ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Alcides Escobar and Alex Rios hit two-run doubles, Salvador Perez homered, and the defending AL champion Kansas City Royals extended their season-opening win streak to six games with a 9-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday.

The winning streak is the Royals’ second-longest to open a season. They won their first nine in 2003 under first-year manager Tony Pena, but finished only four games over .500 and third in the AL Central.

Albert Pujols hit his 522nd home run, moving past Ted Williams, Willie McCovey and Frank Thomas for sole possession of 18th on the career list. The solo drive off Yordano Ventura (2-0) landed in the lower seats in the left-field corner.

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Behind a quality start from junior Levi MaVorhis, the K-State baseball team completed a series win against No. 3 TCU by beating the Horned Frogs, 6-2, in the finale on Sunday at Tointon Family Stadium.

MaVorhis, making his first start since February 20 vs. Oregon State, did not allow a run in his first seven frames, scattering six hits and one walk over his first 3 2/3 innings before retiring 10 straight Horned Frogs (26-8, 7-5) from the final out in the fourth through the seventh. The right-hander finished the game surrendering two runs on seven hits and two walks in 7.0+ innings and earning his second victory of the season.

“I am really proud of [MaVorhis],” said K-State head coach Brad Hill. “He’s had a lot of ups and downs this year, but we need him. We needed an experienced guy out there today. I thought he really put [TCU] on their heels and got them to swing at the pitches he wanted them to. It was just a masterful job by him.”

The series win for K-State (16-18, 4-8 Big 12) was its first in Big 12 play since April 17-19, 2014 vs. Baylor, snapping a stretch of seven straight series losses in conference action. The series triumph was also the Wildcats’ first against a nationally-ranked top-five team since 2009 when they beat No. 2 Texas in Austin, 2-0-1, from April 24-26.

“For three straight weeks, we could not get it done (after winning the first game of the series), and then yesterday, of course, [Preston] Morrison just dominated us,” said Hill. “Our guys really put yesterday in the past, approached today as a new day and we had great spirt in the dugout. There was a lot of motivation, and I really liked how we played today.”

The Wildcats were able to generate their runs by having the bottom of their lineup reach base and the top-half driving them in. No. 8 and 9 hitters, Jake Wodtke and Carter Yagi, combined for four hits and four runs while the No. 2-4 batters, Tyler Wolfe, Shane Conlon and Max Brown, combined for all six of the RBIs.

Wolfe led the way with three RBIs, matching his career-high, as he went 1-for-4 with a double. The junior’s first RBI gave K-State a 1-0 lead in the third when he drove in Wodtke, who reached on a TCU error, with a groundout. Wolfe’s RBI in the fifth, on a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded, sparked a four-run frame for the Wildcats to make it 5-0. Wolfe sharply hit a groundball to TCU third baseman Derek Odell, who was unable to force out Dominic Thornton at home with his throw.

Chris Kutz

Assistant Director – Athletic Communications

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The K-State baseball team was limited to four hits in a complete-game effort by TCU’s Preston Morrison while the No. 3 Horned Frogs pulled away late to beat the Wildcats, 9-0, on Saturday at Tointon Family Stadium.

A day after tallying 18 hits and 14 runs, K-State (15-18, 3-8 Big 12) was shut out for the second time this season as TCU (26-7, 7-4 Big 12) evened the series.

The Wildcats had six baserunners (four hits, two walks) against Morrison, who threw his second complete game of the season, but were hitless between the fifth and eighth innings when TCU scored eight of its nine runs. K-State managed to load the bases with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, which was the only time the Wildcats put runners in scoring position throughout the game. However, Morrison recorded his sixth strikeout of the day by fanning Danny Krause to end the contest.

“(Morrison has) been good for four years,” said K-State head coach Brad Hill about TCU’s senior pitcher. “He did a great job. We squared a couple balls up, but (Cody) Jones in center ran them down. Morrison took away any type of momentum we would have liked to get.”

K-State starting pitcher Brandon Courville suffered his third loss of the season after allowing just one run on six hits and two walks in four-plus innings. The right-hander’s only run surrendered came in the first when a bloop single to shallow left field by Derek Odell drove in Cody Jones, who led off the game with a single.

Courville started the fifth inning, which was the second time in three starts he stretched into that frame, but after back-to-back singles and a fielding error put runners on second and third with no outs, K-State called in reliever Jordan Floyd. The southpaw escaped the jam unscathed by inducing a fly out, striking out one batter and then drawing a groundout with the bases loaded following an intentional walk.

Floyd came back out to start the sixth, but three straight TCU batters reached to load the bases with no outs. After getting a force out at home, Floyd was lifted in favor of Corey Fischer, who allowed a sacrifice fly and an RBI bunt single to make it 3-0 TCU.

The Horned Frogs blew it open in the eighth when they scored six runs off Brandon Erickson with the help of five hits and two walks.

Max Brown was the only Wildcat to tally multiple hits as he had a single in the fourth and another in the ninth to finish 2-for-4. It was the senior’s third straight multi-hit effort and ninth overall this season.

Wakefield Boy’s and Girl’s results from the Bennington Invitational Track Meet held in

Bennington, Ks. on Friday April 10, 2015

Teams competing:  Bennington, Canton-Galva, Clifton-Clyde, Ell-Saline, Lincoln, Minneapolis, Salina Christian, Sylvan Grove, Tescott, Wakefield, and Wilson.

Boy’s Results:

Pole Vault                      3^rd Place              Ashton Pickering           9’-06”

                                    5^th Place              Garrett Groves              8’-06”

Shop Put                      4^th Place              James Williams              36’-03 ¾” 

                                   7^th Place              Brian VonHoltz              34’-01 ½”

Javelin                          5^th Place              James Williams              123’-08”

Discus                          3^rd Place              J.J. Judy                       108’-00”

Triple Jump                   7^th Place              Chris Hardin                  34’-05”

110 H. Hurdles               3^rd Place              Ashton Pickering           18.47

                                    5^th Place              Dylan Rose                   20.84

300 I. Hurdles               3^rd Place              Ashton Pickering           46.66

400 M. Dash                 7^th Place              Stone Partin                 1:00.06

800 M. Run                   5^th Place              Justin Carver                2:18.45

1600 M. Run                6^th Place              Jordan Colglazier           5:29.44

3200 M. Run                2^nd Place              Cody Pollman               11:34.88

4 x 400 M. Relay          4^th Place              James Williams              4:01.94

                                                            Justin Carver

                                                            Kirk Iseli

                                                            Chris Hardin

Boy’s Team Results:

1^st Place      Bennington           161 Points

2^nd Place     Ell-Saline              124 Points

3^rd Place     Minneapolis            94 Points

4^th Place     Wakefield            48.5 Points

5^th Place     Wilson                   38 Points

6^th Place     Tescott                  28 Points

7^th Place     Canton-Galva         27 Points

8^th Place     Clifton-Clyde       17.5 Points

9^th Place     Lincoln                 17 Points

Girl’s Results:

800 M. Run                           5^th Place             Haley Bonea                 2:58.25     

Girl’s Team Results:

1^st Place      Minneapolis        118 Points

2^nd Place     Clifton/Clyde        92 Points

3^rd Place     Ell-Saline              90 Points

4^th Place     Bennington          86 Points

5^th Place     Lincoln                 68 Points

6^th Place     Tescott                39 Points

7^th Place     Wilson                 24 Points   Tie

7^th Place     Canton-Galva      24 Points   Tie

9^th Place     Wakefield             3 Points

On Friday the Bombers competed in two different meets.  Coach Schooley took thirteen athletes to Wichita for the Shocker Pre-State meet and the remainder of the team traveled to Bennington with coach Doeden and Braden for their invitational meet. Coach Braden, “We had good success at both meets today.  In Wichita, the 4 x 400 meter relay team of Zack Melius, Brock Barrett, Preston McCollum, and Dylan Murphy took first place in the 1A thru 3A division.  Melius also took 2^nd place in the 100 meter dash, Barrett took 3^rd place in the 800 meter run, and Sara Casaus finished with a silver in the 200 meter dash.  Coach Schooley was pleased with those performances as the Bombers went up against many schools much larger than Wakefield.”

At Bennington, the Bombers took a younger squad and came away with many encouraging performances. Coach Braden, “Freshman Ashton Pickering ran and vaulted to three bronze medals for only his second high school track meet.  Ashton is just a tough competitor and we are excited to see how much he can improve in his events over the next two months. Another good performance was from senior Dylan Rose.  Dylan’s form in the hurdles has greatly improved over the years andon Friday he put it altogether for a 5^th place finish in that event.  Sophomore J.J. Judy continues to throw well in the discus and today he pulled down the bronze medal in that event.  I was also impressed with freshman Haley Bonea.  Haley ran a sub three minute 800 for her first time running in that event of the year. She took out fast and went with the lead pack and really competed in that race.  I couldn’t have been more proud of her!  Finally, freshman Cody Pollman ran the 3200 meter run for us today. Cody took off and lead seven of the eight laps, only to be nipped at the finish line by another freshman from Bennington. Again, I was so proud of him.  Cody ran with a purpose and just kept pushing the entire race.  Even though he finished in second place today, it was a great start for him.”  

Next Tuesday the Bombers travel to Washington for their first hosted high school meet of the year.

by Ladd Braden

Kendrys Morales hit a solo homer and Lorenzo Cain drove in a pair as Kansas City doubled up the Los Angeles Angels 4-2 Friday night in Anaheim to stay unbeaten with a 4-0 record. Jason Vargas allowed two runs and five hits in six innings for the win.

The Royals and Angels play game two of the series Saturday night and game three Sunday afternoon.

The Junction City Blue Jays and Lady Jays competed in the K. T. Woodman Classic track meet in Maize on Friday.

The Lady Jays finished second out of eight teams in the meet.

Coach Randall Zimmerman said in the 800 meters Bri Pace finished first, Myrissa Humphreys second, and Deisjambro Bisio third.  Alyssa Dotson qualified for the finals in four running events, the 4 x 100 relay team finished third.

In the boys competition Junction City finished fourth out of eight teams. Tracy Freeman captured second in the pole vault, and the 4 x 100 relay team finished third. The Blue Jays did not take their full boys squad to the meet.

The Junction City Blue Jay baseball team split a doubleheader with the Topeka High Trojans in the capitol city on Friday.

Junction City ( 4-2 ) behind the pitching of Amir McFarthing, took game one 5-1, and the Trojans won the nightcap 5-4.

Blue Jay coach Drew Biery said McFarthing had a great start and really competed. McFarthing threw 103 pitches before being taken out for a relief pitcher. It was his second solid start in two Junction City victories in the young season.

The Blue Jays host Shawnee Heights next Friday, April 17  in a doubleheader at Rathert Field.

The Topeka High Trojans overpowered the Junction City Lady Jays 16 -2 in six innings in game one of a softball doubleheader, and 15-3 in five innings in game two.

The Trojans improved to 3-1, while Junction City fell to 3-3.

Lady Jay coach Jeff Childs noted Topeka is a real good team. “I don’t think that they should have beat us as bad as they did. I think we can play with them, but we didn’t make the routine plays. We dropped fly balls, threw balls away, and I guarantee you every time you do that, you give them an extra out they’re going to score a run. And that’s been the difference between this week and last week.”

Last week the Lady Jays went 3-1 over a four-game span.