BOSTON (AP) – Jon Lester allowed no earned runs for the third time in four starts, and the Boston Red Sox completed a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals with a 6-0 win Sunday.

In eight innings, the All-Star left-hander struck out eight and gave up two walks and four hits. Only one Royals player reached third base.

Lester (10-7) is 4-0 with a 0.85 ERA over his last seven starts with 47 strikeouts and eight walks in a span of 52 2-3 innings. He has yielded just one earned run in 31 innings.

Lester extended his scoreless streak to 14 innings before Junichi Tazawa got the first out of the ninth. Edward Mujica retired the next two batters.

Yordano Ventura (7-8) gave up all six runs.

The Junction City Brigade remained alive in the 2014 Summer Classic baseball tournament with a 4-0 victory over the Rossville Rattlers Saturday night.

Justin Hersch pitched seven strong innings for the Brigade. He gave up only five hits, and walked one batter enroute to the pitching victory.

For Junction City Max Brown hit a single and a double, and scored a run. Scott Tyler had two singles, and B.B. Kimbrel hit a double and drew a walk in the contest.

Junction City scored once in the second inning, twice in the third, and once in the fifth inning in the ballgame at Rathert Field. Rossville was eliminated from the tournament with the loss.

In the other game in the tournament on Saturday the Topeka Golden Giants defeated the Topeka Senators 5-2.

The tournament continues Sunday ( July 20 ) with Junction City playing the Topeka Senators at noon. The winner will advance to meet the Golden Giants at 3 p.m.  If the Golden Giants win that game they will claim the Tournament championship, but if they lose there would be another championship game at 6 p.m. Sunday since it is a double elimination tournament.

The Tournament is determining the champion of the Mid-Plains League.

BOSTON (AP) – Rubby De La Rosa pitched seven solid innings and Mike Napoli hit a tiebreaking homer to lift the Boston Red Sox to a 2-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night.

It was the sixth win in seven games for the defending World Series champions, who are looking to climb from the AL East’s basement.

De La Rosa (3-2) had another strong start in Fenway Park, giving up one run on five hits, walking four and striking out two. He worked out of trouble most of his outing.

Danny Duffy (5-10) allowed two runs – one earned – on six hits in 6 2-3 innings. It was his fifth loss in six starts, but he’s allowed two or fewer runs in four of the losses.

All-Star Koji Uehara got his 20th save in 22 chances.

 

Scott Tyler singled in the bottom of the sixth inning to drive in Jordan Hodges and Max Brown as the Junction City Brigade rallied for a 2-1 victory over Baldwin City Friday night.

The win came in the 2014 Summer Classic, the Mid-Plains League baseball tournament, at Rathert Field. It keeps Junction City alive in the tournament, sending the Brigade into a matchup with the Rossville Rattlers at 7 p.m. Saturday.   The loss knocked Baldwin City out of the double elimination tournament.

Junction City Head Coach Shane Sieben saw his team go into the bottom of the sixth down . “We just talked about being competitive at the plate, making sure that worked counts, and not giving in to them. ”   All games in the tournament are scheduled for seven innings.

Jordan Witcig got the pitching win for the Brigade after going six innings on the mound. Sean Talkington came out to pitch the seventh for Junction City and did not allow a hit.

In the other game of the tournament on Friday Rossville held off a late rally by the Midwest Athletics to defeat the Athletics 5-4.

In addition to Junction City and Rossville Saturday evening, the other game on Saturday will pair the Topeka Senators against the Topeka Golden Giants at 4 p.m.

BOSTON (AP) – Jonny Gomes hit a go-ahead two-run pinch homer in the sixth after another two-run shot in the inning by Xander Bogaerts and the Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 5-4 on Friday night.

The Red Sox maintained their momentum after winning four of their last five games before the All-Star game. They entered the break in last place in the AL East but were coming off Clay Buchholz’s 11-0 complete-game win over Houston, their season high for runs.

Buchholz (5-5) allowed four runs in six innings against Kansas City. Koji Uehara allowed Omar Infante’s two-out double in the ninth but got his 19th save in 21 chances.

Scott Downs (0-3) gave up the homer to Gomes, the first batter he faced after replacing James Shields.

 

Ryan Colombo pitched seven strong innings, and scored both of his teams runs in the Topeka Senator’s 2-1 win over the Junction City Brigade in the 2014 Summer Classic….the Mid Plains League tournament at Rathert Field.

Colombo surrendered just four hits and walked one batter during his pitching stint. Hitting in the leadoff position he went 2-4 at the plate, with two singles.

Brigade assistant coach Seth Wheeler stated Colombo is one of the better players in the Mid Plains League. “He’s a good body, has a good arm, has good plate discipline. On the bump he throws three pitches for strikes from different arm angles, and that’s going to make it really tough on our guys, especially our right handed hitters. They struggle with him. ”

The Brigade will meet Baldwin City in the next round at 7 p.m. Friday.  The Senators will meet the Topeka Golden Giants at 4 p.m. Saturday in the tournament.  In the other game in the tournament on Friday the Topeka Golden Giants defeated the Midwest Athletics 5-2.

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The Brigade played the Topeka Senators without their head coach Shane Sieben. He was serving a one game suspension handed down by the League Commissioner.

Sieben confirmed it involved the decision by the Brigade to forfeit a game at Baldwin City last Sunday because of the lack of pitching, and a desire to avoid hurting any pitchers, or use any position players on the mound without first checking with their college coaches.

Sieben said his team had played eight games in four days, and the coaches for both Junction City and Baldwin City had decided on Friday not to play on Sunday. Sieben added the Commissioner responded on Saturday by telling the teams they would play.  But Sieben reported that while he was willing to make up the contest, the Brigade did not have the pitching and would not play on Sunday. On Tuesday the coach learned he had been suspended for one game.

Sieben will be back with the Brigade Friday night in the tournament.

The general manager for the Brigade Cecil Aska said that he and the Board of Directors for the Brigade supported the decision by Sieben. “You would end up having to field a team that wouldn’t be up to the standard that we think we would need to have out there on the field representing Junction City. ” Aska also noted the outcome of the game would not have affected anything ( league standings ).

The 2014 Big 12 football media preseason poll was released Thursday and Kansas State came in third behind the unanimous favorite Oklahoma and the defending Big 12 Champions Baylor.

The Wildcats received 377 points to finish one point ahead of Texas in the poll by media representatives who cover the league.

Oklahoma received 47 of the 56 first place votes and finished with 548 points in the pole. Baylor received the remaining nine first place votes and finished second with 508 points.

Kansas States third place selection was the highest for the Wildcats since the Big 12 went to full round robin play in 2011.

Texas finished in fourth with Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, TCU, West Virginia, Iowa State, and Kansas rounding out the rest of the poll.

The 2014 Big 12 Media Days will be Tuesday July 22nd in Dallas, Texas. Representing K-State along with head coach Bill Snyder will be Tyler Lockett, Jake Waters, Ryan Mueller, B.J. Finney and Jonathan Truman.

K-State will open the 2014 season at home against Stephen F. Austin on August 30th. The sixth annual K-State Family Reunion will begin at 6:10 p.m..

The Topeka Senators and Midwest Athletics picked up opening day wins in the 2014 Summer Classic….the Mid-Plains League baseball tournament at Rathert Field.

In the first game on Wednesday the Senators held off the Baldwin City Blues 3-2.

The Senators scored what proved to be the winning run in the top of the seventh inning. Singles by Kameron Clark and Chase Knott and a batter hit by a pitch, Austin Cullwell, produced the base runners for Topeka.  Culwell scored the team’s third and winning run.

The Senators will advance to play the Junction City Brigade in a first round game at 4 p.m. Thursday.  The Brigade had a first round bye.

In the other contest on Wednesday the Midwest Athletics scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth behind doubles hit by Andrew Kreiling and Tyler Raymond. Josh White also walked and scored one of the runs. Raymond scored the other run for the Athletics.

The Athletics will play the Topeka Golden Giants in the tournament at 7 p.m. Thursday.

The next game for Baldwin City in the tournament will be at 7 p.m. Friday, while Rossville will play 4 p.m. Friday, with the opponents for both still to be determined. This is a double elimination tournament.

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One surprise in connection with the Tournament.   The games were initially promoted as nine-inning contests, but that has been changed to seven – inning games.   The Tournament runs through Sunday.

Kansas State placed a total of four football players on the 2014 Preseason All-Big 12 team as voted on by media representatives who cover the league, the conference announced Wednesday.

They include wide receiver and kick returner Tyler Lockett, offensive linemen B. J. Finney and Cody Whitehair, plus defensive end Ryan Mueller.

The Wildcats kick off the 2014 season with an August 30 matchup against Stephen F. Austin at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.  The game is scheduled at 6:10 p.m.

 

Kansas State senior quarterback Jake Waters has been named to the watch list for the 2014 Davey O’Brien Award.  It is presented annually to the nation’s best quarterback.

The announcement was made by the Davey O’Brien Foundation.

Waters was one of 39 players nationally to be named a candidate for the honor. He threw for 2,469 yards with 18 touchdowns for Kansas State last season.