MANHATTAN, Kan. – Former Wildcat Dani Winters continues to build on to her already long list of academic honors from this past season as she was named CoSIDA Second Team Academic All-American, the sports information organization announced on Friday.

 

Winters is the 17^th K-State track and field student-athlete to be named to any CoSIDA Academic All-America team and the first female to be named to a team since Ryann Krais in 2012 and the first track and athlete since Kyle Wait was named to the First Team in 2014.

 

She was also the 26^th Wildcat to be named to a CoSIDA Academic All-District Team dating back to the 2002-03 season. She earned CoSIDA Academic All-District 7 team honors in early May, the first Wildcat to be named to a District team since the 2013-14 season, when Wait was named to the all-district first team.

 

The Plainville, Kansas native graduated from K-State in May with a 3.92 GPA in communication studies. Her academic excellence has also earned her Co-Big 12 Women’s Track and Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year, which she earned at the beginning of June.

 

Her excellence both in the classroom and on the track earned her a nomination for NCAA Woman of the Year, which highlights excellence in athletics, in the classroom and in the community.

 

The top 30 nominees, broken down to 10 student-athletes per division, will be announced in early September. The list will then be whittled down to the top nine candidates, or top three per division, before the Woman of the Year is announced on Sunday, October 16 at a special awards dinner in Indianapolis.

 

For the latest on K-State track and field, follow @kstatesports and @KStateTFXC on Twitter using the hashtag #KStateTF or on the team’s Facebook page.

The Junction City Brigade swept a doubleheader from the Liberty Monarchs Monday evening at Rathert Field.

Junction City won game one 2-0 with Blake Grellhesl pitching six and two-thirds innings of shutout baseball. In game two Junction City picked up an 8-3 victory.

The two teams play again today in a doubleheader in Liberty, Missouri. Game times are three and five p.m.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Danny Duffy matched a career best with eight sharp innings, the Royals kept swinging hot bats and Kansas City routed the St. Louis Cardinals 6-2 on Monday night to open a four-game, two-city series.

Kendrys Morales went 4 for 4 and drove in two runs, and Eric Hosmer also had a pair of RBIs as the Royals roughed up Adam Wainwright (6-5) to snap a four-game losing streak to their cross-state rival.

Duffy (3-1) served up a two-run homer to Matt Holliday in the first before settling into a nice rhythm, keeping the Cardinals off balance with pinpoint control. The left-hander struck out eight and didn’t walk a batter while breezing through a lineup that scored 11 runs the previous day against Seattle.

The Junction City Brigade will host the Liberty Monarchs in a summer collegiate baseball doubleheader Monday evening.

The games are scheduled at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. at Rathert Field.

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Ian Kennedy struck out 11 over seven innings, Kendrys Morales hit two home runs and the Kansas City Royals snapped the Houston Astros’ seven-game winning streak with a 6-1 victory Sunday.

After Royals starters Edinson Volquez and Chris Young were roughed up in blowout losses in the first two games of this series, Kennedy allowed one run and three hits with one walk.

Kennedy (6-6) struck out his final four batters and finished one shy of matching his career best in strikeouts.

The Rossville Rattlers defeated the Junction City Brigade 13-3 Saturday night, capping off a three-game series between the two teams.

Rossville won the contests Thursday and Saturday nights while Junction City picked up a win Friday night.

The Brigade are 12-9 on the season while Rossville is 10-14.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Jose Altuve went 4 for 5, including a home run and two doubles, and the Houston Astros extended their winning streak to seven with a 13-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night.

Altuve drove in three runs and scored three runs. He is hitting .417 with a .484 on-base percentage while reaching base in 27 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the major leagues.

Marwin Gonzalez, Altuve and Carlos Correa, the Astros’ two-three-four hitters, combined to go 8 for 15 with seven RBIs, six runs and two homers. Altuve and Correa hit consecutive homers in a seven-run second.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – George Springer hit a grand slam and a triple in Houston’s nine-run first inning against Edinson Volquez, and the Astros routed the Kansas City Royals 13-4 on Friday night.

Springer finished with five RBIs, and Colby Rasmus had four hits, including a homer in the eighth, scored three runs and drove in two.

Marwin Gonzalez, Carlos Gomez, Jason Castro and Rasmus all had RBI singles in the first off Volquez (7-7), who retired only three of the 15 batters he faced with 12 scoring, ballooning his ERA more than a full run to 5.15. He gave up eight hits and walked three.

The last time the Astros scored nine in the first inning was July 10, 2003, against Cincinnati. The Royals last allowed nine or more in the first on Sept. 23, 2006, when Detroit scored 10.

Dallas Keuchel (4-9) picked up only his second victory since April 15.

The Junction City Brigade rallied from a 6-0 second inning deficit to defeat the Rossville Rattlers ( 9-14 ) 11-7 Friday night at Rathert Field.

Rossville scored two runs in their first at-bat and four more in the second before the Brigade finally got their offense going. In the bottom of the second Junction City put four runs across the plate, and they would do so again enroute to the victory.

Ben Ramberg came on the sixth inning on the mound for the Brigade and did not give up a run to the Rattlers the rest of the way. Junction City coach Seth Wheeler said that’s Ramberg’s best role. “He’s best coming in in the sixth inning, or seventh inning, eighth inning, ninth inning and just throwing hard, having the big breaking ball.”

Junction City ( 13-8 ) will host the Liberty Monarchs in a doubleheader at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. Monday.

The Rossville Rattlers ( 9-13 )  jumped on the Junction City Brigade ( 12-8 ) for four runs in the top of the first inning and never trailed enroute to an 8-4 win at Rathert Field Thursday night.

Junction City battled back to within two runs twice, but that was as close as they could get. Nick Sloan took the pitching loss for Junction City, while Luke Ostenson was the winner for Rossville.

Franky Valley connected on a home run for the Brigade in the first inning.  Both teams had eight hits in the ballgame.

The two teams play again at 7 p.m. Friday at Rathert Field.