The Junction City Brigade have clinched the Cowdin Cup championship in the Mid Plains League for a second consecutive year. The Brigade defeated the Midwest A’s 5-2 Saturday night in Belton, Missouri to win the league title.

Jack Christian pitched a complete nine-inning game for Junction City. He threw 142 ptiches in the process. Blaze Brothers went 3-4 at the plate with a double, home run, a single and a walk for the Brigade.

Head Coach Derek Francis said when your starter can go nine innings it make the job as a coach easy. “His pitch count got up there. There’s no doubt about that. I told him I was taking him out after the 8th, but then he said no I want the baseball. ” Francis described Christian as a competitor and workhorse. ” He got us to the 9th so it was his ballgame and we were going to win it with him or lose it with him, that’s kind of what it came down to. He did what he did for 8 innings there in the 9th and got us here to the promised land.”

On Brothers performance Francis noted that it began from the beginning of the game. Hitting in the lead off spot he hit a double followed by a home run by Carson Sader. In his second at-bat Brothers hit a home run. “A kid that’s got all the talent in the world both defensively and offensively, he can really really run on the bases.”

It is the fourth time the Junction City Brigade have won the Mid Plains League championship,

 

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jose Ramirez homered for the second consecutive game, a three-run shot that sent rookie Zach Plesac and the Cleveland Indians past the Kansas City Royals 8-3 on Friday night.

Francisco Lindor had three hits, including an RBI triple, as the Indians stayed two games behind first-place Minnesota in the AL Central. Cleveland has won three straight and nine of 11, improving to 16-4 in July.

Ramirez’s drive in the sixth inning made it 5-1. The switch-hitting slugger, busting out of a season-long slump lately, launched a tiebreaking homer in the 14th inning of Cleveland’s 5-4 win over the Royals on Thursday night. He has seven home runs and 21 RBIs this month, and the Indians are 30-3 when Ramirez drives in a run.

Tyler Naquin also had three hits and an RBI.

Plesac (5-3) gave up just an unearned run and six hits in seven strong innings. He made a great defensive play in the sixth when he went into a headlong dive to snare a foul popup near the Kansas City dugout.

Jakob Junis (6-9) gave up six runs and 10 hits in six-plus innings after coming off the paternity list.

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Thanks to the generosity and passion of Wildcat Nation, K-State Athletics recorded the second-best giving year ever to the Ahearn Fund as fans and donors continue to provide world-class support for all Wildcat programs.

 

K-State fans and donors contributed $44.4 million in total giving in FY 2019, which is the second-largest figure in department history and marks only the second time ever eclipse the $40 million mark, while $18.3 million was designated for the department’s annual fund.

 

Capital gifts have allowed the Tointon Family Stadium renovation and Buser Family Park construction to become a reality as both projects will be completed by December of 2019. These projects are being funded entirely through private, philanthropic support, along with K-State Athletics, Inc. revenue. When complete, these projects will bring the total number of facility enhancements to over $255 million since 2010.

 

In addition, it was announced earlier this summer that Athletics hit its desired goal of $340 million for the KSU Foundation’s Innovation and Inspiration campaign, a $1.4 billion university-wide effort that began in 2010 and runs through June 30, 2020. The $340 million total was the largest among all University units and entities contributing to the campaign.

 

– k-statesports.com –

 

KENNY LANNOU
Executive Associate A.D. for Communications and Public Relations | K-State Athletics

 

 

Kansas State will meet the Alabama Crimson Tide in men’s basketball on Saturday, January 25, 2020 at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Alabama as part of the seventh annual Big 12 / SEC Challenge. ESPN and the two conferences made the announcement on Thursday.

The game will be one of ten contested between the two conference on that day.

Big 12 / SEC Challenge

Tennessee at Kansas

Kentucky at Texas Tech

Mississippi State at Oklahoma

LSU at Texas

Missouri at West Virginia

Baylor at Florida

Iowa State at Auburn

Kansas State at Alabama

TCU at Arkansas

Oklahoma State at Texas A&M

 

MANHATTAN, Kan. – One of the most accurate kickers in the nation in 2018, Kansas State junior Blake Lynch was one of 30 place kickers in the nation to be named to the watch list for the 2019 Lou Groza Award, the Palm Beach County Sports Commission announced Wednesday.

It marks the 11^th time in school history a Wildcat has been up for the award, including the fourth time in the last six seasons. Most notably, Martin Gramatica won the award in 1997, while Joe Rheem (2004), Anthony Cantele (2012) and Matthew McCrane (2017) were semifinalists.

A native of Goddard, Kansas, Lynch connected on 14-of-16 field goals and 19-of-20 extra-point attempts last season. He led the Big 12 and ranked 14^th nationally in field goals per game (1.56), while his percentage mark of 87.5 was third in the conference, 12^th nationally and third in K-State history.

RYAN LACKEY
Director of Football and Golf Communications | K-State Athletics

ATLANTA (AP) — Having a hometown cheering section gave Brad Keller a boost.

Facing his hometown team may have done even more for Keller’s adrenaline.

Keller thrived in his Georgia homecoming, allowing only four hits in seven innings while adding a second-inning single for his first career RBI, and the Kansas City Royals beat Julio Teheran and the Atlanta Braves 2-0 on Wednesday night.

Keller (7-9), a 2013 graduate of Flowery Branch High School north of Atlanta, won his fourth straight decision.

“That was a blast to be able to come out here and pitch in front of my home team, I guess,” Keller said. “It was a lot of fun and a ton of adrenaline was going, especially in the first.”

Keller had been 2-6 with a 4.81 ERA in 13 road starts this season. There were no signs of those road struggles as he did not allow a baserunner to reach second base.

The big, hard-throwing Keller (6-5, 230) ended the fourth by striking out Brian McCann on a 98 mph fastball. He ended the sixth by striking out Freddie Freeman with a fastball clocked at 97 mph.

“He looked like a kid who grew up bailing hay,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said of Keller. “A big, strong guy. He was pounding his fastball. We didn’t do anything with him.”

The Royals swept the two-game series, leaving the Braves 4-4 against the American League this season. Atlanta hasn’t had a winning record in interleague play since posting an 11-9 mark in 2013.

The Braves began the day 5 ½ games ahead of second-place Washington in the NL East. The Royals have won nine of 12.

An error by Freeman at first base contributed to Kansas City’s two-run second inning. Jorge Soler, who walked, advanced to third on Bubba Starling’s double. Nicky Lopez hit a sharp grounder to third baseman Josh Donaldson, who tagged Soler as he attempted to return to the base.

With two outs, Meibrys Viloria’s bad-hop grounder bounced past Freeman for an error, allowing Starling to score. Keller’s single up the middle pushed the lead to 2-0. It was his second career hit and first RBI.

After the hit, he said he told Freeman at first base it was all luck.

“He said, ‘Was it that easy?’ ” Keller said. “I said, ‘No, that was all luck.’ Close your eyes and swing hard in case you get it.”

Through two innings, Teheran had thrown 52 pitches. Keller’s count was only 19. Teheran (5-7) was more efficient the remainder of his night as he allowed four hits with two runs, none earned, in six innings.

Teheran was helped by Ender Inciarte’s catch of Alex Gordon’s drive at the center field wall in the third.

Ian Kennedy pitched a perfect ninth for his 19th save.

The Junction City Brigade got a three-run triple from Tyler Halstead in the sixth inning to break open a 5-5 tie, and moved on to an 8-5 victory over the Kansas City Knights Wednesday evening at Rathert Field.

The win came in the deciding game of the semifinal round playoff series and propels Junction City into the championship finals against the Midwest A’s. The first game of that best two out of three series will be at Rathert Field Friday night at 7 p.m.

Halstead, a Riley, Kansas product,  said on his big hit he was aware that he had to “stay back on the breaking ball. It was a good throwing lefty and I just stayed back, reacted to the pitch and drove it into right-center.” Kansas City put two runners on base with two out in the top of the ninth inning, but Brigade pitcher Nick Swanson got the final out when he struck out Brian Hawkins to end the game.

In the other Mid Plains League playoff semifinal contest the Midwest A’s won the deciding game when they defeated the Topeka Golden Giants 15-5 Tuesday night.

 

ATLANTA (AP) — Lucas Duda and the Kansas City Royals have endured a miserable season.

A rare meeting against the Atlanta Braves provided a glimmer of joy.

Duda hit a tie-breaking, pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning and the Royals survived a shaky ninth to beat the first-place Braves 5-4 on Tuesday night.

Alex Gordon also homered for the Royals and drove in two runs. Both starters — Atlanta’s Dallas Keuchel and Kansas City’s Danny Duffy — went six strong innings with double-digit strikeouts but didn’t factor in the decision.

With the game tied at 2, Royals manager Ned Yost needed a pinch-hitter to start the eighth against Anthony Swarzak, who had a sparkling 0.42 ERA since coming to the Braves in May.

Yost considered a pair of options.

“We could pinch-hit one of our leadoff guys, try to get on and steal a base,” Yost said. “Or we could pinch-hit Duda and take a shot at the home run.”

Duda, hitting just .150, got the call.

Boy, did he come through.

Duda drove a 2-2 pitch from Swarzak (0-1) over the wall in right-center for a 435-foot homer. It was the fourth pinch-hit homer of Duda’s career, the most recent one coming last September, when he played for the Braves.

It was Kansas City’s first pinch-hit homer of the season.

“We opted to take a shot at the home run, and dadgum if he didn’t get it,” Yost said. “That was cool.”

The Royals added two more runs in the eighth, taking advantage of three walks and a hit batter. Swarzak faced three batters, didn’t get anyone out and was charged with all three runs, pushing his Atlanta ERA to 1.68.

“That’s the first time since we got him — and we’ve brought him in some tough situations — that he didn’t bring back a zero,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said.

Ian Kennedy gave up three straight singles to start the ninth, including Josh Donaldson’s second RBI of the game, but bounced back for his 18th save.

Ozzie Albies popped out with the potential tying run at third base, and Austin Riley struck out to end the game.

Keuchel allowed just three hits and struck out 12 but left the game trailing 2-1. Duffy was in line to get the win after surrendering one run on five hits with 11 strikeouts, only to have the Braves scratch out a run in the seventh. Freddie Freeman fouled off three straight two-strike, two-out sinkers from side-armer Tim Hill (1-0) before guiding an RBI single up the middle to make it 2-2.

“When you’re facing a guy like (Keuchel), you know you’ve got to be as precise as you can,” Duffy said. “You don’t have a whole lot of leeway.”

After Keuchel retired the first nine Kansas City hitters — six with strikeouts — Whit Merrifield reached base by dropping a bunt single down the third-base line. He came around to score when Gordon followed with a double down the right-field line — ending Keuchel’s streak of 17 straight innings without allowing an earned run to the Royals, going back to April 8, 2017.

In the sixth, Gordon sent a 3-2 fastball over the Chop House restaurant in right-field to put the Royals ahead for the first time. Right fielder Nick Markakis barely moved as the 417-foot drive sailed over his head.

The Junction City Brigade will meet the Kansas City Knights Wednesday evening at Rathert Field for the right to advance to the Mid Plains League Cowdin Cup Championship finals.

The Brigade defeated the Knights 13-1 in seven innings Tuesday night in Eudora, Kansas. That win came on the heels of a 4-1 ten-inning loss to the Knights Monday evening at Rathert Field. One game remains in the best two out of three series.

Junction City head coach Derek Francis felt everything went well offensively for the Brigade in their win Tuesday night. “We started playing a lot better than we had. We got the timely hits that we needed and moved runners when we needed to, took the walks and different things.”

The Brigade and the Knights have played six times this season, and have split those games with each team winning three times.  The contest Wednesday evening is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. The winner will advance to the Cowdin Cup championship finals Friday evening against either the Midwest A’s or the Topeka Golden Giants. Their semifinal round playoff series is also tied at one game apiece.

By DAVE RIGGERT St. Joseph Post

St. Joseph, MO – The Kansas City Chiefs quarterbacks, rookies and injured players reported to Scanlon Hall at Missouri Western Tuesday for their 2019 training camp in St. Joseph. These players will have three practices before the rest of the veteran players report to MWSU Friday and the entire team will officially begin training camp Saturday.

The first three practices are closed to the public so Saturday’s full squad practice will be the first one open to the public. It will begin at 3:30 p.m. and there is a $5 admission fee.

You can listen to the press conference’s from head coach Andy Reid, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and wide receiver Mecole Hardman below.