Release from Chris Kutz, Assistant Director, Athletics Communications

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Western Carolina’s Bryson Bowman hit a three-run home run in a four-run top of the seventh as K-State lost the series opener to the Catamounts, 7-5, on Friday at Tointon Family Stadium. 

 

The Wildcats (11-7) entered the seventh holding onto a 4-3 lead gained with a four-run fifth, but a leadoff double followed by an RBI single from Danny Bermudez and a walk drawn by Matt Smith, all surrendered by Jordan Floyd, set up the game-winning homer by Bowman. The right fielder for Western Carolina (7-10) hit his fourth home run of the season off Mitch Zubradt, which was the first homer allowed by the freshman this season.

 

“Zubradt came into a pressure situation and fell behind 3-1. It was a hitter’s count, he threw the ball down the middle, and (Bowman) hammered it,” said K-State head coach Brad Hill. “We had a 0-2 pitch that we did not throw it where we wanted to (on a two-run double in the fifth), and there are two RBIs. Then we come back to a 3-1 count with a hitter in the seventh, and they get the home run. There were just some bad pitching mistakes. That is what creates the big innings. Right now, we are not making good pitches to minimize innings.”

 

The Catamounts out-hit the Wildcats, 12-8, as every Western Carolina batter had at least one hit. For K-State, three hitters – Clayton Dalrymple, Josh Rolette and Jake Scudder – had two hits each. Dalrymple had the second of his hits in the eighth when he delivered a two-out RBI single to make it 7-5.

 

The run was the only damage allowed by Colton Davis as the reliever neutralized K-State after it took the lead in the fifth. The right-hander struck out seven, including five over his first seven batters, in 4 1/3 innings to earn the winning decision.

 

“When they brought in Davis, we lost command of the strike zone,” said Hill. “He had a lot of velocity and was able to punch us out with balls out of the zone. We just had bad zone discipline. When we had strike zone discipline (in the eighth), we actually put together an inning. We did not do enough of that.”

 

K-State starting pitcher Levi MaVorhis did not factor into the decision after he was responsible for three unearned runs over 4 2/3 innings. The senior struck out four, giving him a team-best 34 on the season, while he did not issue a walk for the second straight start.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – Megan Daines scored 11 of her 14 points in the second half including the go-ahead foul shot as No. 9 seed Kansas State rallied past eighth-seeded George Washington 56-51 in a women’s NCAA Tournament first-round game Friday.

The Wildcats (19-12) used a 14-5 burst in the third quarter including her foul shot for Kansas State’s first lead of the game, 39-38, with 37 seconds left in the period.

George Washington (26-7) kept things tight, trailing 52-51 on Jonquel Jones foul shot with 20.1 seconds left.

But the Wildcats made four of six free throws down the stretch to open the NCAA Tournament with a victory for the eighth time in their last nine appearances.

Jones had 20 points, 13 rebound and six blocks for the Colonials.

 

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) – Top Royals prospect Raul Mondesi tripled, singled and drove in two runs as Kansas City beat the Los Angeles Angels 7-4 Friday in a game between split squads.

Mondesi, who made his major league debut in last year’s World Series, tripled to lead off the third inning and scored on Tony Cruz’s double. Mondesi’s fourth-inning single scored Jorge Bonifacio and Bubba Starling.

Cody Decker and Frank Schwindel homered for the Royals. Decker hit a prodigious drive to left field on Al Albuquerque’s first pitch in the sixth.

Angels starter Matt Shoemaker gave up four runs and seven hits over five innings.

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State rowing will look for a strong result coming out of its spring camp as it gets set to race against Tulsa on the Verdigris River in Catoosa, Oklahoma on Saturday.

 

“Coming off of the Oklahoma race, we have had a full week of training on the water,” head coach Patrick Sweeney said. “The interesting thing will be seeing how much speed we gained over this week. It also allowed me to look at different seating positions. With a week on the water, we have had a few changes.”

 

In the team’s last race against Oklahoma, the team saw some real positives that they used in training heading into this weekend’s competition. The race against the Sooners was just the third time since January that the team had been on the water.

 

Sweeney believes that with this week on the water under their belts, the team is making a lot of progress and that they are where he believes they need to be.

 

“The team is looking good,” Sweeney added about the team. “We are heading in the right direction. It has been a good week of training and preparation. It looks like the boats are getting faster.”

 

K-State swept the Golden Hurricane during last season’s meeting between the two programs, earning victories in the 1^st Varsity 8, 2^nd Varsity 8, 3^rd Varsity 8, 4^th Varsity 8 and 1^st Varsity 4 races.

 

Competition is set to begin at 11 a.m. CT and continue until about 12:30 p.m. CT. Updates from the race can be found by following @kstate_gameday on Twitter.

 

For the latest on K-State women’s rowing, follow @kstatesports and @KStateROW on Twitter using the hashtag #KStateROW or on the team’s Facebook page.

 

Race Schedule

11:00 a.m. – KSU 3V8, Tulsa 3V8, Tulsa Light 8

11:45 a.m. – KSU 1V8 and 2V8, Tulsa 1V8 and 2v8s

Noon – KSU V4B, Tulsa Light 4A and Light 4

12:15 p.m. – KSU V4A, Tulsa V4A and V4B

 

 

–www.kstatesports.com–

Josh Brunner / Graduate Assistant, Athletic Communications

 

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Kansas City Chiefs signed Mississippi State track and field standout Tautvydas Kieras on Friday, even though the projected linebacker never played football for the Bulldogs.

The 6-foot-3, 271-pound Lithuanian set the school record in the discus and was accomplished in the shot put. But with his college career wrapping up, Kieras decided to give football a try. After training in Las Vegas for Mississippi State’s pro day, he pushed 225 pounds 24 times on the bench press, jumped 35 inches in the vertical and posted a sub-4.7-second 40-yard dash.

The Chiefs have a history of signing players without much football experience. Tight end Demetrius Harris played basketball for Wisconsin-Milwaukee before catching on with the team.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Svi Mykhailiuk scored a career-high 23 points, Perry Ellis added 21 and top-seeded Kansas throttled Austin Peay 105-79 on Thursday in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

Landen Lucas scored 16 points for the Jayhawks (31-4), who will face Connecticut on Saturday with a chance to return to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2013.

Kansas, the No. 1 seed in the South Region, jumped ahead by 20 by halftime and in cruised to its 10th straight win in an NCAA Tournament opener.

Josh Robinson scored 24 points for the Governors (18-18), who learned quickly that the magic they leaned on to win four straight and the Ohio Valley title was no match for talent-laded Jayhawks.

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) – Kendrys Morales hit his first home run this spring, helping the Kansas City Royals to a 5-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday.

Morales hit a 2-run shot off Dodgers left-hander J.P. Howell over left field in a four-run fifth inning.

Morales also singled in the first off Dodgers left-hander Alex Wood, who gave up one run on four hits in three innings in his second spring start.

Royals right-hander Kris Medlen worked four innings in his third spring start, giving up one run on three hits and striking out four.

Release by K-State Athletics – Chris Kutz, Assistant Director, Athletics Communications

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Tyler Wolfe drove in a career-high four runs and was one of five Wildcats with a multi-hit effort in a 15-hit barrage as K-State beat Stephen F. Austin, 11-5, on Wednesday at Tointon Family Stadium to split the two-game midweek series.

 Wolfe had a two-run single in the first and sixth innings to help the Wildcats (11-6) score in seven of their eight times up to bat. The senior also reached base safely four times in his five plate appearances as he drew a game-high two walks.

 While Wolfe had two hits, Quintin Crandall, Jake Scudder and Jake Wodtke each had three safeties to go with at least one RBI. Crandall, making his first start since March 4, posted his new career-high in hits while he added an RBI and two runs scored. Scudder went 3-for-4 with an RBI in the seventh on a single and another on a force out in K-State’s two-run seventh. Wodtke, meanwhile, snapped a 3-for-18 stretch over his last five games by going 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs.

 “We started out the game just the way we wanted to,” said K-State head coach Brad Hill. “We put a zero up in the top (of the first), which was big. Then we came out and put a two-spot up, which takes some of the pressure off (Logan Wiley) on the mound. Steve Serratore goes down (last night), and you have (Wolfe) step up (today) and get four RBIs in the three hole. It was good to see (Crandall) break out as he got three hits down in the nine hole.”

 A night after going 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position, K-State had seven hits in its 16 RBI opportunities on Wednesday. Wolfe was a perfect 2-for-2 in such situations.

 “It was a better approach today, no doubt,” said Hill. “We were not very pleased with last night’s performance. After they got the lead on us, we just really went flat, could not recover very well. We tried to simplify something today. You saw some more hits go through the middle and guys got on top of the baseball better. Just a better day offensively.”

 K-State starting pitcher Logan Wiley picked up his first career win in his second career start after he held the Lumberjacks (9-9) to two hits and no runs over a career-long four innings. The freshman never allowed any of his five baserunners to reach past first base.

 Reliever Brogan einen was unblemished in his three innings of work following Wiley as the freshman turned in his fourth scoreless appearance of the season. The freshman allowed a double and a walk while also hitting a batter over the fifth through seventh frames.

 “Those two young guys (Wiley and Heinen) were just outstanding,” said Hill. “Logan Wiley was really good and set zeroes out there. They gave us exactly what we needed today. We were a little thin in the bullpen. We got through seven innings with those two young guys.

MANHATTAN, Kan. – After closing out a successful indoor campaign this past weekend, the Kansas State track and field team opens up the 2016 outdoor season as it prepares to compete in the UTSA Invitational in San Antonio, Texas on Friday and Saturday.

 

This weekend’s competition will be the first time that the Wildcats compete in the meet, which began during the 2014 season. The Wildcats will go head-to-head against Houston, Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Wichita State and the host UTSA.

 

During the indoor season, the Wildcats saw two athletes win individual titles at the 2016 Indoor NCAA National Championships in Birmingham, Alabama, as seniors Akela Jones and Dani Winters won the championships in their respective events.

 

Jones won the high jump title with a mark of 1.87m/6-01.50 to claim the second national championship of her career and her first indoor title, while Winters used a massive throw of 17.97m/58-11.50 in shot put to win the first national championship of her career.

 

K-State also saw success at the indoor conference meet as five athletes won a total of seven individual titles. Those athletes were: Jones (high jump, long jump, 60 meter hurdles); Ifeanyichukwu Otuonye (long jump); Christoff Bryan (high jump); Sonia Gaskin (600 yard run); Brady Grunder (weight throw).

 

During last year’s outdoor season, the Wildcats also saw numerous athletes perform well at the national and conference meets and will look to continue their success outdoors.

 

14 athletes represented Kansas State at the Outdoor NCAA National Championships last June including Jones, who won the heptathlon national title with a school-record mark of 6,371 points. It was also the first female national champion since 2011 when Ryann Krais won the heptathlon title.

 

The Wildcats also had five conference titles at last season’s outdoor conference meet, including Otuonye, Winters, Sara Savatovic and Kimberly Williamson.

 

Competition is set to begin at noon CT on Friday afternoon with the women’s weight throw and men’s javelin throw. Saturday’s running schedule for field is slated to begin at 11 a.m.. CT, while the running schedule for track events begins at 2 p.m. CT.

 

Live updates from the meet can be found on Twitter by following @kstate_gameday. Live results for the meet can be found here.

 

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.

 

 

–www.kstatesports.com–

 

————
Josh Brunner
Graduate Assistant | Athletics Communications

When the Kansas Jayhawks play Austin Peay Thursday in the NCAA Basketball Tournament one player on the Austin Peay team has a tie to Junction City.

According to Mary Devin of Junction City, Zach Glotta plays for the Governors. He is the son of former Junction City High School boys head basketball coach Charles Glotta and his wife Venus. A freshman, Zach Glotta is a point guard who averaged approximately 15 minutes of playing time, 3.2 points, and 1.2 steals per game this seaon. He was an outstanding high school player in Missouri for his father at Fort Zumwalt North High School, where he received Missouri Basketball Coaches All-State honors, and second-team St. Louis All-Metro honors.