OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Oklahoma erupted for four runs in the second inning and six in the third on its way to a 13-7 victory over Kansas State in an elimination game at the Big 12 tournament on Thursday.

Alex Wise went 2 for 4 with four RBIs to lead the Sooners (29-26-1), who will try to stay alive Friday when they meet the West Virginia-Texas Tech loser.

The Sooners scored two runs on passed balls, another on Cody Thomas’ RBI double and a sacrifice fly in the second inning. Wise’s two-out triple to left center drove in three of OU’s six runs the next inning as it built a 10-2 cushion.

Alec Hansen (3-5) allowed three hits and walked five while giving up four runs in six innings. Parker Rigler (4-9) took the loss, surrendering eight runs on six hits and three walks.

K-State (26-31) was eliminated by the Sooners for the second year in a row.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Miguel Sano hit the go-ahead two-run home run in the fifth inning after Minnesota lost an early lead, and the Twins staved off another series sweep Wednesday by beating the Kansas City Royals 7-5.

Eduardo Nunez and Brian Dozier each homered, too, the first two batters to face Royals starter Dillon Gee (1-2) and just the fifth pair in Twins history to go deep in their first two plate appearances of the game.

Tyler Duffey (2-3) gave away a 3-0 lead during a five-run fourth by the Royals, but the right-hander hung around long enough to become the first Twins starter this season to record his second victory. The rotation has totaled six wins. There were 11 pitchers in the major leagues with seven or more victories when the day began.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – The St. Louis Cardinals acquired outfielder Jose Martinez from the Kansas City Royals for cash considerations on Wednesday.

Martinez, 27, was playing for Triple-A Omaha and has been assigned to Triple-A Memphis. He was hitting .298 with three home runs and 18 RBIs at Omaha.

The Cardinals moved right-handed pitcher Mitch Harris (elbow) to the 60-day disabled list to make room for Martinez on the 40-man roster.

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Brad Korn, a former player for Bruce Weber with more than a decade of Division I coaching experience, is returning to K-State as the Wildcats’ new assistant men’s basketball coach, Weber announced Wednesday.

 

Korn, who played at Southern Illinois (1999-2004), returns to K-State after a three-year stint as an assistant coach at Missouri State (2013-16). He spent one season on Weber’s inaugural staff in Manhattan as Director of Basketball Operations in 2012-13, helping the Wildcats to a 27-8 overall record and their first-ever Big 12 regular-season title.

 

Overall, he has 12 years of Division I experience, which includes time at his alma mater – Southern Illinois (2004-12).

 

“We are excited to welcome Brad back to the staff,” said Weber. “Obviously, he has history with us, having served on our staff during that special Big 12 Championship season in 2012-13. He also played for me [and Matt Painter] at Southern Illinois and got his start in coaching as an assistant coach to Chris (Lowery). I felt it was important to get someone who knows our system and the types of players we recruit here at K-State.”

 

Korn has extensive ties to Weber after playing his first four years (1999-2003) for him at Southern Illinois. He redshirted in 1999-2000 before playing the next three years for Weber. He concluded his playing career for current Purdue head coach Matt Painter in 2003-04 before spending the next eight years (2004-12) at SIU as an assistant coach for current K-State associate head coach Chris Loweryat SIU.

 

“I’m excited about the opportunity to come back to K-State,” said Korn. “I have known Coach Weber since I was 16. He has been a big influence in my life. I’m excited about this opportunity to work for him again in a new role. He’s the same, genuine person that I met in 1998 and I can’t wait to help him and the K-State family and staff. I want to do all I can to make sure K-State is as successful as possible.”

 

Korn returns after three seasons at Missouri State, where he served as an assistant coach to Paul Lusk. At MSU, he helped the Bears to 44 wins, including a 20-win season and a trip to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament in 2013-14.

 

Korn helped mentor a number of All-Missouri Valley honorees during his stay at Missouri State, including 2014 All-MVC Second Team selection Jarmar Gulley and 2016 MVC Newcomer of the YearDequon Miller. In addition, he coached three MVC All-Freshman Team honorees in Austin Ruder in 2014 and Obediah Church and Jarred Dixon in 2016 as well as two Most Improved Team membersDorrian Williams in 2015 and Chris Kendrix in 2016.

 

“Brad has really worked his way up the coaching ranks,” Weber continued. “He left our staff three years ago to get more experience and prove himself as an assistant coach (at Missouri State) and has really expanded his recruiting base. He will be a tremendous asset to Chris [Lowery] in recruiting the Midwest and Texas, but also in the development of some of our younger players. His experience playing our system and becoming part of the winningest classes in SIU history will be benefit in teaching some of young forwards like Dean [Wade], Isaiah [Maurice] and Dante [Williams].”

 

Prior to his first stint at K-State, Korn spent eight years (2004-12) at Southern Illinois, including the last six years as a full-time assistant under Lowery. He helped the Salukis post a 145-116 (.556) overall record with four postseason appearances, two Missouri Valley Conference championships and one State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title. The squad won 20 or more games and advanced to the NCAA Tournament on three occasions (2005, 2006, 2007) during his tenure as an assistant coach, including a 2007 trip to the Sweet 16. He was a graduate assistant at SIU his first two years before being elevated to a full-time assistant coach on Jan. 31, 2006.

 

A native of Plano, Ill., Korn helped the Salukis through one of their greatest periods of success from 1999 to 2004. The squad went from 16 wins his redshirt freshman season to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances under Weber and Painter. He was also a part of three Missouri Valley regular season championships as a player.

 

The 6-foot-9 forward saw action in 121 games in his career, averaging 5.2 points and 2.3 rebounds in 14.5 minutes per game. As a senior, he averaged 9.7 points on 41 percent shooting with 4.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists in helping SIU to 25 wins and a 17-1 mark in MVC play. He was named to the league’s Most Improved Team. He earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the university in 2004, while he earned credits towards a Master’s in Sports Studies.

 

Korn, 35, and wife, Kristin, have two daughters, Brielyn (5) and Ashtyn (2).

 

TRANSACTIONS:

Kansas State – Named Brad Korn assistant coach.

 

–www.kstatesports.com–

————
TOM GILBERT
Associate Director for Athletics Communications | K-State Athletics

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Salvador Perez hit a two-run homer, Lorenzo Cain had four hits and two RBIs, and the Kansas City Royals picked up where their bats left off the night before while beating the tumbling Minnesota Twins 7-4 on Tuesday.

Wade Davis worked a wobbly ninth inning for his 12th save in 13 attempts, preserving the seventh win for the Royals in their last nine contests. They raised their two-game total in Minnesota this week to 30 hits and improved to 5-0 against the Twins this season.

After going 5 for 5 in the series opener, missing the cycle by a home run, Perez went deep just one day and a couple of innings too late. The three-time All-Star catcher followed a leadoff walk by Kendrys Morales in the second inning with a soaring drive off his 2013 teammate Ervin Santana that landed in the grass behind the wall in center field for a 2-0 lead.

K-State to Play at Tennessee in SEC/Big 12 Challenge

 

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State will travel to Tennessee as partof the fourth annual SEC/Big 12 Challenge Presented by Sonic on Saturday, January 28, 2017 at Thompson-Boling Arena, the two conferences announced Tuesday.

 

The matchup will mark the second time in the past three seasons that the Wildcats have played the Volunteers in the event, as Tennessee won the first and only meeting between the schools, 65-64, at home on Dec. 6, 2014.

 

The game will be one of 10 contested between the two leagues for the fourth consecutive season with ESPN providing coverage of all games on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU. All the contests will occur on Jan. 28 with start times and complete television information to be released at a later date.

 

The Big 12, which boasted the nation’s best non-conference winning percentage (.792/114-30) in 2015-16, has won the first three Challenge series, posting a cumulative 20-10 (.667) record. Overall, the league is 48-30 (.615) in its last four challenge series (vs. Pac-10 and SEC) dating back to 2007.

 

The Big 12 has been the No. 1 RPI conference in four of the last seven years, including three in a row.

 

“The Challenge series is a marquee event for our league and 2017 should be another exciting year,” said head coach Bruce Weber. “Tennessee has always had tremendous tradition with great fan support and Coach (Rick) Barnes has wonbig everywhere he’s been. Add in the fact that Thompson-Boling Arena is a terrific venue and this game provides yet another challenging addition to our non-conference schedule.”

 

Overall, K-State is 162-148 all-time against teams from the SEC, which includes a 2-1 mark in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge series with wins over Ole Miss at home in 2013 (61-58) and 2016 (69-64) and the loss at Tennessee in 2014. The Wildcats have met at least one SEC opponent in each of the last eight seasons.

 

Although this will be just the second meeting between the programs, K-State has a long history with Volunteer head coach Rick Barnes, who earned 402 wins and 16 NCAA Tournament during his long tenure at Big 12 rival Texas. He posted a 12-11 record against the Wildcats during his 17-year stint in Austin, including a 7-4 mark at home.

 

The Wildcats will return a veteran roster in 2016-17 with nine returning lettermen and six players returning with starting experience, highlighted by All-Big 12 Third Team selectionWesley Iwundu and All-Newcomer honorees Barry Brown and Dean Wade. Overall, the squad returns five of their top six scorers from last season, along with nearly 70 percent of their rebounding, assist, steal and minute totals. Iwundu (11.9 ppg., 4.5 rpg.) is the team’s top returner in scoring, assists and steals, while rising senior D.J. Johnson (9.3 ppg., 5.2 rpg.) is the leader among three returning players (along with Iwundu and Wade) who averaged better than 4 rebounds per contest a season ago.

 

The squad will also be boosted by the return of a healthy Kamau Stokes, who started 20 of the first 21 games before a knee injury sidelined him for the rest of the year, as well as the continued development of redshirt freshmen IsaiahMaurice and Dante Williams, who measure at 6-foot-10 and 7-foot, respectively.

 

Tennessee is set to return seven lettermen and two starters in 2016-17 from a team that posted a 15-19 overall record and 6-12 mark in SEC play. Despite the losing record, the Volunteers earned five wins over postseason teams, including home victories over Florida, Kentucky and South Carolina. Among the team’s notable returnees are senior guard Robert Hubbs III (10.6 ppg., 3.9 rpg.), junior guard Detrick Mostella (8.4 ppg., 2.2 rpg.) and sophomore forward Admiral Schofield (7.6 ppg., 4.0 rpg.). The squad will also welcome seven newcomers, including graduate transfer Lew Evans, who averaged 8.4 points and 5.6 rebounds at Utah State in 2015-16.

 

Only three players remain from the first meeting in 2014, including K-State’s Iwundu and Tennessee’s Hubbs and Mostella. The Volunteers held off a late Wildcat rally for the one-point win, as K-State scored 47 points in the second on 51.7 percent shooting, including 57.1 percent from 3-point range.  Iwundu posted 4 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists in 25 minutesas a starter, while Hubbs and Mostella combined for 11 points off the bench.

 

A full non-conference slate, as well as 2016-17 season ticket plan details, will be released in the coming weeks.

 

SEC / Big 12 Challenge Presented by Sonic

Baylor at Ole Miss

Iowa State at Vanderbilt

Kansas at Kentucky

Kansas State at Tennessee

Florida at Oklahoma

Arkansas at Oklahoma State

Auburn at TCU

Texas at Georgia

LSU at Texas Tech

Texas A&M at West Virginia

 

– www.k-statesports.com —

————
TOM GILBERT
Associate Director for Athletics Communications | K-State Athletics