Cold, windy weather greeted the Junction City Blue Jay baseball team during their Blue – White scrimmage Saturday afternoon at Rathert Field.

While coach Heath Gerstner said he is excited about this baseball team, he thought their performance during the scrimmage was very average. “Didn’t play real good catch. My expectations for us are way higher than that.”

Gerstner noted his team has been working hard with a big week of practice. “We may be a little run down. That’s good. I want to stretch us. I just want us to be better. I think some of our guys are complacent where we think we may have a spot, may not have a spot. We’ve just got to get so much better.”

On the cold weather Gerstner noted he wanted to play on Saturday, because they’ll have a game in chilly weather like that. There were multiple games a year ago where the temperature was below 40 degrees.

Pitchers were held to 30 pitches per inning in the scrimmage. The coach said he wasn’t disappointed with any of the pitchers. “I told our guys no question our pitchers are farther ahead than they’ve ever been. We’ve got a lot of strikes throwers, a lot of guys that will compete on the mound. We’ve just got to be better defensively.” Some of the pitchers include Will Ervin, Nate Zimmerman, Xavier DeGuzman, Tate Zimmerman. Ryan Henington, and Dylan Collette.

The Blue Jay varsity opens the season April 3 at  Topeka West. The JV squad will host Topeka West that same day.

 

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Julius Randle had 19 points and 15 rebounds, Aaron Harrison finished with 18 points and No. 8 seed Kentucky beat Kansas State 56-49 to earn a date with top-seeded Wichita State.

The preseason No. 1, Kentucky (25-10) is finally starting to live up to the expectations that came with its heralded recruiting class. John Calipari’s bunch nearly knocked of Florida in the SEC title game last week and seemed to carry that momentum into the NCAA tournament Friday night.

Now, the question is whether it will continue on Sunday. The Shockers rolled over Cal Poly to improve to 35-0 earlier in the night.

Marcus Foster had 15 points, Shane Southwell scored 11 and Thomas Gipson finished with 10 for Kansas State (20-13).

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Seldom-used Kansas State guard Brian Rohleder made sure he’d make it into the box score Friday night, just not in the way he or anybody else on the Wildcats’ bench had hoped. Rohleder was called for a technical foul for dunking in pregame warm-ups before No. 9 seed Kansas State played No. 8 seed Kentucky in the Midwest Regional. NCAA tournament rules prohibit players from dunking with less than 20 minutes left before tip-off. Rohleder, a sophomore who walked onto the program, dunked with 19:58 showing on the clock.

Oklahoma scored eight runs in the fifth inning enroute to an 11-4 Big 12 baseball victory over Kansas State in Norman.

According to k-statesports.com the eight runs were scored with two outs in the inning.

Starting pitcher Levi MaVorhis took the loss for the Wildcats.

The game was the Big 12 opener for Kansas State ( 13-8, 0-1 Big 12 ).

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Andrew Wiggins scored 19 points, Jamari Traylor and Perry Ellis had double-doubles and second-seeded Kansas pulled away down the stretch to beat pesky Eastern Kentucky 80-69 on Friday in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Traylor finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds, and Ellis had 14 points and 13 boards for the Jayhawks (25-9), who trailed 56-53 with 9 minutes to go before their game-ending charge.

They advanced to play No. 10 seed Stanford, a 58-53 winner over seventh-seeded New Mexico, on Sunday in the third round of the South Regional.

Glenn Cosey hit five 3-pointers and had 17 points for the 15th-seeded Colonels (24-10), the Ohio Valley Conference champions. Tarius Johnson and Eric Stutz finished with 15 points apiece.

 

GOODYEAR, Ariz. (AP) – Chris Heisey hit his sixth spring-training homer and tripled, helping the Cincinnati Reds to beat a Kansas City Royals’ split squad 9-3 Friday.

Heisey, a backup outfielder, also made a perfect throw from the center-field wall to second baseman Kristopher Negron, who threw out Alcides Escobar trying to stretch an extra-base hit into a triple in the fifth. Escobar played his first game since March 9 after recovering from a sore right forearm.

Brett Marshall started in place of Homer Bailey, who threw a bullpen session and is expected to pitch in a minor league exhibition on Sunday. Marshall allowed two runs, two hits and three walks in four innings with four strikeouts.

Royals starter James Shields gave up five runs and six hits in six innings with six strikeouts and no walks.

Negron hit a two-run homer in the third. Neftali Soto had a three-run homer in the eighth against Donnie Joseph, Soto’s third home run of the exhibition season.

Reds leftfielder Skip Schumaker left the game holding his left arm in the seventh after diving to try for Angel Franco’s liner, which landed for a double.

 

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) – C.J. Wilson allowed three runs and struck out nine over 5 2-3 innings Friday as the Los Angeles Angels defeated a Kansas City Royals’ split squad 7-3.

Making his fifth spring training start, Wilson labored early during a 99-pitch outing.

Raul Mondesi and Alex Gordon singled with one out in a four-hit first, Justin Maxwell singled in a run and Gordon scored on Chris Iannetta’s passed ball.

Alex Gordon added an RBI single in the second.

Just one run was earned against Wilson, who gave up seven hits and two walks.

Kole Calhoun and Iannetta each hit their second homer of spring training. Iannetta hit a three-run drive in the second off Aaron Brooks, who allowed four runs – three earned – and four hits in two innings.

 

ST. LOUIS (AP) – The kids from Kentucky began the season No. 1. They sure think they can end it that way.

After a wild roller-coaster ride for one of the most heralded recruiting classes in history, the Wildcats begin their NCAA tournament as the No. 8 seed against No. 9 seed Kansas State on Friday night in St. Louis. The winner will face top-ranked Wichita State or No. 16 seed Cal Poly.

Asked if the preseason ranking was unfair for a team starting five freshmen, Kentucky coach John Calipari scoffed. There are always expectations for the blue-bloods from the Bluegrass State.

Kansas State has something to prove, too. Nobody expected anything of the Wildcats from the Little Apple this season, and it seems nobody thinks they have a chance against Kentucky, either.

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) – Albert Pujols and Mike Trout homered to back Jered Weaver and help the Los Angeles Angels beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 Thursday.

Pujols hit his first home run of spring training in the first inning against Bruce Chen, a day after doubling twice.

Trout hit a two-run drive in the sixth, giving him home runs in back-to-back games and four overall. Trout also doubled and is hitting .400 with 14 RBIs.

Weaver allowed two runs and three hits in 5 1-3 innings with five strikeouts and no walks. Jason Donald homered off him.

Chen gave up three runs and six hits in 5 1-3 innings.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Chiefs general manager John Dorsey says the controversial signing of wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders by AFC West-rival Denver has been “put to bed” and that he’s focused on what he can do during the rest of free agency and in the draft.

Sanders had visited the Chiefs last week when reports began to surface he had agreed to a contract. His agent, Steve Weinberg, said that was never the case, and reports citing unnamed sources that claimed he was “shopping” the Chiefs’ offer to other teams were inaccurate.

Sanders ultimately signed an $18 million, three-year deal with Denver, and the Chiefs’ lengthy and frustrating pursuit of a wide receiver to help out quarterback Alex Smith rolls on.

Dorsey said Tuesday in his first availability since the start of free agency that “that deal was put to bed, we have to move forward and we have to build for this organization.”