Junction City dropped both games in Tuesday nights double header against Manhattan.

The Blue Jays fell 6-3 in game one with Will Ervin pitching six innings and giving up just five hits, two earned runs, two walks and five strikeouts.

“If theirs anybody to give credit to its Will Ervin,” Coach Heath Gerstner said. “He competed is butt off. Gave us a chance to win, should have won the game. He was right in it ready to go the whole distance. I would argue that it was his best start of his career, we just didn’t make the plays behind him.”

In game two Manhattan got the bats going early and put up five runs in the first inning and never quit, getting the win in the fifth 12-2 by run rule.

“We were not ready to play, four errors in the first inning. I thought the game was out of hand before it even started,” Gerstner said.

Nick Zimmerman got the loss for the Blue Jays.

Manhattan improved to 8-4 on the season and Junction City fell to 4-6.

Junction City will take on Washburn Rural in a double header Friday night at Rathert Field.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The mercurial state of college football, and athletics in general, could be summed up by listening to Big 12 coaches respond to questions Monday as spring practices draw to a conclusion.

What was once an opportunity to discuss X’s and O’s, the hotshot freshman or a new starting quarterback instead became a discussion of whether players are employees, the perils and merits of transfers, and the money associated with the new format for college football’s playoff.

None of the coaches asked said they viewed their players as employees, though many did acknowledge the time demands are such that it often seems like it.

As for the playoff, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy predicted that the four-team arrangement will soon be scrapped for eight teams.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) – Josh Freeman signed with the New York Giants on Monday to be a backup quarterback to Eli Manning.

Freeman was released by Tampa Bay early last season and spent the rest of 2013 with Minnesota. His one start for the Vikings was in a 23-7 loss to the Giants in which he struggled, going 20 of 53 for 190 yards with an interception.

Freeman is the 15th veteran the Giants have added in free agency. He joins Manning, Curtis Painter and Ryan Nassib as quarterbacks on the roster.

Tampa Bay cut Freeman in a messy split last year. He was the Buccaneers’ first-round draft pick in 2009 out of Kansas State. He became a starter in November of that year and started 60 games for Tampa Bay.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Chiefs have gathered for the start of offseason workouts, giving coach Andy Reid an opportunity to provide an update on issues ranging from injuries to potential starters.

Reid said Monday that Eric Fisher, who will slide from right tackle to left tackle, had surgery on his left shoulder and to repair a sports hernia. Reid also said safety Sanders Commings had surgery for an undisclosed injury and has been cleared to work out.

The Chiefs will have to replace the tandem of Jon Asamoah and Geoff Schwartz at right guard and Kendrick Lewis at free safety. Reid said that Rishaw Johnson will get the first shot at the offensive line spot and that Husain Abdullah is the front-runner for the safety job.

 

CLEVELAND (AP) – Jason Kipnis and Michael Brantley hit two-run homers, powering the Cleveland Indians over the Kansas City Royals 4-3 Monday night when a fearless squirrel ran around Progressive Field and provided some extra entertainment.

Kipnis connected in the sixth inning off Jeremy Guthrie (2-1), overcoming a 3-2 deficit. Brantley provided Cleveland a 2-0 lead in the fourth.

Zach McAllister (3-0) gave up six hits and overcame three errors – one on his errant throw. Marc Rzepczynski and Cody Allen pitched a hitless inning each, and closer John Axford worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his seventh save.

Alex Gordon and Omar Infante each had two of the Royals’ six hits.

 

The Junction City Lady Jay soccer team lost to Hayden 5-0 Monday night at Al Simpler Stadium.

The loss leaves Junction City 5-2-1 on the season.

The Junction City Blue Jay golf team finished eighth out of 13 teams in the Manhattan Invitational, played Monday at the Manhattan Country Club course.

According to Blue Jay coach Tim Hickert Washburn Rural captured the team title with the low overall score of 315. Topeka Seaman finished second with a score of 323, while the Blue Jays turned in a team total of 362.

Leading the way for Junction City and medaling was Steve Kim. The JCHS junior shot a round of 81 to tie for sixth place in the individual competition. Also for Junction City Shane Lee turned in a score of 93, Madison Roether 94, and TJ Allen 94.

The Blue Jays will compete in a tournament at Hays on Tuesday.

The Junction City Junior Baseball Association President Jim Poole has announced that two more registration dates have been added for the 2014 baseball season.

Registration will be conducted this Wednesday and Thursday ( April 23-24 ) from 4:30 p.m. until 6 p.m. at the Baseball Academy above the Goodwill Store at 1008 W. 6th Street, Junction City.

Junior Baseball provides summer youth baseball for players ages 5 through 16 years old.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Phil Hughes ended a personal losing streak that dated to last July, pitching into the seventh inning Sunday and helping the Twins top the Kansas City Royals 8-3 to avoid a three-game sweep.

Hughes (1-1), who signed a $24 million, three-year deal in December, allowed an RBI single to Omar Infante in the fifth and a two-run homer to Alcides Escobar in the seventh while winning for the first time in 17 appearances. He had lost eight games since that victory on July 2.

Josmil Pinto homered and Trevor Plouffe and Kurt Suzuki each drove in a pair of runs for the Twins, who battered Yordano Ventura (1-1) before piling on against the Royals’ bullpen.

The loss ended Kansas City’s five-game winning streak.

 

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) – Kansas received strong performances from both the men’s and women’s teams at the Kansas Relays on Saturday while winning eight of the 20 track events, the women’s long jump and had two of its graduates win in other events.

Kansas’ Lindsay Vollmer, the defending NCAA champion in the heptathlon, claimed the 100-meter hurdles, while Diamond Dixon was part of the winning 4×100-meter and 4×400-meter relay teams. Dixon won a gold medal as a member of the 4×400-meter team at the 2012 London Olympics.

For the first time in the 87-year history of the Kansas Relays, the meet was not held at Memorial Stadium, which is also the home of the football team. Instead, the event moved to the brand-new Rock Chalk Park, a $39 million facility that is still partly under construction but will host the Jayhawks’ track and field, softball and women’s soccer teams.