KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Kansas City Chiefs selected cornerback Marcus Peters with the No. 18 pick in the NFL draft Thursday night, taking a chance on a player kicked off the team at Washington in an attempt to help their defense in the pass-happy AFC West.

The physical Peters was considered one of the top defensive backs in the draft, but he gave many teams pause after his dismissal last November.

Peters said at the annual scouting combine that it was “miscommunication, mostly on my behalf” with new Huskies coach Chris Petersen’s staff that led to the problems. Peters acknowledged that he “didn’t take the coaching transition too well.”

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Kansas City Royals right-hander Yordano Ventura opted Thursday to abandon his appeal of his seven-game suspension.

Ventura was suspended by Major League Baseball for his actions in an April 23 game at the Chicago White Sox, which led to a brawl with both dugouts and bullpens emptying. It was Ventura’s third incident in his first four starts.

Ventura (2-2, 4.94) exchanged angry words with Chicago’s Adam Eaton at U.S. Cellular Field. He was ejected for hitting Oakland’s Brett Lawrie with a pitch April 18 at Kansas City after giving up a three-run homer. On April 12 at Anaheim, Ventura got into a confrontation with Angels outfielder and American League MVP Mike Trout.

Ventura’s next scheduled start will be May 8 at Detroit.

CLEVELAND (AP) – Jason Kipnis homered and drove in four runs to help the Cleveland Indians snap a four-game losing streak with a 7-5 win over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.

Kipnis hit a three-run home run – his first since July 31 of last season – in the third and then capped another three-run rally in the sixth with an RBI grounder. Michael Bourn’s double gave Cleveland the lead.

Danny Salazar (3-0) allowed four runs in six innings.

Kansas City shortstop Alcides Escobar suffered a bruised left cheek after being hit in the head by a pitch from Salazar in the fifth inning. The ball struck Escobar on the left side of the helmet and he was on the ground for several moments. He walked off the field with help from two Royals trainers.

Yordano Ventura (2-2) allowed five runs in 5 1-3 innings.

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Five Wildcat pitchers combined for K-State’s third shutout of the season as the Wildcats bounced back with a 9-0 win at Minnesota on Wednesday to split the two-game series at Siebert Field.

After being shut out 5-0 the night before, K-State (21-23) recorded its first shutout in a true road game this season behind the lead of starting pitcher Brandon Erickson. The right-hander earned his second win of the season after scattering two hits and striking out two in 3 1/3 innings against the Golden Gophers (19-22). Jackson Douglas, Brandon Courville, Kyle Halbohn and Tyler Wolfe each logged an inning or more out of the bullpen.

“The pitching staff was the name of the game today,” said K-State head coach Brad Hill. “Erickson had a good bounce-back start. From there, we just continued that string of zeroes (on the scoreboard). A lot of credit goes to our pitching staff.”

The K-State offense, after registering just one hit in the first game of the series, notched 10 hits for its 17th game this year with double-digit safeties. Steve Serratore hit his first career home run, a two-run blast in the ninth, to help make up his two hits and career-high three RBIs. Max Brown matched Serratore for the team lead in hits with two as the senior went 2-for-4 with a pair of two-out singles.

The Wildcats’ sixth through ninth hitters in their lineup drove in five of the nine runs, with four RBIs registered off sacrifice flies. The first sacrifice fly was by No. 7 hitter Tyler Moore that capped K-State’s four-run first inning. In the sixth, Sam Chadick and Jake Wodtke hit back-to-back sac flies to make it 6-0 while Keith Browning, pinch hitting in the eighth, plated Moore with the final sacrifice fly to extend the Wildcats’ lead to 7-0.

K-State had its first six hitters of the opening frame reach base safely off Minnesota starting pitcher Reggie Meyer, who took the loss after surrendering four runs in 1/3 of an inning. Wolfe and Serratore produced RBI singles to ignite the crooked first, preceding the RBIs by Bee and Moore.

“(Meyer) had trouble with his command, so we got some help in the first,” said Hill. “We had some guys that did not get over-amped, with (Serratore) and the big hit keeping the rally going early in that inning. After that, it was a good job by the guys with plate discipline, not leaving the zone and making sure to get some runs up on the board.”

The Wildcats put a runner on base in each of the nine frames, including four times with the leadoff batter. Bee’s leadoff double in the sixth resulted in a run on the sac fly by Chadick while Moore’s first career triple to start the eighth was cashed in on Browning’s sacrifice fly.

The home run by Serratore was the sixth roundtripper by K-State this season and second in a true road game. The first home run on the road was by Shane Conlon at Oklahoma State on March 27.

Four of the five Wildcat pitchers had two strikeouts in their appearances. Courville struck out two of the four batters he faced in his 1 1/3 innings pitched.

The Wildcats will play in their final non-conference series of the season this weekend when they return home to face Arkansas State. The series opener is set for Friday at 6:30 p.m.

NOTES

The last time K-State shut out an opponent in a true road game was on March 23, 2014 at No. 30 Oklahoma. This season, the Wildcats blanked Pitt in Port Charlotte, Florida on February 14 and Missouri State on March 13.

Tyler Wolfe, who has started every game this year at shortstop, pitched for the second time in a Wildcat uniform. The junior has not allowed a run or a hit in two innings pitched.

The Wildcat bullpen has a 1.78 ERA (5er, 25.1ip) with a .213 batting average against in the last five games. Of the nine relievers used over the stretch, six have not surrendered a run.

Release from Chris Kutz, Assistant Director, Athletics Communications

Abilene Meet 

CLEVELAND (AP) – Kansas City Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar was hit in the head by a pitch from Cleveland’s Danny Salazar in the fifth inning on Wednesday.

Escobar was hit in the left side of the helmet and dropped to the ground immediately as two Royals trainers rushed on the field.

Escobar stayed down for several moments before being moved into a sitting position. He walked to the dugout with help from the trainers and was taken to the clubhouse.

Salazar was upset over the incident and patted his hand in his glove as Escobar left the field. Kansas City’s Mike Moustakas, the on-deck hitter, knelt down while several Indians in the field looked on in concern.

Kansas City pitcher Yordano Ventura, who was ejected from his last two starts and is facing a seven-game suspension, didn’t retaliate in the bottom of the inning.

IRVING, Texas (AP) – The Big 12 is getting closer to deciding how it wants to crown one true champion in football.

Commissioner Bob Bowlsby reiterated Tuesday the conference is prepared to use head-to-head results to break a two-way tie for first. He added that athletic directors will discuss at league meetings next week different procedures for breaking ties between more than two teams. Bowlsby says the goal with three or more teams will be to whittle the group down to two and then use head-to-head to crown a champion.

The Big 12 began last season touting its “One True Champion” slogan and ended it with Bowlsby handing out championship trophies to both TCU and Baylor, which beat the Horned Frogs in the regular season. Both were left out of the College Football Playoff.

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The K-State baseball team was held to a season-low one hit on Tuesday as the Wildcats dropped the series opener at Minnesota, 5-0, at Siebert Field. 

The Wildcats (20-23), shut out for the third time this season, were restricted in most part by Golden Gopher starting pitcher Toby Anderson. The right-hander faced the minimum through the first six frames of his seven-inning outing before allowing a one-out single to Tyler Wolfe in the seventh. Anderson also struck out three and did not walk a batter in his first win of the season.

Minnesota (19-21) tallied seven hits to K-State’s one, with three of them being for extra-bases. The first extra-base hit was a triple in the second inning by Tony Skjefte off Wildcat starting pitcher Mark Biesma, which came around to score on a sacrifice fly two batters later by Micah Coffey. In the fifth, a leadoff home run by Matt Halloran off Biesma made it 2-0 Minnesota, while in the seventh, a two-run homer by Jordan Smith allowed by Lucas Benenati extended the Golden Gopher lead to 4-0.

Minnesota capped its scoring the eighth when Mitch Plassmeyer surrendered a sacrifice fly to Halloran. The K-State left-hander loaded the bases in his only inning of work after allowing a single, walk and single to start the frame.

Biesma took the loss, his second of the year, after allowing two runs on three hits and one walk in four-plus innings. The senior also struck out two in his first start since April 14 vs. Wichita State.

Benenati, who spelled Biesma in the fifth, struck out four in three innings, both season-highs, and allowed two runs on two hits and a walk.

K-State, which had a total of five baserunners in the game with the help of three walks and a hit by pitch, faced only one runner-in-scoring opportunity. In the eighth, Dom Thornton and Ethan Klosterboer drew back-to-back bases-loaded walks issued by Lucas Gilbreath. The opportunity was squandered, though, when Sam Chadick flew out in foul territory in right field.

Klosterboer was the lone Wildcat to reach base more than once as the freshman, in his second career start, drew a walk and was hit by a pitch.

The Wildcats and Golden Gophers will quickly reconvene for the second game of the two-game series on Wednesday at 1 p.m. Both teams have not announced their starting pitchers.

NOTES

Tuesday’s game time of two hours and eight minutes was the shortest game for the Wildcats this season.

The loss was K-State’s first at Minnesota since March 27, 1994. The Wildcats had won the previous two meetings in Minneapolis, both occurring in 2012.

Max Brown’s 16-game on-base streak, the longest active streak by a Wildcat entering the game, was snapped as the senior went 0-for-3. Tyler Wolfe now has the longest active on-base streak by a Wildcat, which sits at eight games.

Release and photo from Chris Kutz, Assistant Director, Athletics Communications

Tuesday sports action for Junction City High School varsity teams included:

–A baseball split with Seaman. the Vikings won game one 7-3 and the Blue Jays took game two 4-0.

–The Lady Jay softball team was swept in Topeka by an undefeated Seaman team 7-0 and 8-1.

–The Lady Jay soccer team fell to Shawnee Heights at Al Simpler Stadium 4-0.

The final day to sign up for Geary County Girls Softball Association play this summer is this coming Saturday, May 2.

Association President Jeff Childs confirms players can sign up from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at Dillon’s on West Sixth Street in Junction City.