teams while providing the best possible digital fan experience and the release of our AppleTV app expands our streaming footprint even more,” Kenny Lannou, K-State Senior Associate AD for Communications/Public Relations, said. “Obviously we want people to experience the great things we have going on in our venues by purchasing tickets and attending games, but we also want people to be able to engage with K-State Athletics and be able to follow our teams from afar and on a multitude of devices.”
K-State and SIDEARM Sports released the K-StateHD.TV app on Roku – a platform with an estimated 30 million active monthly users – in November and Wildcat fans have consumed more than 186,000 minutes of content on the platform. AppleTV was predicted to have as many as 21.3 million users last year according to a study by eMarketer, with fourth generation or later models allowing access to the App Store and download of the K-StateSports app.
Roku retails for as low as $29.99 or exists as a service integrated into newer smart TVs. Fourth-generation AppleTVs are available in several different options with the most inexpensive retailing for as low as $149.99. AppleTV features a number of integrations that make it appealing for fans with existing Apple products, like AirPlay, which fans may have used to connect smart phones or laptops to their television prior to the launch of the app.
Inside both set-top-box apps, users will find the same great live third-tier content and shoulder programming – including coaches shows, highlights, student-athlete profiles and game replays – they’ve grown to expect from the K-StateHD.TV subscription product, which was made free to all at the start of the 2017-18 school year when K-State became SIDEARM’s 1,000th partner. That programming will continue to be offered simultaneously through the department’s official athletics website.
In addition to third-tier live video streams – games K-State has exclusive rights to distribute outside of Big 12 Conference agreements, generally one non-conference football game which will be aired on ESPN3, a handful of men’s and women’s basketball contests and other non-selected Olympic sports – the AppleTV and Roku apps carry all K-State Radio Network audio feeds.
First and second tier video content remains subject to Big 12 Conference agreements and distribution through traditional over the air TV like ESPN and Fox Sports and their associated OTT products (ESPN3 and FoxSportsGo).
Game-by-game broadcast information can be found on the schedule pages at K-StateSports.com, in each team’s game notes or in preview stories posted in advance of each contest.
The Wildcats are the first SIDEARM property to launch an AppleTV app, and were among the first five SIDEARM schools with a Roku app.
RYAN LACKEY
Asst. Director/Athletics Communications | K-State Athletics
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Five Kansas State players who recently completed their football careers – Brogan Barry, Trent Tanking, Dayton Valentine, Glenn Williams and Tanner Wood – were named members of the 2018 National Football Foundation (NFF) Hampshire Honor Society, the NFF announced Wednesday.
The five Wildcats named to the list were the most in the Big 12 and were among an all-time high of 1,251 players from all NCAA divisions and the NAIA to earn the honor.
The Hampshire Honor Society, which began in 2007, recognizes college football players from all divisions who maintained a cumulative 3.2 GPA or better throughout their college career. The five Wildcats named to this year’s society tied the school record originally set in 2015, while it is the fourth-straight year K-State has had at least four players named to the list.
Tanking, an industrial engineering major, was a semifinalist for the prestigious William V. Campbell Trophy, also presented by the NFF, which is often referred to as the “Academic Heisman.” The Holton, Kansas, product played in 47 career games, including starting all 13 games at linebacker in 2017. He finished second on the team in tackles with 97 en route to Honorable Mention All-Big 12 honors. He was a three-time First Team Academic All-Big 12 honoree.
Valentine, who earned three-straight First Team Academic All-Big 12 honors, concluded his career after his junior season of 2017 as he played in 35 games with 27 starts at tight end. The Baldwin, Kansas, native was a major part of the Wildcats’ run-blocking unit, so much so that he earned Honorable Mention All-Big 12 honors in 2016 despite only hauling in two catches that season.
A product of Conway Springs, Kansas, Wood played in 52 career games with starts in all 13 games as a senior. He was a three-time First Team Academic All-Big 12 performer who came away with 105 career tackles and 6.0 career sacks.
Barry, who picked up two First Team Academic All-Big 12 citations during his career, saw action in 32 games, while Williams played in K-State’s victory over UCLA in the 2017 Cactus Bowl.
Midway through spring practices, Kansas State will hold its annual Purple/White Spring Game on Saturday, April 21, at 1:10 p.m., inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Tickets for the game are on sale for $5 through the K-State Athletics Ticket office online at www.k-statesports.com/tickets, by phone at 1-800-221-CATS or at the main ticket office inside Bramlage Coliseum. The game will be shown world-wide on K-StateHD.TV and can be heard across the K-State Sports Network.
K-State opens the 2018 campaign on Saturday, September 1, with the 10th-annual K-State Family Reunion against South Dakota. The Wildcats then welcome SEC foe Mississippi State on Sept. 8, followed by a date with UTSA on Sept. 15, before opening Big 12 play at West Virginia on Sept. 22. The priority deadline for season-ticket purchases is Friday, April 20.
RYAN LACKEY
Asst. Director/Athletics Communications | K-State Athletics
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Felix Hernandez pitched into the sixth inning, Guillermo Heredia homered and the Seattle Mariners bounced back from a blowout loss to Kansas City with an 8-3 rout of the Royals. Hernandez was shelled his last time out in San Francisco, but allowed three runs, six hits and a walk in 5 2/3 innings against Kansas City.
The Junction City Lady Jay soccer team lost to Hays 5-1 Monday night at Al Simpler Stadium.
Junction City is 4-3 on the season.
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder announced today the names of 15 players who have been voted by their peers to serve as player representatives for the 2018 season.
The list includes Kendall Adams, Kyle Ball, Alex Barnes, Alex Delton, Trey Dishon, Denzel Goolsby, Dalton Harman, Adam Holtorf, Colby Moore, Zach Reuter, Dalton Risner, Dalton Schoen, Skylar Thompson, David Tullis and Reggie Walker.
Risner, a two-time team captain, is serving as a player representative for a third-straight year. Adams is serving a second term as a player rep, while the remaining 13 players were voted for the first time.
The role of these leaders will be to promote those traits which they each possess: unselfishness, team concepts, unity, strong work habits, great attitude and a strong commitment toward achieving success through the team’s 16 goals.
“This new class of Player Reps – selected by their teammates to serve as team leaders within their position groups and the entire team – contains young men who have proven to possess a quality and caring value system and a strong desire to help their teammates achieve success,” Snyder said. “We’re counting on each of them to exhibit a true and total commitment to the principles of their program and be strong enough to hold themselves and their teammates responsible and accountable to those principles. I have a great appreciation for their desire to do so.”
K-State is in the midst of its 14 spring practices prior to the Purple/White Spring Game, which will be held on Saturday, April 21, beginning at 1:10 p.m., in Bill Snyder Family Stadium. K-State’s team captains will be announced prior to the start of the spring game.
Tickets for the spring game can be purchased for only $5 through the K-State Athletics Ticket office online at www.k-statesports.com/tickets, by phone at 1-800-221-CATS or at the main ticket office inside Bramlage Coliseum.
Following the program’s eighth-straight bowl berth and sixth eight-win season in the last seven years, season tickets for the 2018 season are on sale now. Season tickets start as low as $199 for the seven-game home slate that features a non-conference matchup against SEC foe Mississippi State (Sept. 8) and Big 12 opponents Texas, Oklahoma State, Kansas and Texas Tech. The priority deadline for season tickets is Friday, April 20.
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
Asst. Director/Athletics Communications | K-State Athletics
CLEVELAND (AP) — Yan Gomes hit a tiebreaking two-run homer off Brandon Maurer in the ninth inning, lifting the Cleveland Indians to a 3-1 win over the Kansas City Royals in the coldest game in Progressive Field history.
Gomes drove a 3-2 pitch barely over the 19-foot wall in left field, ending another tough day for Cleveland’s offense on a high note. Gomes was mobbed by his teammates at home plate after just the fourth hit of the day for the Indians.
Lucas Duda (DOO’-duh) hit a seventh-inning homer and Ian Kennedy tossed six scoreless frames as the Royals blanked the Indians, 1-0.
Kennedy allowed four hits and struck out eight to help Kansas City win with a three-hit attack.
The Royals evened the series with Cleveland at 1-1.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Michael Brantley singled home two runs in his first at-bat this season, leading the Cleveland Indians to a 3-2 win in their home opener over the Kansas City Royals. Brantley was activated from the disabled list before the game after missing the first six games following ankle surgery. Carlos Carrasco worked six innings for the win.
