The installation of sod in the outfield at Rathert Field was done last week. It will be awhile before the field can be playable because the new sod must be given time.
The infield will have an artificial turf. Opening day for the Junction City Brigade summer baseball team will be May 31st.
( Photos courtesy of Junction City Brigade Facebook ).
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Albert Pujols opened the weekend by passing Lou Gehrig on the career RBIs list and ended it by moving past Barry Bonds.
Pujols’ go-ahead, two-run double in the first inning Sunday started the Los Angeles Angels to a 7-3 win over the Kansas City Royals.
He pulled a fastball from Homer Bailey (2-3) just past third baseman Kelvin Gutierrez. Pujols has 1,997 RBIs and trails only Hank Aaron (2,297) and Alex Rodriguez (2,086) in RBIs, which became an official statistic in 1920.
Pujols did not speak with reporters after the game.
“He’s had an unbelievable career,” Angels manager Brad Ausmus said. “He continues to add onto it.”
Matt Harvey (1-2) got his first win with the Angels, allowing one run and two hits in seven innings.
“I thought he picked up where he left off in his last inning of his last outing,” Ausmus said. “He was aggressive. He attacked the hitters. His stuff was good. He threw some really good changeups and curveballs.”
Harvey lowered his ERA from 8.03 to 6.54 as the Angels won a road series for the first time this season.
“The big thing was putting together a decent start from the last outing. I was trying to keep that going. The thought crept into my head early this morning,” Harvey said. “I used that as energy to stay focused and keep my attention. I wasn’t striking out the world, but the guys were making plays behind me. I knew, especially with the wind blowing in, that I could attack the zone.”
The key pitches for Harvey were improved changeups and curveballs. Pitching coach Doug White has cautioned Harvey not to overuse his slider.
“For him to stay on me about the changeup and the curveball and going through the drills we do in between starts has been huge,” Harvey said.
Kansas City’s Alex Gordon, who faced Harvey in the 2015 World Series against the New York Mets, said the 30-year-old right-hander “kind of looked like the Matt Harvey of old.”
Bailey gave up six hits to his first 13 batters and retired his final 10. He allowed four runs in six innings as the Royals dropped to an AL-worst 9-19.
“I thought Homer didn’t have his best stuff today, but really grinded it out, really competed and really battled through it to get us six good innings,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said.
Tommy LaStella’s RBI groundout in the first and Andrelton Simmons’ RBI single in the third boosted the lead to 4-0.
“Soft singles, but singles nonetheless,” Bailey said. “Then Albert’s ball, if that’s 6 inches the other way it’s a double play. That’s just the way it goes with good hitters.”
Kansas City scored in the fourth without a hit when Alex Gordon reached on a wild pitch as he struck out, advanced on a walk, took third on a flyout and came home on Jorge Soler’s sacrifice fly.
Hunter Dozier’s RBI single off Ty Buttrey in the eighth cut the Royals’ deficit to 4-2. Justin Bour hit a three-run home run in the ninth against Ben Lively.
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State defensive back Duke Shelley heard his name called on the final day of the NFL Draft on Saturday as he was selected with the 33rd pick in the sixth round – No. 205 overall – by the Chicago Bears.
Shelley is the 10th Wildcat ever to be drafted by the Bears and the second in the last four years as he will join offensive lineman Cody Whitehair in Chicago.
Shelley, along with Dalton Risner, who was drafted by Denver in the second round, extended K-State’s NFL Draft streak to a Big 12-leading 26 years. That mark is now tied for 11th nationally with LSU after entering this year’s draft tied for 12th.
A native of Tucker, Georgia, Shelley was a mainstay at cornerback for the Wildcats, starting 37 games over his four-year career. He was a two-time All-Big 12 selection by the league’s coaches, earning honorable mention accolades as a junior and second-team honors as a senior. Shelley finished his career tied for fourth with two interception-return touchdowns, part of 39 passes defended during his four seasons.
RYAN LACKEY
Director of Football and Golf Communications | K-State Athletics
The Junction City Blue Jay boys and girls track teams turned in some strong performances at the Bob Camien-Claudia Welch Invitational meet Friday at Seaman High School in Topeka.
For the Lady Jays Keiana Newman won the 100 meter hurdles in 14.64 and the 300 meter hurdles in 48.21. Savannah Adams captured first place in the shot put with a throw of 41’4.25″ and Sherrie Jones was second with a throw of 39’11.50.” Adams also finished second in the discus with throw of 126’7.” The Lady Jays finished sixth in the team competition with 55.5 points.
For the Blue Jays the 4×100 relay team of Javontez Brime, Marcello Bussey, Aaron Hamilton and David Giddens finished first in 43.25, Juan Tovar was second in the 800 meter run in 1:59.50 and seventh in the 1600 meter run in 4:35.4. Marcello Bussey was fourth in the 400 meter dash in 51.84, Antonio Cooper fourth in the discus with a throw of 152’5,” and third in the shot put with a throw of 50’10.75.” Jesse Newson also finished fourth in the shot put with a throw of 49’2.75.” The Blue Jay boys finished fifth in the team competition with 45 points.
There were 26 schools represented with teams in the meet. On the boys side Bishop Carroll captured first place with 78.5 points while in the girls team competition Lawrence finished first with 103 points.
The Chapman Irish boys and girls track teams competed in the Beloit Relays Friday.
For the girls team Taylor Briggs finished fist in the 1600 meters in 5:14.63 and first in the 3200 meters in 11:14.81, Peyton Suther first in the jump at 5′ and first in the javelin with a throw of 125’7.” McKenna Kirkpatrick was second in the long jump at 16’2.25″ and second in the triple jump with a mark of 34’8.”
For the boys Blake Vercher finished first in the 400 meters in 51.14 and first in the long jump at 20’3.75.” The 4×100 relay team of Anthony Wasylk, Brandon Colston, Izek Jackson and Blake Vercher finished first in 44.01, the 4×400 relay team of Eli Winder, Brandon Colston, Izek Jackson and Blake Vercher first in 3:33.32, and the 4×800 relay team of Anthony Wasylk, Brandon Colston, JP Mitchell and Eli Winder first in 8:40.41.
Mitchell Tiller finished second in the pole vault at 12’1,” Izek Jackson second in the 200 meters in 23.39, Brandon Colston third in the high jump at 5’8.”
The Chapman girls finished fourth in the team scoring while the boys finished third.
The Junction City Blue Jay baseball team won game one of a doubleheader with Emporia 7-4 but the Spartans won the second game 10-9. The teams played in Emporia.
The Blue Jays are 10-6 on the season.
The Junction City Lady Jays fell to Emporia in softball on Friday at Cleary Field 10-0 in five innings and 7-1. The losses dropped Junction City to 4-12 on the season.
Junction City will host Washburn Rural in a doubleheader at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State offensive lineman Dalton Risner saw his NFL dream come to fruition with his hometown team on Friday night as the Wiggins, Colorado, native was selected in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos.
Risner, the No. 41 pick overall, becomes the highest Wildcat offensive lineman selected in the NFL Draft (Todd Weiner, Seattle, No. 47 in 1998) and the 11th highest overall. Risner, the first K-State offensive lineman selected since Cody Whitehair in 2016 (Chicago), is just the fourth ever Wildcat drafted by the Broncos and the first since linebacker Terry Pierce in 2003.
Additionally, Risner’s pick extended K-State’s Big 12-leading NFL Draft streak to 26 years, a mark that was tied for 12th in the nation entering the 2019 NFL Draft.
A two-time First Team All-American, Risner started 50 of the Wildcats’ 51 games over his four-year career, the first year being at center and the final three at right tackle. The 2018 co-Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year, Risner was just the fourth offensive lineman in Big 12 history to earn first team all-conference honors in three-straight seasons.
As a senior in 2018, Risner started all 12 games at right tackle en route to First Team All-America honors from Pro Football Focus, ESPN, CBS Sports and Sporting News, while he also earned second-team honors from the Walter Camp Foundation, Phil Steele, American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), Associated Press and the Football Writers Association of America.
Risner’s work in the community has also been well documented, including this week by NFL Network. He was honored for his outstanding work in the community this past season by being named a finalist for the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award, William V. Campbell Trophy, Wuerffel Trophy and Senior CLASS Award.
RYAN LACKEY
Director of Football and Golf Communications | K-State Athletics
| KSHSAA
OP-ED
By Karissa Niehoff, Executive Director of the National Federation of State High School Associations and Bill Faflick, Executive Director of the Kansas State High School Activities Association.
We communicate on smart phones, drive smart cars, make purchases using smart cards and even drink smart water. But, really, how smart are we?
Between college admission and internet privacy scandals, sexual misconduct investigations, stolen trade secrets and the growing concern about how we communicate and connect with each other, technology seems to be outpacing our capacity to understand the most responsible way to use it.
In other words, how are tomorrow’s leaders being groomed to make decisions that provide the perspective, balance and strength of character that today’s advanced world needs?
The answer is by participating in high school sports like the ones offered by the high schools in Kansas.
Most researchers agree that leaders are made, not born, through relationships with others. Human interaction and life experiences enable young men and women to develop leadership characteristics such as trust, mutual respect, integrity and accountability. These are the same values that are learned as a result of playing on a high school sports team.
And while club sports often have only a singular focus (the participant’s athletic abilities), research documents that high school sports programs have an unparalleled positive effect on the physical, academic and emotional growth of teens, including a more mature level of character development.
In other words, high school sports have a more profound role to play in society today than you may realize.
The high school sports and activity programs in Kansas—including music, speech, theatre and debate—typically account for only about one to three percent of a school’s overall budget, making them one of the wisest investments your community makes. You can help by attending as many games and events as possible, donating to the booster club and volunteering to work in the concession stand.
Most of all, encourage your children to participate in as many sports and activities as they can. Because when they do, they will be joining a new generation of leaders who are both technologically smart and ethically responsible.
And that’s exactly the kind of leadership our hyper-intelligent world needs.
|
The Junction City Blue Jay baseball team lost to Hayden by the scores of 4-3 and 11-2 in Topeka on Tuesday.
The Blue Jays are 9-5 on the season.
