The Mid-Plains League 2015 Player of the Year is Ethan Klosterboer of the Junction City Brigade.

Klosterboer hit .471 in 20 games this summer, with 24 hits, 16 runs, 12 rbi, an on-base percentage of .609 and a slugging percentage of .510.

Ethan is currently attending Kansas State University where he just finished his freshman season with the Wildcats.

DALLAS (AP) – Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby doesn’t believe his league is at any disadvantage with 10 teams, and says there isn’t any real push for expansion.

Bowlsby said Monday that a majority of the Big 12 presidents and chancellors “at the present time” believe 10 is the right number for the league.

The commissioner’s comments at the start of the league’s football media days came less than a month after Oklahoma President David Boren suggested the Big 12 should strive to again be a 12-team league. Boren believes the Big 12 is “psychologically disadvantaged” being a smaller conference.

Bowlsby says some Big 12 leaders feel strongly about staying at 10, others feel the same about expanding, and others in middle could be persuaded either way.

The Mid-Plains League Pitcher of the Year for 2015 is Tyuler Davis of the Rossville Rattlers.

The award goes to the pitcher who has made the biggest impact on the mound. Each team nominated one pitcher and cast their vote for one winner. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own pitcher.

Davis currently attends the University of Kansas, where he just finished his sophomore season with the Jayhawks.

He pitched 38 innings for the Rattlers this season, with a 1.18 ERA, 50 strike outs with just 17 walks. Davis gave up five earned runs and just 20 hits.

Kansas State has seven quarterbacks on their football roster going into the fall.

Bill Snyder was asked about that during Big 12 Media Days in Dallas Monday, and about the summer transfer of of quarterback Jonathan Banks…what he possesses and how he might fit into the mix.

Snyder told the media he thought probably four of the quarterbacks should be competitive for the position, and Kansas State will go into their two-a-day practices with that in mind. “It’s hard to get all the repetitions you would like with four guys sharing the opportunities, so it will be significant for us to be able to pare that down as quickly as we possibly can. I don’t know how fast that will be. Right now they’re all on equal footing.

Snyder noted three of them went through spring practice, and Banks, who just recently joined the Wildcats is an athletic young guy. “We haven’t seen him in a practice environment yet. So that remains to be seen. But he will be one of the four probably that will be certainly in competition for the position.”

The K-State coach was also asked if he could envision a scenario where maybe the Wildcats platoon quarterbacks, or play two. Snyder responded by saying, “You know, it’s possible. We’ve done it. When you have two, it’s not my favorite thing to do. I don’t exclude anything, most people wouldn’t, but that’s not our intent at this particular point in time. Our intent is just exactly as I had indicated, is try to sort through what we have and work our way into positions where we have a quarterback.”

Snyder added K-State has played two quarterbacks on the field at the same time. And he wrapped up his comments on the subject by saying, “But at the end of the day the bottom line is I concur with what most people would say, you’re better served to have one than two. You can define that a lot of different ways. I’m pleased that we have four, but we do have to have a number one out of those four, and that’s the direction we’re trying to go.”

CHICAGO (AP) – The Kansas City Royals have recalled right-hander Yohan Pino from Triple-A Omaha and optioned reliever Brandon Finnegan to their top farm club.

Finnegan pitched two scoreless innings and got the win when Kansas City beat the Chicago White Sox 7-6 in 13 innings on Saturday. The Royals used seven relievers in the victory, and manager Ned Yost wanted another fresh arm in the bullpen for the series finale on Sunday.

Finnegan, the 17th overall pick in the 2014 draft, is 3-0 with a 2.96 ERA in 14 games this year with Kansas City.

Pino is 0-2 with a 3.26 ERA in seven appearances with the Royals this season.

CHICAGO (AP) – Danny Duffy took a shutout into the ninth inning in the longest outing of his career, and the surging Kansas City Royals beat Chris Sale and the Chicago White Sox 4-1 on Sunday.

Lorenzo Cain and Paulo Orlando homered as Kansas City (55-35) moved a season-high 20 games above .500. The AL Central leaders took three of four in the weekend series and have won 11 of 14 overall.

Duffy (4-4) gave up rookie Tyler Saladino’s leadoff drive in the ninth for his first career homer. Joe Blanton then came in and got the last three outs for his first career save in his 278th major league game.

Blanton, a starter for most of his career, got the save opportunity after Kansas City split a doubleheader on Friday, and then used seven relievers in Saturday’s 13-inning victory.

Sale (8-5) allowed four runs and a season-high 11 hits in 6 1/3 innings.

The Junction City Brigade completed a three-game weekend sweep of the Liberty Monarchs at Rathert Field with a 12-4 victory Saturday night.

The Monarchs jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning but powered by a Bret Nickle home run, four other hits, and three walks in the bottom of the first, Junction City scored five runs to take the lead. They never trailed again in the ballgame.

Brigade coach Seth Wheeler feels his team is playing their best baseball in several weeks as they prepare to head into the Mid-Plains League Tournament this next week. Wheeler noted the Brigade have finished second in the seven-team conference regular season standings — behind the Midwest Athletics .

A year ago Junction City had the second best regular season mark and went on to win the league tournament, and capture the Cowdin Cup that goes to the champion.  Wheeler knows his team is aware of that heading into the tournament this year. “I think the guys know it. I think we only have three or four returners from last year. It’s not like these guys were necessarily here, the majority of them. But they know about it.”

Tournament pairings have not yet been released.

CHICAGO (AP) — Lorenzo Cain homered in the 13th inning and the Kansas City Royals outlasted the Chicago White Sox 7-6 Saturday in a game that took nearly five hours.

The AL Central-leading Royals won for the 10th time in 13 games.

Cain doubled and singled early, then led off the 13th with his ninth home run of the season. He connected against Dan Jennings (1-3).

Brandon Finnegan (3-0) pitched two scoreless innings in the four-hour, 56-minute game. Ryan Madson earned his first save in three chances after allowing a single in the 13th.

The Royals finished with 17 hits, including five doubles.

The Junction City Reds 14 and Under Babe Ruth baseball team lost to Mid-Kansas at Mount Hope, Kansas in postseason play Friday night by the score of 12-6.

Mid-Kansas scored six runs in the second inning to grab the lead in the game.  The Reds later closed the gap to 9-6 when a walk by Jorden Butler and an error triggered the Reds’ comeback.

Mid-Kansas finished the game with 12 runs, nine hits and four errors. For the Reds the totals were 6 runs, three hits, and eight errors.

The Reds record is 15-5.