Alex Gordon homers in Sunday’s game with Minnesota. (Courtesy KC Royals, Chris Vleisides)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Eric Hosmer drove in Lorenzo Cain with nobody out in the ninth inning, helping the Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 3-2 on Sunday for a split of their four-game series.
Cain drew a leadoff walk against Twins reliever Blaine Boyer (2-4) to start the ninth after Ervin Santana had nearly shut Kansas City down in his return from a drug suspension.
Twins manager Paul Molitor called upon Aaron Thompson to face Hosmer, who ripped a pitch down the right-field line. Cain sprinted around third base at full speed, and a throw from Torii Hunter in right field was nowhere close to getting him at the plate.
Greg Holland (2-0) earned the win with a scoreless ninth inning.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Longtime Chiefs executive Jack Steadman, the architect of the only Super Bowl-winning team in franchise history, has died. He was 86.
The team says Steadman died early Sunday of natural causes. Steadman had been dealing with Alzheimer’s disease in recent years.
A longtime friend of Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt, Steadman helped establish the American Football League and the Dallas Texans, the franchise that would ultimately move to Kansas City.
He became general manager in 1966, building the team that beat the Minnesota Vikings in the Super Bowl four years later. He became president of the Chiefs in 1976 and remained active on its board of directors until his retirement at the end of the 2006 season.
Fort Hays State University Sports Information Director Ryan Prickett, second from right, has mentored several graduate assistants, who have gone on to full-time positions at NCAA Division II schools, including (from left) Tim Hanson, Doug Self and Andrew Sogn.
By DIANE GASPER-O’BRIEN FHSU University Relations and Marketing
Every sports season, they write thousands of words and calculate innumerable statistics about the student-athletes at their university.
This past year, Ryan Prickett and Andrew Sogn reported that the Fort Hays State University football team posted its first seven-win season in nearly 20 years … that the record-setting women’s basketball team won the MIAA title and advanced to the regional finals of NCAA Division II … that a female javelin thrower recorded the best throw in the nation, broke the new-model javelin school record and went on to garner runner-up honors at nationals to cap her All-American season.
Prickett admits it’s rewarding to track Tiger athletes’ success. But it’s nice when someone recognizes that you’ve been working hard all season, too.
Last month, Sports Information Director Prickett and Sogn, his assistant the past two years, learned that the Tiger volleyball media guide they produced last year was named “Best in the Nation” in the college division of the College Sports Information Directors of America competition.
The college division of the CoSIDA contest includes all NCAA schools at the Division II and III levels, as well as NAIA institutions and community colleges across the nation, while the university division is comprised of all NCAA D-I schools.
In addition, the FHSU women’s basketball media guide created by the duo was ranked third in the college division, and the Tiger football guide produced by Prickett was third in that division and second among NCAA D-II schools.
Prickett — who has 12 top-five national finishes in his 10-year career as the Tigers’ SID — has won multiple honors for his publications in years past. But this marks the first time that three of the four FHSU publications were honored in the same year.
Several years ago, Prickett set out to “get our publications on par with other quality institutions nationally.”
Following a lot of research, the volleyball media guide won Best in the Nation status in 2011. Since then, that publication has been named the best in NCAA Division II four years running. Mitch Weber, FHSU’s digital imaging specialist, provided photos for the publications, and Jennifer Honeycutt, former FHSU employee, designed the covers.
“We’re starting to see the benefit of the enhancements we’ve made to those publications,” Prickett said. “I feel like putting in all that hard work is paying off.”
For Prickett, even more rewarding than plaques hanging in his office, and what they represent, is watching the student assistants he has mentored move on to full-time positions at quality programs after graduation.
Prickett is the only full-time employee in the SID office at Fort Hays State, so student workers start gaining hands-on experience from the moment they walk in the door. He puts his assistant in charge of certain sports but also involves them in all aspects of the operation.
“I try to divvy things up so they get experience with all the sports. I want them to get a well-rounded experience,” he said. “They are so job-ready when they get out of here.”
One of those who was job-ready was Sogn, who was hired in April as a full-time assistant at Washburn University in Topeka a month before graduating from FHSU with a master’s in sports administration, making him the fourth assistant under Prickett who has moved on to a full-time position at an NCAA D-II school. Marshall Fey, who graduated from FHSU in 2006, then earned his master’s from Wichita State University, now is SID at Northwest Missouri State University, a member of the MIAA along with Fort Hays State and Washburn.
So Prickett looks forward to seeing his former assistants when teams from their schools play each other. In addition, Doug Self, who earned his master’s from FHSU in 2012, and Tim Hanson (2013) now are SIDs at Southwestern Oklahoma State in Weatherford and Newman University in Wichita, schools which FHSU also meets periodically in non-conference play.
Self was part of the first-ever “Best in the Nation” honor for FHSU under Prickett’s direction, helping with the volleyball guide in 2011, and Hanson helped create the 2012 volleyball guide that finished second in the nation.
The ability to mentor students under his direction is not lost on those close to Prickett.
“That’s a great tribute to Ryan,” said Curtis Hammeke, FHSU’s athletic director. “That’s another measure of how well he’s done as SID, with so many of his assistants going on to full-time positions.”
Sogn agreed. A native of South Dakota, Sogn had never heard of Fort Hays State before he saw an opening for a grad assistantship under Prickett. In doing some research, Sogn said he learned that “Ryan has a proven track record setting up his GAs for success so they can get good jobs.”
But Sogn had several other opportunities for graduate assistantships, and FHSU wasn’t all that high on his list — until he talked to Prickett on the telephone.
“One phone call with Ryan, and I felt it was a good fit,” Sogn said. “There was a connection with him immediately.”
Sogn said one of Prickett’s strengths is “giving us the opportunity to mature and grow up.”
“If you made a mistake, he wouldn’t fix it for you, but he wouldn’t get mad, either,” Sogn said. “He helped you figure out how to learn from your mistakes. He pushed me and helped me grow and get better, but I never felt any pressure.”
Prickett didn’t know it at the time, but he got his start in sports information at a young age. By the time he was 12 years old, he was keeping the official book for his sister’s traveling softball team. He then went on to play three sports at Sacred Heart High School in Salina, where he said he learned the art of time management and organizational skills.
“I was a sports junkie in high school, and I always had that dream of doing something sports related,” said Prickett, who came to Fort Hays State with intentions of possibly pursuing a career in radio and TV. “With this type of job, you have to be able to mange your time well, and be able to work on a lot of different things on a day-to-day basis.”
When Prickett arrived on the FHSU campus in the fall of 1998, he went searching for the SID office. He laughs when recalling the reaction of then SID Jack Kuestermeyer.
“He was pleased,” Prickett said. “He said people don’t usually come asking him for jobs, that he’s usually the one doing the hunting for students to help him.”
Pickett decided to major in health and human performance with the idea of teaching and coaching someday.
Even after working in the SID office five years as a student as well as an additional two years as a graduate assistant, Prickett still was in teaching mode. And as he approached graduation with a master’s in sports administration in the spring of 2005, Prickett was being courted by a school in New York. Then, a retirement at FHSU produced a domino effect that proved beneficial for all involved, including Prickett.
Long-time cross country and track and field coach Jim Krob retired, and SID Jason McCullough successfully sought Krob’s position.
Hammeke was just finishing his first year as athletic director at Fort Hays State. He relished the idea of keeping consistency in the SID office and hired Prickett as the full-time SID.
“It was a good fit for me,” Prickett said. “Everything worked out just right.”
Just right for Prickett — and Fort Hays State, too, Hammeke said.
“Ryan is very talented, and that’s evident in the awards he’s received,” Hammeke said. “But in addition to that, his everyday professionalism and passion for athletics is visible.”
“With the amount of hours and nights and weekends that kind of job requires, it takes a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and passion for what you’re doing,” Hammeke added. “His willingness to put in the time to do a good job is what sets him apart. He’s just done a fantastic job all across the board, and we’re very proud of him.”
The Hays Monarchs 18U American Legion scored four runs in the fifth inning and came from behind Wednesday night to beat Larned 12-4.
With two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning and Larned leading 4-3 the Monarchs loaded the bases on a Kameron Schmidt single and back-to-back walks. Liam Stults followed that with a two-run single putting the Monarchs up 5-4.
Hays tacked on two more in the inning, added three in the sixth and two in the seventh to pick up the 12-4 come from behind win.
Nine of the 10 Monarchs recorded a hit and seven drove in at least one run. Stults was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Ricky Hockett allowed one run in three innings of relief to pick up the win.
The Monarchs are now 13-4 on the season.
They begin play at the Wild West Fest baseball tournament here in Hays on Friday.
The annual Wild West Fest summer baseball tournament gets underway Friday morning. The tournament will be held at three locations; Larks Park, Hays High and TMP.
Friday
Pool A
11 a.m. – Hays Eagles Jr. Legion vs Kansas Cannons 17s (Larks Park)
3 p.m. – KS Cannons 17s vs Canon City Co. (TMP)
5 p.m. – Canon City Co. vs Next Level (Larks Park)
7 p.m. – Hays Eagles Jr. Legion vs Next Level (Larks Park)
Pool B
11 a.m. – Hays Monarchs vs Midwest Bruins (Hays High)
3 p.m. – Fort Scott vs Midwest Bruins (Larks Park)
3 p.m. – Hays Monarchs vs Colorado BA 17s (Hays High)
7 p.m. – Fort Scott vs Colorado BA 17s (Hays High)
Pool C
1 p.m. – Dodge City vs Kansas Cannons 18s (Larks Park)
5 p.m. – Dodge City vs Colorado BA 18s (Hays High)
9 p.m – Kansas Cannons 18s vs Colorado BA 18s (Larks Park)
Pool D
1 p.m. – Great Bend vs Paola (Hays High)
5 p.m. – Great Bend vs Doherty Co. (TMP)
9 p.m – Paola vs Doherty Co. (Hays High)
Saturday Pool A
10 a.m. – Hays Eagle Jr. Legion vs Canon City Co. (Hays High)
12 p.m. – KS Cannons 17s vs Next Level (Larks Park)
Pool B
10 a.m. – Hays Monarchs vs Fort Scott (Larks Park)
12 p.m. – Colorado BA 17s vs Midwest Bruins (Hays High)
Pool C & D
2 p.m. – Dodge City vs Doherty Co. (Larks Park)
2 p.m. – Kansas Cannons 18s vs Paola (TMP)
2 p.m. – Great Bend vs Colorado BA 18s (Hays High)
Championship Saturday
Game 1 – Pool A #1 v. Pool B #2 – 4:30 p.m. (Larks Park)
Game 2 – Pool C #1 v. Pool D #2 – 4:30 p.m. (Hays High)
Game 3 – Pool B #1 v. Pool A #2 – 6:30 p.m. (Larks Park)
Game 4 – Pool D #1 v. Pool C #2 – 6:30 p.m. (Hays High)
Sunday
Game 5 – Game 1 winner v. Game 2 winner – 10 a.m. (Larks Park)
Game 6 – Game 3 winner v. Game 4 winner – 10 a.m. (Hays High)
Game 7 – Game 5 winner v. Game 6 winner – 2 p.m. (Larks Park)
Consolation Saturday
Game 1 – Pool B #4 v. Pool D #3 – 8:30 p.m. (Larks Park)
Game 2 – Pool A # 4 v. Pool C # 3 – 8:30 p.m. (Hays High)
Sunday
Game 3 – Game 1 winner v. Pool A #3 – 12 p.m. (Larks Park)
Game 4 – Game 2 winner v. Pool B #3 – 12 p.m. (Hays High)
Game 5 – Game 3 winner v. Game 4 winner – 2 p.m. (Hays High)
The Hays Larks ran their winning streak to three games Tuesday night with a 13-5 non-league win over the Newton Rebels.
Reggie Wilson led off the bottom of the first with a double and scored the game’s first run on a RJ Williams double. Williams then scored on a bases loaded hit-by-pitch giving the Larks a 2-0 lead.
Derek Birginske added a grand slam in the third inning to put the Larks up 6-0.
The Rebels cut the score to 6-3 with a three run fifth and added single runs in the sixth and seventh to cuts the Hays lead to 6-5.
The Larks answered with four in their half of the seventh and one more in the eighth to pick up the 13-5 win.
Blake Korthauer allowed just one hit over three innings and struck out three for the win.
Eleven different Larks recorded at least one hit and nine drove in a run. Carter Hankins was two-for-four with two RBIs and
The Larks are 15-12 on the season. Hays is off until Thursday when they open up a four-game series in El Dorado.
HOUSTON (AP) – Dallas Keuchel allowed seven hits in eight innings to lead the Houston Astros a 4-0 win over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night.
The performance comes after Keuchel (10-3) threw a six-hit shutout in a win over the New York Yankees in his previous start. Keuchel struck out seven and didn’t walk a batter to lower his ERA to 2.03. Pat Neshek allowed one hit in the ninth.
George Springer had a two-run homer in the third inning. Jose Altuve drove in a run in the fifth to help Houston to the victory.
The Astros have taken the first two games of this matchup of teams with the best records in the American League. Houston is 46-34 and Kansas City is 44-30.
Kansas City starter Danny Duffy (2-4) allowed six hits and four runs in 6 2-3 innings in his second start since returning from the disabled list.
HOUSTON (AP) – Chris Carter and Jose Altuve homered to back a solid start by rookie Lance McCullers, and the Houston Astros beat the Kansas City Royals 6-1 on Monday night.
In a matchup of teams with the best records in the American League, Houston snapped Kansas City’s four-game winning streak. The Royals are 44-29, and the Astros are 45-34.
McCullers (4-2) allowed four hits and a run with six strikeouts in seven innings in his ninth major league start.
The Astros jumped on Joe Blanton (2-1) for five runs in the first three innings and Carter added a solo home run in the fifth to help them to the win.
Hays Larks Manager Frank Leo was among six named to the 2015 National Baseball Congress Hall of Fame class.
Frank Leo
Leo is in his 33rd season as manager of the Larks, during his tenure Hays has 23 appearances at the NBC World Series; finishing as runner up four times. The Larks have also won six NBC Midwest Regional titles, and eight Jayhawk League titles in Leo’s 33 seasons.
Leo was inducted into Kansas Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005.
The six inductees will be honored during the 81st NBC World Series, July 24th to August 8th at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.
The rest of the 2015 class is Emmett Ashford, Ron Gardenhire, Chris Hmielewski, Gil Carter and John Braden.
More information from the NBC on each candidate can found below:
Ashford, inspired by Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier as a player, became Major League Baseball’s first African-American umpire in 1966. Ashford umpired five seasons in MLB, including the 1967 All-Star game and the 1970 World Series. After his retirement from MLB, Ashford served as Umpire-In-Chief for the Alaska Baseball League in the early 70’s, then worked the NBC World Series for a couple of years.
Gardenhire managed the Minnesota Twins for 13 season, compiling a win-loss record of 1068-1039. He earned the AL Manager of the Year in 2010 after his team finished the season 94-68. Gardenhire played in the NBC World Series in 1977 and 1978 for Wichita (KS) Coors. Gardenhire also logged five years of MLB service as a short-stop and second baseman for the New York Mets.
Hmielewski is in his 10th year as the Director of Athletics at Southwest Minnesota State University. However, around Wichita, he?s known to have one of the best World Series performances ever. As a slugging first baseman and pitcher for Kenai (AK) Peninsula Oilers during the 1991 NBC World Series, Hmielewski smacked 8 homeruns, a record 25 RBI and 42 total bases.
Carter is known as the man who hit the longest homerun in organized baseball, a record 733 feet!!!! Carter helped the Wichita Rapid Transit Dreamliners to NBC World Series Championships in 1962 and 1963. Belting six homeruns during the 62′ World Series. In July, Carter will be inducted into the Shawnee County Baseball Hall of Fame. Recently, his family was presented the Pride of Kansas Award by the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.
Braden, became the first manager to guide teams to five NBC World Series Championships with teams from Fort Wayne, Indiana. He racked up four straight from 1947 to 1950, with number five happening in 1956. A dominating run though the NBC World Series in the early years has earned him a place in the National Baseball Congress Hall of Fame.
The 2015 Hall of Fame class will be inducted on six different nights during the World Series. The 81st National Baseball Congress World Series will be held in Wichita, KS on Friday, July 24th with a National Champion crowned on Saturday, August 8th. For more information visit www.nbcbaseball.com or call the NBC Office at 316-977-9400.
RJ Williams drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth inning then Keegan Curtis worked out of a two-on, no-out jam in the bottom of the inning to lift the Hays Larks to a 6-5 win over the Derby Twins Sunday night at Panther Field in Derby. The Larks take two of three from the Twins to move to 14-12 overall and 11-10 in the Jayhawk League.
Reggie Wilson hit a three-run homer in the fourth to give the Larks a 4-0 lead. They were up 5-1 until the Twins Taylor Sanagorski tied the game with a grand slam off of Brandon Bell following two Larks errors in the bottom of the eighth.
Williams gave the Larks the lead back for good when he grounded to shortstop with two on and one out.
Curtis entered with runners at first and second and no outs in the bottom of the ninth and after a sacrifice bunt which moved the tying and go-ahead runners in scoring position, recorded back to back strikeouts to end the game.
Bell allowed five unearned runs on eight hits over 7 1/3 innings but did not figure in the decision. Derrick Mount pitched 2/3 scoreless innings for the win with Curtis gets the save.
The Larks return home to face the Newton (KS) Rebels in a non-league game Tuesday.
Sunday’s Jayhawk League results…
Liberal 8, Bethany 7
Haysville 8, El Dorado 4
Dodge City 8, Wellington 7 (12 innings)
The Hays Eagles Junior American Legion defeated Widefield, Colorado 9-1 Sunday to win the Jim Clanton 16-Under tournament in Garden City. The Eagles go 5-0 in the tournament and improve to 12-9 on the season.
Tate Garcia drove in Cole Murphy on a grounder to third with two outs in the second inning to break a 1-1 tie and give the Eagles the lead for good. They added two in the third, another in the fourth then five in the fifth for the run-rule victory.
Grant Coffman allowed one unearned run on five hits for the complete game victory.
Hunter Brown went 3-for-3 with two RBIs. Alex Fisher was 2-for-2 and also drove in three runs.
The Hays Monarchs 18-under American Legion raced out to a 5-0 lead then held on to defeat Ulysses 5-3 Sunday and go 4-2 at the Jim Clanton tournament in Garden City. Earlier in the day they lsot 4-3 to the Garden City Elite.
The Monarchs scored three in the third inning and two in the fourth. Ulysses scored three in the seventh.
Jack Rack allowed all three runs on nine hits, striking out four and walking none in the complete game victory.
Liam Stults and Jared Vitztum both had two hits with Vitztum driving in two.
In the first game, the Garden City Elite broke a 3-3 tie by scoring on a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh. A hit batter and error, all with two outs, set of the late inning heroics.
The game was tied 1-1 when both teams scored two in the fifth.
Braiden Werth takes the loss after allowing all four runs on four hits, striking out three and walking three.
Liam Stults and Ryan Schippers both had two hits.
The Monarchs, who went 4-2 in the tournament in Garden City, are back at home Wednesday for a doubleheader with Larned before beginning play at the Wild West Fest tournament on Friday.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Jeremy Guthrie struck out a season-high seven batters in six innings and Salvador Perez homered to help the Kansas City Royals complete a three-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics with a 5-3 victory on Sunday.
Omar Infante hit a tiebreaking single in a three-run sixth inning for the Royals, who have won five of six to open a nine-game road trip.
After winning two of three in Seattle, Kansas City swept the A’s for the first time since 2008.
Guthrie (6-5) allowed two runs and topped 1,000 career strikeouts. The Royals bullpen did the rest with Wade Davis pitching the ninth for his ninth save in as many chances.
Jesse Chavez (4-7) was hurt by an error by third baseman Max Muncy in Kansas City’s three-run sixth inning as Oakland lost its third straight following a season-long five-game winning streak.
