KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Jason Vargas pitched seven shutdown innings, Mike Moustakas cracked a two-run homer and the Kansas City Royals romped to a 5-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Friday night.

Alcides Escobar had three hits and Omar Infante also drove in two runs for the Royals, who followed up a sweep at the hands of Minnesota last weekend by sweeping Houston and then taking the first of their three-game set against the Twins this weekend.

Ricky Nolasco (1-2) gave up five runs on 11 hits in 5 2-3 innings for the Twins.

Vargas (2-0), who signed a $32 million, four-year deal in the offseason, allowed seven hits while striking out four in another dazzling start. The crafty left-hander lowered his ERA to 1.24 while going at least seven innings in each of his four outings this season.

The Junction City Lady Jay softball downed Emporia 4-3 and 4-1 in a softball doubleheader at Cleary Field Friday night.

The Lady Jays got a three-run home run from Lindsey Kramer in the first game to go ahead 4-1. They then held off an Emporia rally in the seventh inning when Junction City stopped the tying run with a tag on a Lady Spartan runner at the plate by Lady Jay catcher Brittany Childs. That play had been set up by a strong, accurate throw from the outfield by Livi Dieselkamp to Childs near the plate.

In game two for Junction City Dieselkamp was the winning pitcher, while in game one the winning pitcher was Katie Holibaugh.

Junction City is 2-6 on the season, while Emporia fell to 0-8.  The Lady Jays will play at Manhattan Tuesday night.

The Junction City Lady Jays picked up a 1-0 win at Emporia  in girls soccer.

The Lady Jays, who fell to Hays on Tuesday night 5-2,  got back on the winning track Friday night in Emporia. Junction City is now 5-1-1 on the season.

The Junction City Blue Jay baseball team rolled to a doubleheader sweep over the Emporia Spartans in Emporia on Friday.

The Blue Jays won the first game 16-1 in five innings with Will Ervin getting the pitching win for Junction City. Xavier DeGuzman pitched in relief for Junction City.

The game was called due to a run rule after five innings.

The Blue Jays won game two 8-0 with Nick Zimmerman getting the pitching victory.

Junction City, 4-4, will host Manhattan on Tuesday.

The Junction City Lady Jay softball team will host Emporia at Cleary Field Friday in both varsity and junior varsity action.

They begin play at 4 p.m.

You can hear the first game of the varsity doubleheader on KJCK AM, The Talk of JC beginning at 3:50 p.m.

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The Blue Jay varsity baseball team will play at Emporia at Soden’s Grove at 4 p.m. while the j-v teams from the two schools will play at Rathert Field in Junction City at 4 p.m.

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The Lady Jay soccer junior varsity soccer team will compete at Emporia at 4:30 and the girls varsity soccer team at Emporia beginning at 6:15.

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The Blue Jay and Lady Jay varsity track teams were scheduled to compete in the Kansas Track & Field Classic in Emporia on Friday, but that meet has been cancelled.

The Geary County Girls Softball Association will be putting on a basic fast pitch softball clinic Saturday.

The clinic will take will be Saturday from 2:00 p.m. through 4:00 p.m.  at the Geary County 4H field. Cost is $15 per athlete and is open to girls between the ages of eight and twelve. Registration will be held prior to the clinic.

“There will be several coaches involved and we will get some high school girls out there as well to help with the younger girls,” says Jeff Childs, Association President. “Its just to help them start honing their skills a little bit and introduce some of the newer ones to the sport.”

The clinic will cover the proper way to throw, catch, field and run the bases along with other topics.

A parent or guardian must be present at the beginning of the clinic to register and sign the waiver of liability. Any questions concerning the clinic can be directed to Childs at 785-223-1336 or by email at jeff.childs@jcks.com.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Missouri coach Frank Haith is in position to replace Danny Manning at Tulsa.

A person with knowledge of the situation at Tulsa says Haith is the front-runner for the job, and he was traveling to the school on Thursday afternoon. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because nothing had been finalized.

Haith coached at Miami (Fla.) before taking over at Missouri. He led Missouri to a 30-5 record in 2011-12 and was The Associated Press Coach of the Year. The Tigers went 18-12 this season.

Manning left Tulsa after two seasons to take over at Wake Forest. He coached the Golden Hurricane to the NCAA tournament this season.

 

HOUSTON (AP) – Kansas City outfielder Lorenzo Cain has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a left groin strain.

Cain was injured trying to beat a throw to first base in the ninth inning on Wednesday night. He is hitting .333 with five RBIs and two stolen bases in 12 games this season.

Manager Ned Yost says Cain is: “still sore in his leg so … we’ll give him time to get this out of the way. Hopefully it won’t be any more than 15 days, but we’ll see.”

The team recalled left-hander Justin Marks from Triple-A Omaha on Thursday. Marks went 1-1 with a 3.24 ERA in one start and two relief appearances for the Storm Chasers.

 

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) – Sophomore quarterback Montell Cozart has won the starting job at Kansas, beating out Jake Heaps and T.J. Millweard after a strong spring game.

Cozart was 6 of 10 for 58 yards while running for 70 yards and two touchdowns in a leading his blue team to a 20-10 victory over the white team last Saturday.

Heaps, who lost the starting job to Cozart last season, was just 3 of 9 for 41 yards. Millweard, a transfer from UCLA, was 2 of 8 for 16 yards.

Weis opened the quarterback competition in spring practice, and it was expected to continue into the fall. Instead, he said in a brief statement Thursday that Cozart earned the job.

The Jayhawks open their season Sept. 6 against Southeast Missouri State.

 

Wakefield captured first place in both the boys and girls brackets at the Wakefield Invitational track meet this week.

The Bombers finished 128 points in the boys competition to top the four team field.

First place finishers for Wakefield included:

–Ethan Hammond, Pole Vault, 9 feet

–Dylan Murphy, Long Jump, 17’8

–Brandon Taylor, 100 meter dash, 12.05

–Zack Melius, 200 meter dash, 24.90, 400 meter dash, 56.97

–Brock Barrett, 800 meter run, 2:17.40

–Jonathan Bowen, 3200 meter run, 12:53.90

–Brock Barrett, Christian Fancher, Andrew Rothfuss, Chris Hardin, 4 x 100 Relay, 52.47

–Blake Otto, Brandon Taylor, Kirk Iseli, Andrew Rothfuss, 4 x 400 Relay, 4:07.00

— Chy Riggs, Tristan Gernhard, Dylan Rose, A. J. Reinke, Weight Persons Relay, 59.31

The Wakefield girls led the four team field with 119 points.

For the Wakefield girls team the first place finishers included:

–Tristan Gernhard, Pole Vault, 5’00

–Siarra Taylor, High Jump, 4′ 00

–Sara Casaus, Long Jump, 14’6 1/2, 100 meter dash, 14.13, 200 meter dash, 31.09, 400 meter dash, 1:14.70

— Chy Riggs, Triple Jump 23’05, Shot Put, 33’02

–Sarah Mize, Bailey Espy, Hailey Teeter, Tori Mills, 4 x 100 Relay, 1:03.10

–Dani Sanders, Tristan Gernhard, Sierra Otto, Sarah Mize, 4 x 400 Relay 5:57.38

–Cassidy Tilley, Dani Sanders, Sarah Mize, Katie Yarrow, 4 x 800 Relay 15:23.00.

–Sierra Otto, 100 meter High Hurdles, 21.09, 300 meter Intermediate Hurdles 1:01.08

Team Standings

Girls:

Wakefield 119

White City  41

St. Xavier  35

Hope           12

 

Boys:

Wakefield 128

White City  77

Hope             39

St. Xavier      9