KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Lorenzo Cain looped a two-run single and Eric Hosmer chopped a two-run double over shortstop in a seven-run second inning as the Kansas City Royals battered the San Francisco Giants 10-0 Tuesday night to force a decisive Game 7 in the World Series.

Pitching with the initials of late St. Louis outfielder Oscar Taveras on his cap, 23-year-old rookie Yordano Ventura allowed three hits over seven innings for his first Series win.

Jeremy Guthrie starts Wednesday night for Kansas City and Tim Hudson for San Francisco in a rematch of Game 3, won by Kansas City 3-2. The 39-year-old Hudson will become the oldest Game 7 starter in Series history.

Lurking is Madison Bumgarner, ready to pitch in relief after stifling the Royals on a total of one run in winning Games 1 and 5.

 

MANHATTAN, Kan. – With its 6-1 record heading into this weekend’s match-up with Oklahoma State, Kansas State was ranked ninth in the inaugural College Football Playoff Top 25 rankings announced Tuesday on ESPN by the 12-person committee.

The Wildcats were one of five Big 12 teams to debut in the poll with TCU (7^th), Baylor (13^th), Oklahoma (18^th) and West Virginia (20^th) also ranked. Auburn, one of K-State’s non-conference opponents this season, was ranked third.

The selection committee will prepare six more rankings this season, including the final one on Selection Day, Sunday, December 7. The top four teams in the final rankings will play in the semifinals on January 1, 2015, at the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl.

K-State (6-1, 4-0) returns to action on Saturday when the Cowboys (5-3, 3-2) visit Bill Snyder Family Stadium for a 7 p.m., ABC-televised matchup. The game will be K-State’s 18^th-straight sellout as standing room only tickets remain available.

Robert Steck rushed for 216 yards and one touchdown in a 34-0 Chapman High School football win over Nickerson.

Coach Trevor Williams said Steck, a junior at Chapman High School, has now rushed for more than 1,000 yards this season.

In recognition of his performance Robert Steck is the McDonald’s Athlete of the Week.

Robert will receive a certificate for his performance from Three Rivers Engraving, plus recognition on display boards at the two Junction City McDonald’s Restaurants, and also on the Talk of JC and JC Post.

Kansas State place kicker Matthew McCrane has been honored by the Lou Groza Award after connecting on three field goals against Texas by being named one of three “Stars of the Week,” the Palm Beach County Sports Commission has announced.

McCrane who shared the award with Clemson’s Ammon Lakip and TCU’s Jaden Oberkrom, entered the game against the Longhorns with just three career field goals before going 3-for-3, including a pair field goals from 30 or more yards.

A native of Brownwood, Texas, McCrane is one of six kickers nationally to be true on every field goal this season, while he has also made all 20 of his extra-point attempts.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) – Kansas State football Coach Bill Snyder and Athletics Director John Currie are giving a Thanksgiving gift to student fans of the football team.

The university announced Tuesday that Snyder and Currie will each donate $2,500 to allow the university’s residence halls to re-open early during Thanksgiving weekend.

The Wildcats are scheduled to play Kansas on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, the end of the university’s week-long fall break. Snyder’s and Currie’s donations will cover the cost of reopening the residence halls on Friday and Saturday to allow students to return early to campus.

Residence halls will open at 1 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 28. The game time for the Kansas game has not been announced.

The game will be the final home contest of Kansas State’s season.

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith played through a sprained throwing shoulder that he sustained just before halftime of Sunday’s 34-7 rout of the St. Louis Rams.

Smith never mentioned the injury in his postgame remarks, and it wasn’t until Chiefs coach Andy Reid brought it up Monday that anybody learned of it outside the Kansas City locker room.

Reid said that Smith landed on his shoulder but played through the pain. The game was still very much in the balance when the injury happened, the Chiefs leading just 10-7 at the break.

Smith went through a series of examinations Monday. Reid said the quarterback is “tender” and declined to say whether he will miss any practice time this week.

The Chiefs play the New York Jets on Sunday.

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Big 12 Conference and FOX Sports announced Monday that Kansas State’s November 8 game at TCU has been placed on the six-day ready list. The game will be played at either 11 a.m., on FOX Sports 1 or 6: 30 p.m., on FOX.

The other game that was placed on the six-day list by FOX Sports was Baylor at Oklahoma. The network also announced that West Virginia at Texas will be played at 2:30 p.m., on FOX Sports 1 and Iowa State at Kansas will be played at 2:30 p.m., on FSN.

No. 11 Kansas State hosts Oklahoma State this Saturday at 7 p.m., on ABC. Standing-room only tickets are available for the game against the Cowboys and those tickets may be purchased by contacting the K-State Athletics Ticket office online at www.kstatesports.com/tickets  by phone at 1-800-221-CATS or at the main ticket office inside Bramlage Coliseum.

Big 12 TV Selections for Saturday, November 8

West Virginia at Texas            Fox Sports1                        2:30 p.m.

Iowa State at Kansas               FSN                                    2:30 p.m.

K-State at TCU                         Fox Sports1 or FOX           11 a.m. or 6:30 p.m.

Baylor at Oklahoma                Fox Sports1 or FOX           11 a.m. or 6:30 p.m.

Release by Ryan Lackey, K-STate Asst. Director/Communications

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Buster Posey was annoyed. Playfully so. The Giants catcher wanted Madison Bumgarner to do more than barely break a smile after a brilliant pitching performance put San Francisco one win from another World Series title.

No way, Buster.

Because in this postseason full of stars and surprises, who knows? Heck, Bumgarner might still have more work to do.

Baseball took its final break Monday before the Giants and Royals settle things. Holding a 3-2 edge, San Francisco will try to claim its third championship in five years Tuesday night when the wild-card matchup resumes at Kauffman Stadium.

The day off gave fans a chance to savor what they’d already seen in the past month, and there was plenty – the success of Bumgarner, Lorenzo Cain and Yusmeiro Petit, the struggles of Clayton Kershaw, Mike Trout and Detroit’s aces, a rack of tight games and one that went 18 innings.

“Clayton who? MadBum!” one man yelled as he exited AT&T Park after the Giants won 5-0 Sunday night.

Could be a lot more cooking in this October oven, too.

Maybe Ned Yost even had it right.

“Oh, man, somewhere inside of me, secretly I had hoped that it would go seven games for the excitement and the thrill of it,” the Kansas City manager said after a loss in Game 4. “Sure looks that way.”

Perhaps it’s only fitting this Fall Classic ends at Kauffman Stadium, a place hosting playoff baseball for the first time in 29 years. The Royals started this pulsating postseason at home with a 9-8 comeback win in 12 innings over Oakland in the AL wild-card game, a thriller that began on the last day of September and nearly stretched into October.

Following a seven-tackle contest in which he batted away four Texas passes, Kansas State junior defensive back Dante Barnett was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, the conference office announced Monday.

It was Barnett’s first career honor and the fourth this season for the Wildcats as Jake Waters earned the offensive honor following the Iowa State game, Dakorey Johnson was the defensive player of the week after the Auburn game, and Tyler Lockett earned the special teams honors following the UTEP game.

Barnett led the Wildcat defense to a shutout of Texas in a 23-0 victory on Saturday.

Junction City High School Athletic Director Matt Westerhaus has confirmed that JCHS will host a first-round Class 6A football playoff game Friday, Nov. 7 at Al Simpler Stadium.

The opponent will not be known until this coming Friday night or Saturday morning.

The Blue Jays clinched a playoff berth and first-round game with their District wins over Wichita Southeast and Wichita East.

Junction City will close out the regular season Friday night against Wichita North in Wichita.