The Hays Monarchs win the opener of a doubleheader in Dodge City 6-5 before weather caused the second game to end in the third inning. Krayton Werth picked up the victory for the Monarchs. The Monarchs are in Ellis for two tonight beginning at 6 o’clock.
The Royals are still winless at PETCO Park in San Diego. Last night Clayton Richard won for the first time in 12 home starts in the Padres 4-2 victory.
Richard held the Royals to two runs on five hits over seven innings. The Padres scored one in the first and two in the second in building a 3-1 lead.
Royals starter Felipe Paulino drops to 0-2, allowing four runs, three earned, on 11 hits over seven innings, striking out seven and walking just one.
Jeff Francoeur homered and threw a runner out at the plate. Alex Gordon’s 13-game hit streak came to and end.
The Royals have now lost eight of their last ten with seven of those losses by two runs or less.
Bruce Chen goes in the series finale this afternoon with Royals pre-game at 2 o’clock on KAYS.
The Wild West Festival is back for its 17th year. The festival begins with the Heart of America carnival Wednesday night and will conclude with the fireworks show Monday night.
Committee member Mary Karst says many of the same activities will return for another year. Karst says the WWF website has had views from all 50 states and Guam.
The festival grounds open at 5pm Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The Main Street parade will be at 10am Saturday.
A project to seal a portion of Highway 283 in Trego County begins Wednesday. Work will start at the Ness County line and continue north to the I-70 junction. Traffic will be guided by a pilot car during daylight hours. The project should take about two weeks.
Flint Hills Job Corps has opened an admissions recruiting office in Hays to reach out to central and western Kansas students who may benefit from Job Corps training. Business Community Liaison Mario Morales says there are 124 Job Corps centers across the nation providing a high school diploma or GED and vocational training for free to economically disadvantaged youth.
Job Corps will then assist the students with advanced training or job placement. The Hays office is in the Kansas Works building on Eighth Street, and the Flint Hills Campus is in Manhattan.
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) – The U.S. Postal Service has announced changes in mail processing in Hutchinson. The postal service is shifting its mail processing from Hutchinson to Wichita.
The changes are the result of a consolidation study and will take affect by late October. The study estimated the savings at $58,000 annually.
Under the new system, first-class mail delivery to Topeka and Independence will be faster, but it will add a day for delivery to Hays and Colby.
The decision has been made to move mail sorting from Colby to Salina, but a decision has not been announced for Hays.
Following a public meeting Thursday, the U.S. Postal Service has terminated its contract at the Liebenthal post office and will close it July 16th. A U-S-P-S spokesperson says there have been “contractual irregularities” at the Rush County facility.
Delivery and retail services will be provided by a rural mail carrier out of the LaCrosse post office. Flags have been placed along roadsides where customers may install mailboxes for rural mail delivery. 
Harvest is working its way through Ellis County. Bill Spiegel with Kansas Wheat says the hot, dry weather has made a difference over the last week.
Bill Burton with Midland Marketing in Hays says the quality has been excellent. Test weights have been over 60 pounds per bushel. The yields have varied from 15 to 60 bushels per acre. The company has 11 locations, and Burton expects the crop to total about 75% of last year’s total production.
Fort Hays State men’s soccer coach Brett Parker announced the signing of five more student-athletes for the 2011 season. These five players join the 31 previously announced signings in the inaugural recruiting class. Among the signees are two transfers, including one from an NCAA Division I school, and three who will join the program as freshman in 2011. Below is further information on each signee.
Travis Patzner – 6-2 – D – Sr.-TR – Hays, Kan. (Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne)
Played two seasons at Barton (Kan.) CC, starting 39 of 40 career games for the Cougars. Helped lead the team to a 38-3-2 record in his two years, anchoring a defense that allowed only 8 goals in 22 games during his sophomore season. Transferred to Division I Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) for the 2010 season, making 13 starts for the Mastodons.
Roberto Rivera – 5-10 – MF – Jr.-TR – Las Vegas, Nev. (Allen County (Kan.) CC)
Played for two seasons at Allen County (Kan.) CC for Coach Doug Desmarteau
Diego Cabral – 5-6 – F – Fr.-HS – Asuncion, Paraguay (Colegio Cristo Rey)
Competed for three years at the youth level for Paraguayian 1st Division side Club Tacuary from U-16 through U-18. Played for Cristo Rey HS for five seasons, winning several tournaments and MVP awards.
Carlos Linares – 6-0 – D – Fr.-HS – Aurora, Colo. (Rangeview HS)
A three-year starter for the Colorado Rapids Development Academy and 2011 team captain. Played for coach Vic Strouse at Rangeview HS and was named 2010 Eastern Metro Athletic Conference MVP as well as First Team All-City by the Aurora Sentinel.
Frankie Zitnik – 6-2 – D – Fr.-HS – Lenexa, Kan. (St. James Academy)
Four-year starter at St. James Academy for coach Rick Enna. Named First Team All-State in 2009 and Second Team in 2010. Helped his team to the 2009 Class 4A State Championship and a third place finish in 2010. Played club soccer for the KCFC Blues, qualifying for the state cup semi-finals in 2010 and 2011.
Hays High’s Katelyn Schumacher and Makenzie Flaska have both been named to the first-team of the 5A All-State softball team. Flaska as an infielder and Schumacher as a utility player.
Schumacher, a sophomore, hit .486 and as a pitcher, led the Indians with 15 wins including one at the state tournament. Flaska, a junior, hit .432 and led the squad in home runs and RBI’s.
The Kansas City Royals remain winless at PETCO Park, losing 4-3 to the Padres in their series opener last night. Ryan Ludwick hit a two-run homer in the first inning and Mat Latos won for the first time in four starts.
The Royals trailed 4-1 before scoring two in the sixth on Brayan Pena’s two-out, two-run double. Jeff Francis drops to 3-9, allowing four runs, three earned on five hits over five innings.
Felipe Paulino makes the start tonight as the Royals look for their first ever win at PETCO Park. Royals pre-game at 8:30pm tonight on KAYS.
SAN DIEGO (AP) – Kansas City manager Ned Yost says the Royals will go with a six-man rotation at least until the All-Star break.
Kyle Davies is ready to come off the disabled list and rookie Danny Duffy is pitching well enough that the Royals don’t want to send him down. Yost says the move will help give the Royals a chance to stay healthy.
Widespread 90’s are expected across central and southwest Kansas today as southeasterly winds return to the area.
Thunderstorms will develop this afternoon just lee of the Rockies in eastern Colorado and northeastern New Mexico. These storms are expected to drift eastward into western Kansas late this evening and during the overnight hours.
A few of these storms could be fairly strong and maybe even severe, capable of producing quarter size hail and damaging winds in excess of 60 mph.
