SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) – Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and Alex Rios each had two hits as the Kansas City Royals defeated a San Francisco Giants split squad 4-2 Sunday.

Hosmer, who hiked his batting average to .353, doubled in the fourth and scored on Rios’ single. Rios also doubled in the sixth and scored on Salvador Perez’s single. Moustakas had an RBI double in the sixth.

Alex Gordon, playing in only his second game after having right wrist surgery in late December, singled home Alcides Escobar in the fifth for his first hit of the spring.

Giants left fielder Nori Aoki, who played for the Royals last season, singled, doubled and walked against his former teammates. It was his second straight multihit game. Brandon Crawford also had two hits, including an RBI double.

Danny Duffy went 5 1/3 innings, the longest outing by a Royals starter this spring, allowing two runs on six hits.

 

 

The Wichita State Shockers are advancing to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament.

The Shockers defeated the Kansas Jayhawks  Sunday in Omaha, Nebraska, in round two of the tournament 78-65.

Tekele Cotton led the Shockers ( 30-4 )  with 19 points. Fred VanVleet finished with 17, and Evan Wessel hit four 3-pointers to score 12.

Devonte’ Graham and Perry Ellis had 17 points apiece for KU, and Frank Mason added 16 for the Jayhawks ( 27-9 ).

Wichita State will advance to meet Notre Dame in the next round of the tournament on Thursday in Cleveland, Ohio.

AUSTIN, Texas – A pair of two-run margins did not go the K-State baseball team’s way in a doubleheader at No. 14 Texas on Saturday as the Wildcats lost 5-3 in game one and 3-1 in game two at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

 

The Wildcats (11-11, 0-2 Big 12) were stifled by a Texas pitching staff that allowed two earned runs in the combined 18 innings despite K-State being out-hit by the Longhorns (15-8, 4-1 Big 12) by just one hit, 15-14, over the two games.

 

“That’s one of the best pitching staffs in the nation,” said K-State head coach Brad Hill. “(Texas) also did a better job of hitting with men in scoring position than we did – that’s what it boiled down to.”

Tickets for the 2015 CBE Hall of Fame Classic are now on sale and available through www.axs.com, www.cbehalloffameclassic.com, by telephone at 1-888-929-7849, or in person at the Sprint Center box office in Kansas City, Missouri.

Kansas State will be joined in the tournament by Missouri, North Carolina, and Northwestern on Nov. 23 and 24 at Sprint Center.

All four games will be aired on the ESPN networks.

Eagle Community Television’s coverage of the Opening Ceremonies of the 40th annual Special Olympics of Kansas State Basketball and Cheerleading Tournament is available as a keepsake DVD. The event kicked off this weekend’s events in Hays on Thursday.

Contact ECTV’s Mike Koerner at mike.koerner@eaglecom.net for details.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Fred VanVleet matched his career high with 27 points, Ron Baker made big free throws late, and Wichita State defeated Indiana 81-76 in the NCAA Tournament on Friday.

By winning, the seventh-seeded Shockers (29-4) set up a much-anticipated Sunflower State showdown with Kansas on Sunday.

Baker scored 15, making 7 of 8 free throws in the last 2 minutes to allow Wichita State to hold off the Hoosiers (20-14).

Freshman reserve Zach Brown had eight of his career-high 11 points in the second half, with six coming during the Shockers’ decisive run.

Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell scored 24 points for Indiana. James Blackmon Jr. added 14 points and Troy Williams and Collin Hartman had 11 apiece for the Hoosiers.

Omaha, Neb. ( AP )) Second-seeded Kansas did its best to restore some luster to the Big 12.

Well, at least scrub away some of the tarnish.

Frank Mason III scored 17 points to lead a balanced attack, and the Jayhawks rolled to a 75-56 victory over No. 15 seed New Mexico State on Friday, giving their beleaguered conference its first NCAA Tournament victory in four tries this March.

Perry Ellis added nine points for the Jayhawks (27-8), who did their part in setting up a tantalizing matchup with seventh-seeded Wichita State in the Midwest Region’s round of 32.

DK Eldridge had 11 points and Remi Barry and Tshilidzi Nephawa scored 10 each for the Aggies (23-11), who had won 13 straight while sweeping the Western Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament titles.

Kansas State jumped out to an early double-digit lead and never looked back as the Wildcats downed Akron 86-68, in the first round of the 2015 Postseason WNIT Thursday night at Bramlage Coliseum.

Kansas State raced out to a 10-0 lead in the first two minutes of the game as Haley Texada knocked down a pair of 3-point field goals forcing an early Akron timeout.

The Wildcats improved to 19-13 while Akron ended their season 22-9.

Kansas State will play Missouri Sunday at 2 p.m. in Bramlage Coliseum in the WNIT. Missouri won Thursday night, 69-61, over Northern Iowa.

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State all-purpose All-American Tyler Lockett has been named the winner of the 2014 Johnny “Jet” Rodgers National College Football Return Specialist Award, the award’s committee announced Thursday.

 

Known as “The Jet Award,” the honor was established in 2011 to recognize the best return specialist in NCAA Division I. The award is named in honor of Johnny Rodgers, a wide receiver and return specialist for the University of Nebraska who won the Heisman Trophy in 1972 and is a member of the National College Football hall of Fame.

 

A product of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Lockett led the nation in 2014 with a 19.1-yard punt return average, while he ranked third nationally in total receiving yards (1,515) and all-purpose yards per game (176.6). He led the Big 12 in all three categories, including the latter by more than 25 yards per game.

 

Lockett’s 2,296 all-purpose yards in 2014 ranked second in school history to Darren Sproles (2003), while he also finished second to Sproles with 6,586 in his 47-game career. The school’s career record holder for receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns, Lockett finished second in school history to Jordy Nelson in single-season catches (106) and receiving yards.

 

Lockett was named a 2014 Consensus All-American as a kick returner/all-purpose player, while he is the school’s first four-time All-American.

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Kellen Dunham scored 20 points, including a pivotal 3-pointer with 1:18 to play, to lift sixth-seeded Butler to a 56-48 victory over 11th-seeded Texas in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.

The Bulldogs (23-10) advanced to play third-seeded Notre Dame on Saturday. The Longhorns (20-14) added to a miserable day for the vaunted Big 12. Texas joined Baylor and Iowa State, both No. 3 seeds, as early tournament exits after struggling all afternoon to find any rhythm, a microcosm of another disappointing season.

Jonathan Holmes led the Longhorns with 15 points and Isaiah Taylor added 14 but Texas shot just 34 percent from the field and turned it over 15 times while failing to make it beyond the first weekend of the NCAAs for the seventh straight year.