The East team defeated the West 21-0 in the 41st annual Kansas Shrine Bowl football game Saturday night in Hays.

Tony Barksdale of Shawnee Heights scored two touchdowns in the win for the East.

The West squad had won eight of the previous nine meetings.

Top seniors from Kansas High School football teams of the previous season play in the Shrine Bowl, which also helps raise funds for a network of 22 Shriner’s  Hospitals  for Children and their patients.

Junction City was represented on the West team by Tyriq Nas-Carmickle at a nickel back position on defense, and by Blue Jay head football coach Randall Zimmerman, who served as the defensive coordinator.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Alcides Escobar singled home Paulo Orlando with two outs in the 10th inning to lift the Kansas City Royals to a 2-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday night.

Orlando singled off Will Harris (4-3) with one out and stole second before Escobar’s game-winning looper to shallow right gave the Royals the win and snapped the Astros’ five-game winning streak.

Kelvin Herrera (2-2) pitched a scoreless 10th to pick up the victory.

Carlos Correa’s sacrifice fly gave the Astros a 1-0 lead in the sixth, and the Royals tied it on Salvador’s sacrifice fly in the seventh.

The thunderstorm that swept through Junction City Saturday afternoon has forced officials to move the Brigade baseball game that was scheduled tonight at Rathert Field to Rossville.

Junction City and Rossville will play the final game of their Cowdin Cup postseason playoff series in Rossville at 8’oclock Saturday night. The winner of the game will advance to the tournament championship game Sunday in Belton, Missouri.

The Junction City Brigade and Rossville Rattlers will play one game Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Rathert Field to decide the winner of their semifinal round playoff series in the postseason tournament for the Mid Plains League.

The Rattlers defeated Junction City 8-7 in ten innings Friday night in Rossville to even their playoff series at one win apiece.  The Rattlers got the win when Michael Higgins hit a deep shot to right field that was caught, but it was deep enough to allow Jeff Tristen to score from third for the winning run.

It appeared Rossville would get a 7-2 victory but with two out in the bottom of the ninth after the Brigade had scored one run  Josh Kunzman of Junction City hit a grand slam home run to tie the game at 7-7 and force extra innings. On the pitch he hit, “I got a slider there. I got a fastball, kind of ran it in on me the first pitch, and then decided to go with the slider the second pitch. He just left it up and over the middle.”

Junction City defeated Rossville in game one of the series Thursday night 19-8.  The winner of the contest Saturday night will advance to the championship game of the Cowdin Cup Playoffs on Sunday. In the other semifinal series the Midwest Athletics won that with a 7-2 victory over the Liberty Monarchs, to claim that series and advance to the title game on Sunday.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Scott Kazmir pitched seven strong innings in his Houston debut, leading the Astros to a 4-0 win over the Kanas City Royals on Friday night.

The 31-year-old left-hander limited the Royals to three singles and only runner – Mike Moustakas in the fourth – past first base. Kazmir (6-5), who lowered his ERA to 2.24, retired the final nine batters he faced.

Kazmir, acquired by the Astros from Oakland on Thursday for two minor leaguers, hasn’t lost a July start since July 10, 2010, going 7-0 in his past 14 starts.

Preston Tucker had three of the Astros’ hits, including his fourth home run in five games – a solo shot in the third inning. Colby Rasmus singled home Carlos Correa later in the inning to make it 2-0.

Correa, a 20-year-old rookie who extended his hitting streak to nine games, and Jose Altuve each singled home a run in the fourth inning.

Left-hander Tony Sipp walked Moustakas and gave up a single to Eric Hosmer in the ninth, which prompted manager A.J. Hinch to summon closer Luke Gregerson for the final two outs. Gregerson logged his 21st save in 24 opportunities, getting Kendrys Morales to ground into a game inning double play.

Royals right-hander Jeremy Guthrie (7-6) gave up four runs on 11 hits, matching his season high, and two walks in seven innings. It was the eighth time this season and his third straight start Guthrie has allowed at least eight hits.

The Astros won their fifth straight and are 6-1 since the All-Star break. The Royals are 0-4 against the Astros this season.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Kansas City Royals have recalled infielder Cheslor Cuthbert from Triple-A Omaha and sent down infielder Dusty Coleman.

The AL Central leaders made the move before Friday night’s game against Houston.

The 22-year-old Cuthbert played four games with the Royals earlier this month, hitting .333 with two RBIs in his first major league stint. He also played in the All-Star Futures Game this month.

Cuthbert hit .272 with eight home runs and 38 RBIs at Omaha.

Coleman went 0 for 5 in four games for Kansas City, striking out three times.

The following is a release by Kansas State University Athletic Director John Currie.

“Good morning K-State Nation!

I trust everyone is safely managing the heat as it is officially summertime in Kansas!  Fortunately, the AC is fully operational inside the new Vanier Family Football Complex as our friends at Mortenson/GE Johnson and Populous and their fine sub-contractors finish up the details on this transformational new building.

If you’ve driven by Bill Snyder Family Stadium lately, you will notice the tremendous progress being made as we are now just a few weeks away from the football staff moving into their new headquarters after eight months of temporary accommodations in the West Stadium Center.  The entire K-State Nation should take great pride in the detail and aesthetics of the new facility.

Today I am excited to provide you a special update on the timing of the next step of the Bill Snyder Family Stadium Master Plan.  We have spoken previously about our desire to “complete the bowl” with what we refer to as “Phase IIIB” of the Master Plan – which will connect the east side of the stadium to the brand new north concourse and fully enclose BSFS.  This northeast addition will also house the visiting team locker, training and officials areas, and, in keeping with our goal of having The Best Fan Experience in the Big 12, an awesome new video board that will match the new screen erected on the northwest corner of the stadium.

In keeping with our commitment to fiscal responsibility, we will not commence construction until we have secured private funding for this next step, but of course, we have been actively fundraising for this project with a tentative goal of $15 million as we also conduct preliminary design development.

Earlier this month we took a huge leap forward toward this goal thanks to a transformational leadership gift by Carl and Mary Ice for Phase IIIB, which coupled with several commitments earlier this year, propels us to just over half of our goal for this project!  The Ices have played a critical leadership role in all of our recent facility projects, including the BTF, WSC and VFC, and they have a deep heart and passion for K-State.

For those of you who have not had the chance to meet this wonderful K-State family, Carl and Mary reside in Westlake, Texas.  Carl is the President and CEO of BNSF Railway and a 1979 graduate of the College of Engineering and serves as a member of the KSU Foundation Board of Directors, while Mary is a 1980 graduate of the College of Human Ecology and earned a Masters from the College of Education. Their daughter, Karen, is an attorney residing in Manhattan and their son, Marshall (’03), and their daughter-in-law, Megan (’04) are both K-State graduates.  Carl and Mary have been longtime and generous supporters of Engineering, Human Ecology and the Alumni Association, among other K-State interests, and have been equally generous with their time through the years.  We appreciate their friendship and generosity as we continue to move forward in our goal of being a Model Intercollegiate Athletics Program.  Please join me in thanking Carl, Mary and the entire Ice family for their incredible leadership.

Of course we still have much more work to do to reach our goal and make Phase IIIB a reality, so stay tuned for more information, including initial drawings and photos, on Phase IIIB of the BSFS Master Plan.

The 2015 football season is fast approaching, as Coach Snyder and members of our team just returned from Dallas and the annual Big 12 Media Days on Monday. We are closing in on 27 straight sellouts at Bill Snyder Family Stadium as fewer than 500 seats remain for the season finale on December 5, and all other games are down to scattered singles and SRO seats. We will have more information surrounding our K-StateHD.TV televised season opener against South Dakota on September 5 over the next few weeks.

Enjoy the rest of July, and thank you for the national standard you are setting for passionate fan support!

Go Cats!

John”

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Chiefs cornerback Sean Smith has been suspended the first three games of the regular season by the NFL after pleading guilty to a drunken driving charge earlier this year.

Smith, who was given two years’ probation, is entering a contract year after one of the best seasons of his career. He will miss games against Houston, Denver and Green Bay before returning for the Chiefs’ game against Cincinnati in Week 4.

The 28-year-old Smith started all 16 games for Kansas City last season.

Under the NFL substance abuse policy, first-time offenders receive two-game suspensions. But there can be additional discipline depending on the circumstances, and Smith was pulled over by police last year after his car struck and broke a light pole.

The Junction City Blue Jay football program will be represented in the Kansas Shrine Bowl game Saturday night in Hays.

Blue Jay head coach Randall Zimmerman will serve as the defensive coordinator for the West team, while a standout from the 2014 Blue Jay team, Tyrik Nas-Carmickle will play at a nickel back position for the West team on defense.

Kickoff is scheduled at 7:05 p.m. at Fort Hays State University.

Proceeds raised from the game will go to benefit the network of 22 Shriner’s Hospitals for Children and their patients.

CATCHITKANSAS.com has pot together a list of “Best Coaches in Kansas Shrine Bowl History on their web site.

Randall Zimmerman, Junction City, made the list. Counting this year he will have coached in six different Shrine Bowl games, twice as head coach, and this year as the Defensive Coordinator for the West team.

Zimmerman has coached in the Shrine Bowl in 1988, 1995, 1996, 2009, 2010, and this year, 2015. Five of those appearances were during his tenure as the Junction City Blue Jay head football coach.

Other coaches on the list included C. J. Hamilton, Roger Barta, Ed Krisiel, Weston Schartz, Brooks Barta, Jon Bingesser, Larry Garman, Steve Wagner, and Mark Templin.

This year’s Shrine Bowl matching the top football players from the 2014 senior classes at Kansas high schools will be played Saturday night in Hays. There is one former Blue Jay player on the West team. Tyriq Nas-Carmickle will play as a nickel back for the defense.