PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Jeremy Hellickson threw six sharp innings, Odubel Herrera hit a leadoff homer and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Kansas City Royals 4-3 Friday night for their fourth straight win.

Hellickson (6-6) allowed one run and five hits in six innings, striking out six. He was 0-9 in his previous 15 starts against AL opponents.

Royals starter Ian Kennedy (6-7) gave up three runs in five innings.

Kendrys Morales hit a two-run homer off David Hernandez in the eighth before the right-hander settled down to retire the next three batters. Jeanmar Gomez finished for his 22nd save in 24 tries.

Back home after sweeping the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Phillies snapped a seven-game home losing streak.

MIAMI, Fla. – Former Kansas State player Rodney McGruder was recently named to the 19-man Miami HEAT Summer League roster, which will play in both the Southwest Airlines Orlando Pro Summer League (July 2-8) and the Samsung NBA Summer League in Las Vegas (July 8-18).

 

The HEAT begins summer league play on Saturday (July 2) in Orlando against the L.A. Clippers at 4 p.m. CT in the first of five games in the seven-day event at the Amway Center. The schedule includes matchups with the New York Knicks on Sunday, July 3 at 2 p.m. CT, the Orlando Magic onTuesday, July 5 at noon CT, the Detroit Pistons on Thursday, July 7 at 4 p.m. CT and concludes with a championship day on Friday, July 8. Many of the games can be seen on NBATV.

 

The team will then head to Las Vegas the following week, where they will play a minimum of five games in a tournament-style schedule at the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion, July 8-18. The first game is set for Saturday, July 9 vs. the Dallas Mavericks at 9 p.m. CT followed by matchups with the Denver Nuggets on Monday, July 11 at 7 p.m. CT and the Phoenix Suns onTuesday, July 12 at 5:30 p.m. CT. The teams will have seed play on July 13-15 followed by the quarterfinals on Saturday, July 16, semifinals on Sunday, July 17 and the championship on Monday, July 18.

 

ESPN and NBATV will broadcast all 67-game schedule of the Samsung NBA Summer League from Las Vegas.

 

McGruder will be joined on the squad by current HEAT players Josh Richardson, Briante Weber and draft pick Justise Winslow, along with notable rookies Damion Lee (Louisville), Nic Moore (SMU) and Stefan Jankovic (Hawai’i), and will be coached by HEAT assistant coach Juwan Howard.

 

McGruder played a starring role for the HEAT’s D-League affiliate, the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Skyforce, which set a new D-League record for most wins in a single season (40) en route to capturing their first NBA D-League Championship on April 27. He averaged 15.8 points on 51.3 percent shooting (290-of-565), including 38.4 percent (93-of-242) from 3-point range, with 5.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.4 steals in 37.5 minutes per game in 2015-16.

 

An honorable mention AP All-American as a senior, McGruder led K-State to its first conference title in 36 years in 2013, leading the Wildcats in eight categories, including scoring (15.6 ppg.), double-digit scoring games (29), 20-point games (11), rebounding (5.4 rpg.), starts (35) and minutes (33.5). He is one of only two Wildcats (along with two-time All-American Bob Boozer) to rank in the Top 10 in both career scoring (1,576, seventh) and rebounding (654, seventh). He is part of the winningest senior class in school history (101), while he is one of just four Wildcats to appear in four consecutive NCAA Tournaments (Steve Henson, Jordan Henriquez and Martavious Irving).

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Led by seven players on the defensive side of the ball, 13 Kansas State football players received national recognition from the four major college football preseason publications – Athlon, Lindy’s, Phil Steele and Sporting News – throughout the month of June.

 

In addition to the individual player accolades, Phil Steele ranked K-State special teams units – directed by 2015 National Special Teams Coordinator of the Year Sean Snyder – as the best in the country entering the 2016 season.

 

Senior defensive end Jordan Willis, junior linebacker Elijah Lee and junior defensive tackle Will Geary each earned Preseason All-Big 12 honors from all four publications. Lee and Geary picked up first-team honors from Athlon, Phil Steele and Sporting News in addition to second-team honors from Lindy’s. Lee, who paced the squad in tackles last year, leads a linebacker unit that was ranked as the second-best in the Big 12 by Athlon.

 

Willis was a first-team honoree from Lindy’s, which also selected the Kansas City, Missouri, product as the 12^th-best defensive end in the nation and best pass rusher in the Big 12. He also earned Second Team All-Big 12 accolades from Athlon and Phil Steele.

 

Senior safety Dante Barnett, who is coming off a season-ending injury in the first game of 2015, picked up First Team All-Big 12 honors fromAthlon, Phil Steele and Sporting News, while junior place kicker Matthew McCrane was a first-team honoree by Athlon and a second-team selection by Phil Steele.

 

Two other specialists, junior punter Nick Walsh and sophomore punt returner Dominique Heath, also earned All-Big 12 honors from Phil Steele.

 

Other defensive players to garner preseason recognition include: senior linebacker Charmeachealle Moore (Third Team All-Big 12, Phil Steele), sophomore defensive back Duke Shelley (Third Team All-Big 12, Athlon) and redshirt freshman defensive end Reggie Walker (Third Team All-Big 12, Phil Steele).

 

On offense, sophomore center Dalton Risner was a Second Team All-Big 12 pick by Athlon and a third-team selection by Phil Steele. Steele also named senior offensive lineman Terrale Johnson a Second Team All-Big 12 performer, while sophomore wide receiver Byron Pringle, a community-college transfer, was a third-team pick.

 

Kansas State will hold its annual Fan Appreciation Day on Saturday, August 13, at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Details for the event will be announced at a later date. The Wildcats will also participate in Big 12 Media Day on Tuesday, July 19.

 

The excitement is building for the 2016 season – Snyder’s 25^th at the helm of the Wildcats – as a limited number of single-game tickets remain available for K-State’s six home games. Available tickets for the homecoming game against Texas on Saturday, October 22, are expected to be down to scattered singles in the next few days, and the other five home games are also selling quickly as Kansas State looks to extend its sellout streak to 33-straight games.

 

 

A single to left field by Troy Wade knocked in Ian Winchester with the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning at Rathert Field Thursday night, and the Junction City Brigade defeated the Topeka Golden Giants 5-4.

In the 11th inning Winchester advanced from first to third on one play. Then the Golden Giants loaded the bases by issuing two intentional walks. That led to the base hit by Wade.

The two teams are scheduled to play again Friday night at 7 p.m. at Rathert Field.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Kendrys Morales homered and recorded his sixth straight multi-hit game to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 4-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night.

Kansas City won for the fourth time in five games and took the two-city, four-game series three games to one.

Brandon Moss and Jhonny Peralta homered for the Cardinals who have lost their last seven home games – their longest losing streak since August 2nd through 15th, 1983.

Wade Davis recorded his 19th save in 21 opportunities.

Morales, a designated hitter playing right field for the second straight night, doubled in the sixth inning off Mike Leake (5-6) to push the lead to 3-1. Morales, who went 3 for 4, has 16 hits in 24 at-bats over the six-game run. He went 12 for 16 in the series and started in the outfield for the first time since 2008.

His six-game multi-hit streak ties him for the longest this season along with J.D. Martinez (Detroit), Jackie Bradley Jr. (Boston) and Xander Bogaerts (Boston).

ST. LOUIS (AP) – The Kansas City Royals have placed center fielder Lorenzo Cain on the 15-day disabled list with a left hamstring strain.

The team made the move Wednesday after an MRI revealed the damage.

Rookie outfielder Brett Eibner was recalled from Triple-A Omaha for his third stint with the team this season. The 27-year-old Eibner was batting .297 in 11 games with five doubles, a home run and seven RBIs with the Royals.

Cain was batting .290 with eight homers and 39 RBIs.

The Junction City Brigade won two games over the Liberty Monarchs in Liberty, Missouri on Wednesday.

Junction City won the first game 7-1 and the second contest 1-0.

The Brigade are 17-10 on the season. They host the Topeka Golden Giants at 7 p.m. Thursday at Rathert Field.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Alcides Escobar hit a go-ahead RBI double just inside the right-field line in the 12th inning and the Kansas City Royals outlasted the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 on Wednesday night.

Escobar drove in the first run of the game with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the eighth. His fly to shallow right off Seth Maness (0-2) fell just in front of Stephen Piscotty, whose homer leading off the 10th tied it at 2.

Chien-Ming Wang (5-0) worked two scoreless innings for Kansas City, which survived blown saves by Wade Davis and Joakim Soria, stranded 19 runners and used all of its bench players. The Royals are 39-50 in the I-70 interleague series but 14-12 at 11-year-old Busch Stadium.

Whit Merrifield put Kansas City ahead in the 10th when a potential double-play grounder was booted by second baseman Matt Carpenter and Merrifield got an RBI. He also doubled with one out in the 12th.

UPDATE:

The games between the Junction City Brigade and Liberty Monarchs in Liberty, Missouri have been rescheduled for noon today ( Wednesday ).

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The Junction City Brigade baseball games on Tuesday in Liberty, Missouri against the Liberty Monarchs were cancelled. The announcement was made on the Brigade Facebook page.

The Brigade will host the Topeka Golden Giants in a three-game series Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. each of those evenings at Rathert Field.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Just about everybody in the Cardinals lineup drove in a run, Michael Wacha was good enough on the mound and St. Louis held off the Kansas City Royals 8-4 on Tuesday night to even their four-game, two-city series.

Wacha (4-7) allowed four runs over six innings but, considering he served up nine hits and three walks, it could have been worse. It was his second straight win after dropping seven consecutive decisions.

His bullpen nearly gave it away: Seung Hwan Oh loaded the bases with one out in the ninth before getting pinch-hitter Alex Gordon to pop out and inducing Eric Hosmer into a routine fielder’s choice.

Yordano Ventura (6-5) allowed seven runs on seven hits, three walks and a hit batter in 5 1/3 innings for the Royals.