TORONTO (AP) — Backed by an offensive barrage, Blue Jays left-hander Clayton Richard had a relatively easy time ending the longest losing streak of his career.

Freddy Galvis hit a pair of solo home runs, rookie Cavan Biggio had four RBIs and Toronto beat the Kansas City Royals 11-4 on Monday.

Randal Grichuk had four hits and four RBIs and Teoscar Hernández added a solo home run as the Blue Jays won for the 15th time in 19 regular-season home meetings with the Royals.

Richard (1-4) allowed three runs and seven hits in six innings to win for the first time since Aug. 18, 2018, when he beat Arizona while pitching for San Diego. He’d lost nine straight decisions since.

TOPEKA, Kan. – When the 2018 Kansas State High School Activities Association football playoffs ended, it brought to a conclusion the 50^th season of postseason play in the sport for the state of Kansas.

In 1969, the KSHSAA launched the first-ever state playoff system with five classifications of 11-man football and one classification for the 8-man game.

Today, there are six classifications of the 11-player game and two for 8-player schools.

In August, the KSHSAA will print it’s most recent history book, “Under the Lights: 50 Years of KSHSAA Football Playoffs,” a 240-page, four-color book that captures the five decades of Kansas’ best high school football playoffs. Readers should expect their copy in the mail on or near August 15.

——ORDER YOUR COPY NOW WITH THE PRE-SALE SPECIAL OF $15.00. Purchase here https:// kshsaapublications.square.site/home

The book, compiled by long-time Kansas sports writer Brett Marshall, also includes chapters from among the top sports writers of the last half-century from the state’s major newspapers. Twelve writers, who collectively have 347 years of high school sports writing experience, chronicle the best of the best in this anthology of KSHSAA football playoffs.

“The project first was discussed last fall during the football season, and late in 2018 we were able to put together a complete proposal, an outline for the table of contents and a timeline for the project,” Marshall said. “A lot of people have made significant contributions to the book, and I think that will be reflected in the stories that are written about programs, coaches and players.

“I think KSHSAA should be commended for taking such a monumental project on, and I’ve been thrilled to be part of it,” Marshall said. “The football playoffs and I have a rich history, as my high school team of Syracuse went unbeaten in 1969 yet didn’t have a chance to compete in the playoffs. The evolution that we’ve seen over the 50 years now provides every team a chance to make the playoffs and advance to the championship game.”

Interviews with legendary coaches, Kansas’ elite players who would go on to star at both the collegiate and professional levels, will recall some of the great programs, and games from the smallest of schools in 8-man to the biggest schools in Class 6A.

The book’s early chapters brings to life how the state playoff system originated with many challenges to formulate a system that would require approval from schools of all sizes and all geographic areas of the Sunflower State.

With the Kansas Coaches Association leading the way, it took more than five years to implement what started in the fall of 1969. How did the Association overcome the challenge of appeasing all schools of all sizes?

“There have been many unknown stories uncovered through our research, and my take away on the book is that people will realize just how important the playoffs have been to the advancement of high school football in the state of Kansas. More players are recognized and recruited nationally than ever before.”

In the first year of the postseason, the KSHSAA endured three games that would forever change the way the playoff system was conducted. The Shawnee Mission North-Shawnee Mission South Sunflower League championship game proved to be the pivot point that eventually led to the elimination of what was called the tiebreaker “penetration” rule, where any playoff game that ended in a deadlock at the end of regulation would be broken by determining the team that had the most offensive penetration drives inside the opponent’s 5-yard line. That SM North earned the win by a 1-0 score will go down as historic after the two rivals played to a 0-0 standoff, eventually setting up the Indians for the first state championship victory over Wichita North.

That game, and two other playoff games, one a state championship battle, used the tiebreaker in the first year. Two years later, the penetration tiebreaker was abandoned and the 10-yard-line rule that had been the original fourth tiebreaker, became the singular system for overtimes for the next 48 years. What has become known as the “Kansas Rule,” is now utilized in 35 states and was modified and adopted by the NCAA, using the 25-yard-line as its starting point for teams.

Interviews with administrators, members of the KCA, the ad hoc committee that was charged with designing a system that would have widespread approval, are all included in this first-of-a-kind book produced by the KSHSAA. A behind-the-scenes look from KSHSAA administrators on how the playoffs have evolved through five decades will bring to light the many challenges that have seen extensive changes to the system from the first two years where only a few teams qualified for the playoffs.  Today, every team has a chance to make its way through the playoffs in hopes of playing on that special Championship Saturday after Thanksgiving each November.

Nineteen chapters will tell the story of many of the state’s elite programs, focusing on legendary coaches, and players who played their way into the hearts of gridiron fans across the state. When the final page has been turned, the high school football fan will have a much better understanding of what and how the football playoffs have impacted Kansas communities, fans, schools, administrators, coaches and especially the players.

Chapter 1 – A Prelude to the 1969 Kansas playoff system

Chapter 2 – In the Beginning: Shawnee Mission North and the 1-0 1969 game

Chapter 3 – Shawnee Mission North: The Dynasty Years

Sidebar: SM West’s Miracle Win Over SM South in 1981

Chapter 4 – Wichita-Kapaun Mt. Carmel-Southeast City League Battles

Chapter 5 – Silver Lake and C.J. Hamilton’s Class 3A Dominance

Sidebar: The War on 24 – Silver Lake vs. RossvilleChapter 6 – Lawrence Lions’ Decade of Dominance

Chapter 7 – Our Boys: The Story of Smith Center’s Dynasties

Chapter 8 – Topeka’s Shining Moments: Washburn Rural/Hayden Titles

Chapter 9 – Salina Rides High: Central and South’s Big Runs of the 1990s, 2000s.

Chapter 10 – Hutchinson’s Record of 6 Straight State Championships

Chapter 11 – Legendary Coaches Reflect on State Titles

Chapter 12 – Dominance the theme in Eight-Man Divisions

Chapter 13 – Wichita City League, Derby Resurgence of the 2010s

                 Sidebar: Bishop Carroll’s Dusty Trail Has Special Championship Memories

Chapter 14 – Tom Young: In a League of His Own

Chapter 15 – Baldwin’s Merle Venable and the 1981 Class 4A Title

Chapter 16 – Elite Players Recall Championship Saturdays

Chapter 17 – Championship Saturday and Mother Nature

Chapter 18 – Sports Writers Recall Special Moments

Chapter 19 – The Evolution of the KSHSAA Playoff System

A six-month process of collecting playoff game scores for all 50 years, including game statistics for all state championships for all classes has allowed for the compilation of the most extensive records of the KSHSAA football playoffs. Which school owns the most championships? Who is the coach that has captured the most titles? How many coaches have won championships at different schools? The reader will find it all here in The Record Book.

The Record Book

State Championship Teams – Alphabetical List of Schools/Years Won

Most State Championships Won by Schools

Most Consecutive State Championships Won

Most Consecutive State Championship Games Played

Most State Championship Game Appearances

Highest Winning Percentage by Schools in State Championship Games

Schools That Met in Consecutive State Championship Games

Year-by-Year State Championship Game Results

Year-by-Year State Championship Sites

KSHSAA Playoff Appearances – Alphabetical Listing by School

Most Playoff Victories

Year-by-Year State Champion and Runner-Up Team Records

Overtime Games by Classification

Undefeated State Champions

Longest Winning Streaks of Playoff Era

Year-by-Year Playoff Scores (1969 to 2018)

Championship Game Statistics (All Classes)

15 Team Categories

20 Individual Categories

Kansas Preps to the NFL

What stories of the playoffs that are not told here, are still etched in the memories of players, fans, coaches, officials who witnessed them.

Many of those are re-told year after year, embellishing the greatness of teams and players of another generation who came and played before. This book does not tell every single story of every single school of every single year, but it does capture the essence of five decades of playoff football.

“Under the Lights: 50 Years of KSHSAA Football Playoffs,” is a must read for any high school football fan in Kansas and beyond.

TORONTO (AP) — Jorge Soler and the Kansas City Royals took an early blow but kept on fighting.

Soler bounced back after losing a ball in the sun with a homer and two RBIs, Brad Keller pitched five innings to win for the first time since May 22 and the Royals beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-6 Sunday.

Soler reached base three times as the Royals snapped a three-game losing streak and won for the first time in six games north of the border.

“He definitely made up for it,” Keller said of Soler’s recovery after a rough start. “It’s really cool to see that.”

Soler redeemed himself further with a diving catch on Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s liner in the seventh inning.

“That was a huge play,” manager Ned Yost said.

Soler apologized to Keller after his gaffe in the second, and was still thinking about it when he batted in the third.

“When I came up to bat the next time, with runners on base, I thought to myself that this was a good time to help this team win,” Soler said through a translator.

Justin Smoak homered twice for the Blue Jays, who had won 14 of their previous 17 home meetings with the Royals. It was the 10th multihomer game of Smoak’s career. The home runs were his 13th and 14th of the season.

Smoak hit a two-run homer in the second and a solo homer in the fifth but ended the game by fouling out against Royals right-hander Ian Kennedy in the ninth, stranding the tying run at second base.

Whit Merrifield reached base three times and Alex Gordon drove in a pair as Kansas City answered Toronto’s five-run second inning with a five-run third against struggling Blue Jays right-hander Aaron Sanchez (3-11).

“When we’ve gotten punched in the mouth we haven’t done a good job of responding,” Merrifield said. “Winning teams do that, they respond. We haven’t done that, but today we did.”

Keller (4-9) allowed six runs and eight hits in five innings to end a streak of six straight losing decisions. The right-hander has allowed six or more runs twice in his past three outings.

“It was a grind for him all day long,” Yost said. “He was never sharp, but he continued to compete his heart out. That’s exactly what I was looking for.”

Kevin McCarthy worked two hitless innings and Jake Diekman struck out a pair in a 1-2-3 eighth before Kennedy finished for his 11th save in 13 opportunities.

Royals DH Lucas Duda opened the scoring with an RBI double in the second but the Blue Jays scored five times in the bottom half. Soler lost Luke Maile’s fly ball in the sun, leading to a two-run triple, Eric Sogard hit an RBI single and Smoak followed with a two-run homer.

Handed a four-run cushion, Sanchez promptly allowed the first six batters to reach safely in the third. Humberto Arteaga and Merrifield walked, Nicky Lopez loaded the bases with a single and Gordon’s single brought home two runs. Hunter Dozier and Soler hit RBI singles and a fifth run scored when Cheslor Cuthbert grounded into a double play.

Sanchez allowed six runs and seven hits in three-plus innings to lose his 10th straight decision. It’s the longest such run by a Toronto pitcher since Ricky Romero lost 13 consecutive decisions in 2012.

Sanchez has walked 52 batters this season, tied with Cincinnati’s Luis Castillo for most in the majors.

“The free passes always find a way to come back and haunt me,” he said.

Sanchez won the AL ERA title in 2016, but has struggled with injuries and his performance since.

“The stuff is there but, in this league, if you miss some spots some guys can hurt you,” Merrifield said of Sanchez.

Soler made it 7-5 with a solo homer off Nick Kingham in the fifth, his 22nd, but Smoak replied with a leadoff blast in the bottom half.

 

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Former Kansas State forward Dean Wade will begin his professional career on Monday night, as the two-time All-Big 12 First Team selection will open play with the Cleveland Cavaliers’ summer league team at the Salt Lake City Summer League, which runs from Monday to Wednesday (July 1-3) at Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah.

 

Cleveland will play three games during the four-team showcase, beginning with the San Antonio Spurs at 6 p.m., CT on Monday, followed by the Utah Jazz at 8 p.m., CT on Tuesday and the Memphis Grizzlies at 6 p.m., CT on Wednesday. All games will air on NBA TV.

 

Wade, who wear No. 37, will be joined on the 16-man summer league roster by recent Cavalier draft picks Darius Garland (Vanderbilt), Dylan Windler (Belmont) and Kevin Porter, Jr.(USC). He will also play alongside familiar foes in third-year pro Naz Mitrou-Long, formerly of Iowa State, and fellow rookies and Big 12 competitors Malik Newman (Kansas) and Dylan Osetkowski (Texas). Other rookies on the squad include Marques Bolden (Duke), Phil Booth (Villanova), Sandy Cohen III (Green Bay), Jalen Hudson (Florida) and Anthony Lawrence II (Miami).

 

New coach John Beilein will guide the team during its three-game schedule in the Salt Lake City Summer League.

 

Wade recently signed a two-way contract with the Cavaliers, in which, he will spend time with the NBA club as well as their G-League affiliate, the Canton (Ohio) Charge, during the upcoming 2019-20 season.

 

One of the more versatile players in school history, Wade is one of just three Wildcats (Bob Boozer and Rodney McGruder) to rank in the Top 10 in both career scoring (1,510/10^th) and rebounding (685/8^th), while he is the only player in school history with at least 1,000 points, 100 3-point field goals, 500 rebounds, 200 assists and 100 steals. He finished among the career Top 10 in several categories, including scoring, rebounding, double-digit scoring games (81/7^th), field goals made (548/8^th) and starts (123/2^nd).

 

In his 126-game career, Wade averaged 12 points on 49.8 percent shooting (548-of-1100), including 38.6 percent (128-of-332) from 3-point range, with 5.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 0.9 steals in 29.3 minutes per game.

 

Wade, along with Jacob Pullen, are the only Wildcats in the Big 12 era to be selected All-Big 12 First Team in back-to-back seasons and one of just five to ever earn recognition to the Coaches’ All-Big 12 First Team.

 

For his senior season, which was cut short twice by injuries, Wade averaged 12.9 points on 49.2 percent shooting (122-of-248), including 41.8 percent (23-of-55) from 3-point range, with 6.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 30.4 minutes per game. He led the Wildcats in field goal percentage, 3-point field goal percentage and free throw percentage (78.9) as well as rebounding.

 

Wade was part of a senior class that posted an 88-51 (.633) overall record, advanced to three NCAA Tournaments and won a share of the 2018-19 Big 12 regular season title.

 

–www.k-statesports.com–

 

TOM GILBERT
Director for Men’s Basketball Communications | K-State Athletics

 

 

The two frontrunning teams in the Mid Plains League squared off in a doubleheader at Rathert Field Saturday. Both came into the action 12-2 in conference play.

Midwest held off a late rally by Junction City to defeat the Brigade 5-3 but in game two Junction City got on the board with a run in the first inning and moved on to an 8-3 victory. The end result is that the two teams are still tied for first place in the league standings at 13-3.

Brigade Head Coach Derek Francis said his team did not come out as the aggressor in game one, and were hoping for things to happen in their favor. “But we kind of got the table turned a little bit in the second game and hung up four early runs.”

Junction City will host the Kansas City Monarchs Monday evening at 7 p.m.

TORONTO (AP) — Just over a month ago, Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was toiling in Triple-A after being demoted in mid-April.

Since returning to Toronto on May 24, he’s leading the major leagues in home runs.

Eric Sogard hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh inning, Gurriel Jr. homered twice for his second straight multi-homer game and the Blue Jays snapped a three-game losing streak with a 6-2 win over the Kansas City Royals on Friday.

Randal Grichuk added a two-run homer for Toronto, which won its second straight at home following a seven-game losing streak.

“I feel like the team is going through a very good moment offensively,” Gurriel Jr. said through a translator.

No one more so than he. Gurriel Jr. has 14 homers in 125 at-bats since being recalled from Triple-A Buffalo. He’s batting .352 (44 for 125) in that span.

The Junction City Brigade struggled on Friday night at Rathert Field against the Manhattan Barnstormers 18 and under team.

Junction City fell behind 9-3 in the third inning after giving up four hits and five walks just in that one inning alone. But the tide began to turn in the bottom half of the third when the Brigade scored three runs, and they got four more in the fourth before pulling away to a 14-9 victory.

Junction City ( 16-2 ) now prepares for an important Mid Plains League doubleheader against the Midwest A’s Saturday at Rathert Field. Game times are 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. The Brigade lead the A’s by one-half game in the conference standings. The Brigade are currently in first place in the league race while the A’s are in second.

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State will meet SEC foe Mississippi State in the fourth annual Never Forget Tribute Classic presented by United Rentals, which is set for Saturday, December 14, 2019 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

The matchup between the Wildcats and Bulldogs will be part of doubleheader in the Classic, which also includes a contest between reigning BIG EAST champion Villanova and Delaware. Both games will air on ESPN as well as the ESPN app with official broadcast information and game times to be announced later.

Tickets for the Classic go on sale to the public on Friday, July 26 at 9 a.m., CT through Ticketmaster.com and will be available for purchase at the Prudential Center Box Office on Monday, July 29 at 10 a.m., CT. For more information on the event, visit PruCenter.com/events.

The Classic, which began in 2016, serves as a partner with SoldierStrong, which was created in 2009 to support the men and women of the armed forces in the wake of the events on September 11, 2001. SoldierStrong helps to service American veterans by providing resources that aid both mental and physical rehabilitation, as well as assisting with scholarship grants for domestic and foreign affair grants. For more information on SoldierStrong, please visit soldierstrong.org/.

“We are excited to play in the Never Forget Classic and help raise awareness for such a noble cause,” said head coach Bruce Weber. “This will be a great opportunity for our team to face a very good Mississippi State squad, which advanced to the NCAA Tournament a year ago and returns a significant portion of their team.”

This will be the fourth meeting between K-State and Mississippi State on the hardwood, but the first matchup in more than 25 seasons since the Wildcats knocked off the Bulldogs, 78-67, in the first round of the Postseason NIT on March 17, 1994 at Bramlage Coliseum. The other two meetings came in a home-and-home series during the 1984-85 and 1985-86 seasons with K-State winning 67-58 at home on December 5, 1984 and 63-58 in Starkville, Mississippi on December 14, 1985.

Under the guidance of fifth-year head coach Ben Howland, Mississippi State has won 48 games over the last two seasons, which is tied for the second-most in program history and the fourth among SEC schools during that span. The Bulldogs advanced to their first NCAA Tournament in 10 seasons a year ago, posting a 23-11 overall record and finishing sixth in the SEC with a 10-8 mark. The squad returns six players with starting experience, including senior guards Lamar Peters (11.9 ppg., 5.2 apg.) and Tyson Carter (10.4 ppg., 2.0 rpg.), All-SEC Freshman Team member Reggie Perry (9.7 ppg., 7.2 rpg.) and junior guard Nick Weatherspoon (9.6 ppg., 2.8 rpg.).

Weber is currently coaching Perry for Team USA, which will start play in the FIBA U19 World Cup on Saturday (June 29) against New Zealand in Heraklion, Greece. Perry was one of five players to make the World Cup roster who played college basketball during the 2018-19 season.

The reigning Big 12 regular-season co-champions, K-State is expected to return eight lettermen in 2019-20, which includes All-Big 12 honorable mention selection Xavier Sneed (10.6 ppg., 5.5 rpg.) and fellow senior Makol Mawien (7.0 ppg., 4.9 rpg.), from a squad that has posted consecutive 25-win seasons and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season a year ago.

The Wildcats also return rising juniors Cartier Diarra (6.8 ppg., 3.3 rpg.), Mike McGuirl (3.6 ppg., 1.5 rpg.) and Levi Stockard III (1.8 ppg., 1.5 rpg.) as well as a highly-regarded signing class that includes a trio of Top 200 high school players in DaJuan Gordon, Antonio Gordon and Montavious Murphy and NJCAA All-American David Sloan.

Villanova and Mississippi State will be playing in the Never Forget Classic for the second time. The Wildcats knocked off Notre Dame, 74-66, in the inaugural event in 2016, while the Bulldogs defeated Clemson, 82-71, last season in the second game of a doubleheader following Florida State’s 79-71 win over UConn.

–www.kstatesports.com–

TOM GILBERT
Director for Men’s Basketball Communications | K-State Athletics

The Junction City Brigade scored 20 runs over the final two innings enroute to a 25-3 win over the Manhattan Barnstormers 18 and Under team at Rathert Field Thursday evening. The game was halted after seven innings due to a 10-run rule in effect.

The game was close with the score 5-3 going into the fifth inning. But Junction City began to roll with a three-run home run off the bat of Mac McCroskey and got two doubles from Ryan Gendron in that inning. In the sixth inning five Brigade batters drew a walk and two more were hit by a pitch to get on base.

Junction City ( 15-2 ) will host the Barnstormers again Friday evening at 7 o’clock.