PHOENIX (AP) – Chris Carter and Martin Moldonado each hit three-run homers, Wily Peralta threw six strong innings and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Kansas City Royals 9-2 on Thursday.

Ryan Braun was a late scratch for the Brewers due to lower back soreness. He had back surgery in the off-season and was slowly easing back into play (seven at-bats) without any setbacks before Thursday.

Eric Young Jr. added a two-run homer for Milwaukee. Peralta, the Brewers’ No. 1 starter, had his best outing of the spring, allowing four hits and one run, a solo homer to Eric Hosmer. It was the third homer for Hosmer, who is now hitting .400.

Reymond Fuentes added his third homer of the spring in the ninth inning for Kansas City. Starter Dillion Gee sailed through the first three innings before allowing the three-run homer to Moldonado in the fourth.

SURPRISE, Ariz. — (AP) – Kansas City Royals reliever Tim Collins will need Tommy John surgery for the second time.

The team said Thursday he tore his elbow tendon again while rehabbing. The Royals had been optimistic he would return in May. Then he experienced soreness while throwing recently and the team ordered an MRI.

The 26-year-old left-hander has not pitched since Game 6 of the 2014 World Series. His initial reconstructive elbow surgery came during last spring training.

Collins led American League relievers with 93 strikeouts in 2012 and was 12-17 with a 3.54 in 228 bullpen appearances over four seasons. He is to make $1.48 million this year.

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) – A public introduction for new Oklahoma State basketball coach Brad Underwood was as much a trip down memory lane as it was a look to the future.

Several mentions were made of Eddie Sutton, who led Oklahoma State to Final Fours in 1995 and 2004. Much of Underwood’s speech was about his desire to return Oklahoma State to that level. Moe Iba – the son of former Oklahoma State coach Henry Iba, for whom the facility is partially named – attended.

Underwood will lead a team with some solid building blocks. Guard Phil Forte, who injured his elbow early this season and missed most of the games, said Wednesday that he will stay at Oklahoma State for his final year. Jawun Evans, one of the top freshmen in the nation this season, will return after missing the late part of the season with a shoulder injury.

GOODYEAR, Ariz. (AP) – Tyler Naquin homered twice and Francisco Lindor and Jason Kipnis also homered, powering the Cleveland Indians to a 7-6 win over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday.

Naquin, the Indians’ first pick in the 2012 draft, hit his first two home runs of the spring. He also doubled and scored on an RBI single by Mike Napoli.

Lindor and Kipnis hit consecutive homers in the first inning. It was the first for Lindor and third for Kipnis, who also tripled and scored in the third.

Napoli signed with the Indians to play first base and designated hitter along with Carlos Santana. Napoli is hitting .455 this spring.

Mike Moustakas homered and Reymond Fuentes singled with the bases loaded off Danny Salazar for the Royals in a six-run third inning. Salvador Perez had two hits.

Salazar allowed six runs, five earned, in 2 1-3 innings.

Kris Medlen allowed four home runs in 3 1-3 innings. He struck out four.

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder announced Wednesday 12 members of the team that will serve as player representatives for the 2016 season.

 

Dante Barnett, Deante Burton, Jesse Ertz, Joe Hubener, Charles Jones,Elijah Lee, Matthew McCrane, Dalton Risner, Trent Tanking, Dayton Valentine, Nick Walsh and Jordan Willis were chosen by their teammates to serve as player representatives for the program in 2016.

 

Barnett, a senior defensive back who was granted a medical hardship for a season-ending injury in the first game of 2015, was chosen as a player representative for a third-straight season. Hubener, McCrane and Willis are each serving their second terms, while the remaining players were elected for the first time.

 

The role of these leaders will be to promote those traits which they each possess: unselfishness, team concepts, unity, strong work habits, great attitude and a strong commitment toward achieving success through the team’s 16 goals.

 

“This is a tremendous group of position and team leaders selected by their teammates,” Snyder said. “These individuals are committed to our program and 16 goals value system, and they serve as dedicated teammates. I’m very proud of each of them on their unselfish efforts to guide their teammates in the appropriate direction.”

 

Kansas State commences spring practices on Wednesday, March 30, and will conduct 14 practices leading up to the Purple/White Spring Game on Saturday, April 23, beginning at 1:10 p.m., in Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

 

Tickets for the spring game can be purchased for only $5 through the K-State Athletics Ticket office online at www.k-statesports.com/tickets, by phone at 1-800-221-CATS or at the main ticket office inside Bramlage Coliseum. Those who order or renew their season tickets by this Friday’s early bird deadline will receive two free tickets per account to the spring game.

 

Following the program’s sixth-straight bowl berth and riding a home-sellout streak of 27 consecutive games at Bill Snyder Family Stadium and the opening of Phase IIIB of the stadium’s master plan, season tickets for the 2016 season are on sale now. Season tickets start as low as $175, and the priority deadline is Friday, April 22.

 

The home schedule features Big 12 matchups against Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech and KU, while the entire 12-game slate includes seven matchups with bowl teams from a year ago, including a nationally-televised game at Stanford to open the 2016 season on Friday, September 2.

 

– k-statesports.com –

 

 

————
RYAN LACKEY
Assistant Director | Athletics Communications

OMAHA, Neb. – K-State scored a run in each of the seventh and eighth innings, but it could not complete the comeback attempt on Tuesday as the Wildcats lost their fourth straight game with a 5-4 decision against Creighton at TD Ameritrade Park.

 

The Wildcats (11-10), who grabbed a 2-1 lead in the third, were quieted for the middle three innings as the Bluejays (13-4) tied the game in the third and scored three go-ahead runs in the fourth. Creighton plated its final two runs with two outs.

 

K-State faced the bases loaded in fourth after Creighton used a hit by pitch, infield single and bunt single to start the inning. Wildcat reliever Brandon Erickson, who inherited two of the runners, struck out Michael Emodi for the first out and induced a groundout to the next batter, Creighton leadoff hitter Daniel Woodrow. Shortstop Tyler Wolfe was able to flip it to second baseman Jake Wodtke for the force out, but Wodtke’s throw to finish off the potential inning-ending play was wide and pulled first baseman Jake Scudder off the bag. The Bluejays then tacked on two runs with a pair of singles.

 

“It was a good pitch (to Woodrow), the right pitch, but it was just unfortunate it was (to) the fastest guy on the team,” said K-State head coach Brad Hill about the potential double play in the fourth. “You have to get that throw off really clean to first base. Jake tried to rush it, and he had to be quick with it, and the throw was just a tick wide. We did not finish it off either. We gave them another run we did not need to give them. That was pretty much the game.”

 

K-State’s four-game losing streak ties its longest of the season. The loss also resulted in a season series split with the Bluejays.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Kansas City Chiefs star pass rusher Justin Houston could miss much or all of next season after having surgery to repair an ACL in his knee.

The Chiefs said Tuesday that the ligament was not fully torn, but after a meeting with orthopedist Dr. James Andrews, the consensus was surgery was the best option for his long-term health.

The best-case scenario is a mid-August return, though it’s possible Houston could miss the entire season. The Chiefs didn’t specify which knee.

Houston hurt a knee last season, but at the time it was diagnosed a hyper-extension. He played with a brace in a playoff win over Houston and the Chiefs’ season-ending playoff loss to New England.

The Junction City Junior Baseball Association will hold a pancake feed Saturday ( March 26 ) from 7-11 a.m. at the Knights of Columbus Building, 126 West 7th Street.

The cost is $5 for all you can eat pancakes, sausages, and drinks. The proceeds will support the Junction City Junior Baseball Association.

During the pancake feed youth can also be signed up to play junior baseball this summer.

 

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Two-time All-American basketball player Bob Boozer was among eight individuals announced Tuesday to the 11th class of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.

 

Boozer, the only two-time consensus All-American in school history, was joined in the 2016 Hall of Fame induction class by fellow players Mark Aguirre (DePaul), Doug Collins (Illinois State), Lionel Simmons (La Salle), Jamaal Wilkes (UCLA) and Dominique Wilkins (Georgia) as well as coaches Hugh Durham (Florida State/Georgia/Jacksonville) and Mike Montgomery (Montana/Stanford/California).

 

Already a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame for his efforts on the record-setting 1960 U.S. Olympic team, Boozer is the third person with K-State ties to be named to the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, including the second men’s basketball player, following his legendary coach Tex Winter (2010) and Rolando Blackman (2015).

 

The 2016 induction ceremonies will be held Friday, Nov. 18 at the Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midland in Kansas City. Tickets will be available to the general public in September. The ceremonies will be held in conjunction with the championship rounds of the 16^th annual CBE Hall of Fame Classic, which takes place Nov. 21-22 at the Sprint Center.

 

A 6-foot-8, 220-pound power forward from Omaha, Neb., Boozer played three years for Winter from 1956-59. He helped the Wildcats to an incredible 62-15 (.805) record during his three-year playing career, which included a trip to the 1958 Final Four and consecutive Big Seven/Eight Conference titles in 1958 and 1959.

 

Considered one of the most decorated players in K-State history, Boozer was the landslide leading vote-getter for the school’s All-Century Basketball team in 2003. A first team All-American in both 1958 and 1959, he averaged a double-double for his 77-game career with 21.9 points on 44 percent shooting with 10.7 rebounds per game. He is one of only two players (Willie Murrell) in school history to average 20 points and 10 rebounds in a career. In addition to All-American honors, he was one of only a handful of players to earn first team All-Big Eight honors three times.

 

Boozer was a charter member of the K-State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1990 and his No. 30 jersey was among the first retired by the school in 2005, joining Ernie Barrett and teammate Jack Parr.

 

Although he played nearly 60 years ago, Boozer still ranks among numerous Top 10 lists for single-game, single-season and career records at K-State, including first in career 20-point games (45), second in career scoring average (21.9 ppg.), career 30-point games (10), fourth in career rebounds (824) and fifth in career points scored (1,685). He still owns the all-time marks for free throws made (529) and attempted (702), while his 23 makes (on 26 attempts) against Purdue on Dec. 1, 1958 remains No. 1 on the chart for most free throws made in a game.

 

Boozer averaged a then school-record 25.6 points per game as a senior en route to leading the school to the Big Eight regular season title with a perfect 14-0 mark and the No. 1 ranking in the final regular season poll of 1959. The scoring mark stood for nearly 50 years until Michael Beasleyaveraged 26.2 points per game in 2007-08. Boozer and the Wildcats came within a game of its second consecutive Final Four, losing the Midwest Regional Final to No. 5 Cincinnati and fellow Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson.

 

The first Wildcat to play on an Olympic team, Boozer was part of the gold-medal winning 1960 U.S. Olympic team that was enshrined into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010. Touted as the greatest basketball team in Olympic history, the 1960 U.S. squad went a perfect 8-0 in winning gold in Rome, averaging 101.9 points a game and posting an average margin of victory of 42.4 points. Boozer averaged 6.8 points per game in playing in all eight games. Coached by legendary coach Pete Newell, 10 members of the 12-man roster went on to play in the NBA.

 

Boozer was the No. 1 pick of the 1959 NBA Draft by the Cincinnati Royals. He went on to play 11 seasons in the NBA for six different teams, including a four-year stint for the Royals from 1960-63 and again from 1963-64. He led the Milwaukee Bucks to the 1971 NBA title in his final season. Twice he averaged better than 20 points per game for the Chicago Bulls in 1967-68 and 1968-69. He scored 12,964 points (14.8 ppg.) on 46.2 percent shooting during his NBA career with 7,119 rebounds and 1,237 assists in 874 games.

 

Following his professional career, Boozer returned his hometown of Omaha, where he built a career with Northwestern Bell (now CenturyLink). He passed away on May 19, 2012 at the age of 75 and is survived by his wife of 46 years, Ella.

 

–www.kstatesports.com–

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

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma State has hired Stephen F. Austin coach Brad Underwood as its men’s basketball coach at Oklahoma State.

Oklahoma State made the announcement in a news release Monday.

Underwood earned his first head coaching position in 1988 at Dodge City Community College in Dodge City, Kan., where he spent four seasons as the program’s head coach, guiding the Conquistadors to a 62-60 record from 1988-93. His 1990-91 squad compiled a 23-9 record and was ranked as high as No. 4 in the nation.

A native of McPherson, Kan., he and his wife, Susan, have one son, Tyler, and two daughters, Katie and Ashley.

In three seasons at SFA, Underwood compiled an 89-14 record and set a program record with an .864 winning percentage. The Lumberjacks lost to Notre Dame 76-75 in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday.

The three-time Southland Conference Coach of the Year went 53-1 in league play and posted a 59-1 record against Southland foes. He led the Lumberjacks to three straight conference regular season and tournament titles.

Before that, Underwood was associate head coach for a season at South Carolina and a year at Kansas State.

Underwood played at Kansas State from 1984-1986.

Oklahoma State will formally introduce Underwood on Wednesday. The school parted ways with Travis Ford last week.