MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Stepping into the batter’s box in the eighth inning, Mitch Garver was thinking home run. So were his teammates, with four players in the dugout predicting Garver would hit one.

Garver knew he had to step out and reset. His teammates sat back and enjoyed their prognostication.

Garver’s two-run homer in the eighth inning snapped a scoreless tie, and Kyle Gibson gave up two hits in eight innings in the Minnesota Twins’ 2-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.

“As soon as it was off the bat, I was up yelling for it to keep going,” Gibson said. “So yeah, that was a pretty exciting moment and the fans got loud. Even (Max) Kepler afterwards said, ‘Man, this place gets loud, huh?’ I was like ‘Yeah.’ When it’s sold out and that type of at-bat, the fans let us hear it. That was pretty cool.”

Garver’s homer was deep to the berm in center field off Kansas City reliever Jake Diekman (0-4) after Kepler had walked. Minnesota has won 16 of its past 22 games and started a big weekend at Target Field with three expected sellouts and Joe Mauer’s number retirement ceremony on Saturday.

The Junction City Brigade  ( 9-2 ) put nine runs on the scoreboard in the first four innings and rolled to a 9-2 victory over the Manhattan Barnstormers 18 and under team at Rathert Field.

Carson Sader led the way with a second inning home run off of Wade Reynolds while Tyler Halstead and George Specht both hit triples enroute to the win for Junction City. Jake Taylor pitched five innings to get the victory on the mound. Ryan Brown, Thane McDaniel and Riley Taylor all pitched in relief and did not give up a run.

Brigade coach Derek Francis said the matchup with the Barnstormers gives Junction City an opportunity to work on some things.”It’s baseball, anything can happen. And I think our guys have done a pretty good job of staying locked in and ready to play. ”

The Brigade will host the Barnstormers again Saturday night at 7 p.m.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PRETTY PRAIRIE, Kan. (AP) — A fisherman has reeled in a record-breaking, 66-pound (30 kilogram) bigmouth buffalo at a Kansas reservoir.

The Wichita Eagle reports that Trey Patterson, from Cheney, caught the 45.75 inch (116 centimeter) fish on June 8 while out with his father and brother-in-law on the east side of Refuge Point at the Cheney Reservoir.

When he first felt a bite on his line, Patterson thought he had a big wiper fish because that’s what they had been fishing for and that type of fish is known to fight back. He says it took about 25 minutes to reel it in.

It weighed 4 pounds (1.8 kilograms) more than the previous record-holder that a bowfisher caught in 2016 in Milford Reservoir.

 

The Junction City Brigade defeated the Manhattan Barnstormers 11-1 Thursday night at Rathert Field. The Brigade reported that the game was called after seven innings due to a 10-run rule.

Junction City, 7-2, will host the Barnstormers again Friday night at Rathert Field. The first pitch is scheduled at 7 p.m.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nicky Lopez couldn’t have imagined a better homecoming to Omaha.

The rookie hit his first major league home run in the stadium where he played college ball, starting the Kansas City Royals’ scoring in a 7-3 win over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday night in the first big league regular season game played in Nebraska.

“I knew a lot of college friends and coaches here and people around the community,” said Lopez, who played for Creighton University from 2014-16. “I didn’t know it was gone. I knew I hit it pretty good, maybe a double or triple.”

The game at TD Ameritrade Park coincided with the buildup to the College World Series, which begins Saturday. All eight CWS teams were among the sellout crowd of 25,454 and participated in a pregame ceremony with the major league teams.

“It was fun. The energy level was fun,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Every time I turned around, all I saw was Royals hats and shirts. That was great to see. I wanted us to come in here and put on a good show for our fans in Omaha.”

Lopez hit just one home run in 75 games at TD Ameritrade as a collegian. The second baseman returned to Omaha 8 for 61 in his previous 15 games and sat out Wednesday’s game in Kansas City before going 2 for 4.

In his first trip to the plate, he lined Matthew Boyd’s 1-1 pitch into the right field bullpen leading off the third inning. Martin Maldonado followed with a double and came home when Boyd was called for a balk.

The Royals tacked on three runs in the fourth and one each the next two innings on their way to their highest run total since May 29. They had scored a total of eight runs over their previous four games.

Lopez got a high-five from Yost when he returned to the dugout after his home run.

“The funny thing was I asked him, ‘Nicky, is your dad sitting home watching?'” Yost said. “He said, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘I hate to tell you the (ESPN) TV truck just broke down and they weren’t televising then.’ That was a shame.”

Kansas City starter Homer Bailey (5-6) gave up a pair of singles, walked three, hit a batter and struck out six before Jorge Lopez came on to start the seventh. Dawel Lugo tripled past diving right fielder Whit Merrifield and scored on a groundout for the Tigers’ first run.

The Royals won two of three over the Tigers for their first series win since April 12-14 against Cleveland.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas has landed small forward Jalen Wilson, the last remaining top-50 prospect, to polish off a recruiting class that will finish among the top 20 in the country.

The 6-foot-8 Wilson was a longtime commit to Michigan, but he reopened his recruitment when coach John Beilein left the Wolverines for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Wilson took visits to North Carolina and Kansas before making his pledge to the Jayhawks public on Wednesday.

Kansas missed out on several elite prospects early in the recruiting cycle, but coach Bill Self finished strongly by landing a quartet of four-star prospects in Wilson, fellow forward Tristan Enaruna and top-150 guards Isaac McBride and Christian Braun.

The Jayhawks also landed Iowa graduate transfer Isaiah Moss this week.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Adalberto Mondesi and Terrance Gore used their speed to help the Kansas City Royals rally for a win.

Mondesi and Jorge Soler had consecutive one-out doubles in the eighth inning to tie it, and pinch-runner Gore stole third and scored the go-ahead run on Cheslor Cuthbert’s ensuing single to lead the Royals to a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night.

Kansas City manager Ned Yost credited Mondesi for “a hustle double” — for his third hit of the game — to start the rally. He then scored on Soler’s hit off Victor Alcantara (2-1). Gore ran for Soler, stole third and scored on Cuthbert’s single between three fielders in right field to give the Royals their first lead of the game.

Members of the Junction City Greco / Freestyle Wrestling Club brought home a combined total of 10 state championships from the recent state tournament.

In the Greco competition Junction City finished third in the Kids team scoring, with state championships by Tucker Sell at 102 pounds in the 14 and under division, and Patrick Foxworth at 110 pounds in the 14 and under age group.

Winning state titles in the Kids freestyle were Keyen Koochel at 54-59 pounds in the 10 and under division, Tucker Sell at 102 in 14 and under, Jaime Villaneuva at 125 pounds in 14 and under, and in the girls freestyle Julianna Villaneuva at 85 pounds.

In the Junior – Cadet division in the Greco competition Junction City finished fourth as a team out of 103 squads. Hunter Taylor won the state championship at 94 pounds and C.J. Neumann at 145 pounds in Cadet.  In freestyle Junction City finished ninth in team scoring with Elisa Robinson winning state in Junior at 180 pounds and Hunter Taylor at 94 pounds in Cadet.

 

The Junction City Brigade lost for just the second time this season on Monday evening. They fell in the capitol city to the Topeka Golden Giants 7-2.

The Brigade are 5-2 while the Golden Giants are 4-5.

The teams rematch Tuesday evening at Rathert Field in Junction City at 7 p.m.