EMPORIA – The Hays Eagles Senior American Legion scored early and often and got a strong pitching performance from Willie Sennett and blanked Wellington 12-0 in a game called after four innings by run-rule Friday on the opening day of the Sam Ellis Classic.

Cody Petersen drove in runs with a first inning triple and third inning double. He was the only Eagle with two hits. Willie Sennett and Jamison Martin also had two RBIs.

Sennett allowed only one hit over the four innings with four strikeouts and two walks and picked up the win.

The Eagles (5-2) continue play Saturday against the Topeka Senators and Newton.

McPHERSON – The Hays Eagles Junior American Legion baseball team split their two games at the McPherson 16U Tournament. The Eagles lost 12-5 to the Wichita Aeros-Grillot but bounced back to beat Hutchinson 7-1 Friday at the Grant Sports Complex.

The Aeros scored 11 of their 12 runs in the first two innings while holding the Eagles to two hits.

Dawson VonFeldt walked seven and allowed 11 runs on six hits in his first start of the season.

Dalton Dale allowed one run on one hit for the win against Hutchinson. Dale walked six while striking out four in the game called after four innings because of time limit.

Noah Weimer and Mason Robbins both had two of the Eagles eight hits.

The Eagles (1-5-1) scored four in the first on a Remington Cox RBI double, a wild pitch, a throwing error and Jack Fields RBI double. They added a run in the second and two more in the fourth.

They begin bracket play Saturday morning against the Buhler Junior Nationals.

HAYS – The TMP Monarchs 17U Legion team picked up their first win of the season Thursday, splitting their doubleheader with Ellinwood at the TMP Field. The Monarchs rallied with eight runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to win the opener 15-14.

Jace Wentling hit a one-out triple which scored two runs the game winner. Wentling drove in three. Nick Helget had four hits.

Tyson Dinkel pitched the final two innings and picked up the win despite allowing five runs on eight hits.

Ellinwood scored six times in the third to take an 8-5 lead. They then added five in the top of the seventh to go up 14-7.

In the second game, Ellinwood scored six in the sixth to break open a two-run game and won 12-6.

The Monarchs had a 2-0 lead until the third when Ellinwood scored three runs. They led 4-2 going to the sixth then scored eight runs in the final two winnings.

Carter Newell gave up five runs, two earned, on six hits with seven strikeouts and two walks and suffered the loss. He also had two hits and drove in three runs.

The Monarchs are now 1-5.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Mookie Betts hit a two-run homer off Danny Duffy in a four-run third inning and the Boston Red Sox defeated the Kansas City Royals 7-5 Thursday to complete their first series sweep in nearly a month.

Boston outscored the Royals 23-8 over three games and swept a series for just the fourth time this year, the first since May 10-12 against the Chicago White Sox. The World Series champions are 27-16 following a 6-13 start.

Betts is 7 for 11 with five home runs against Duffy (3-3), including six hits, five home runs and a walk in his last seven plate appearances.

Kansas City has lost six straight and nine of 10, dropping to a big league-worst 19-43.

With a doubleheader coming up Saturday against Tampa Bay, Boston gave Ryan Weber his third start. He allowed two runs and five hits in 1 1/3 innings, and Colten Brewer (1-2) followed with two scoreless innings of two-hit relief.

Matt Barnes, Boston’s seventh pitcher, allowed Jorge Soler’s one-out RBI double in the ninth but got his fourth save in seven chances by striking out Ryan O’Hearn and Chelsor Cuthbert.

Duffy allowed four runs and four hits in 2 1/3 innings. Eduardo Nunez’s hard drive went off Duffy’s right shin and ricocheted to O’Hearn, who tagged Nunez for the final out of the second. Duffy retired one of six batters he faced in the third.

Betts’ 10th home run tied the score, and Rafael Devers put Boston ahead with a two-run single.

Soler’s fifth-inning homer cut the deficit to 4-3, but Christian Vazquez hit a two-run triple in the seventh and scored on Scott Barlow’s wild pitch.

Cuthbert and Alex Gordon homered for the Royals.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Red Sox DH J.D. Martinez was removed in the fifth inning because of back spasms. … LHP Brian Johnson, on the IL since April 6 because of elbow inflammation, is to make his sixth minor league injury rehab appearance Sunday.

UP NEXT

Red Sox: RHP Rick Porcello (4-5, 4.76 ERA) starts Friday’s opener of a four-game series against visiting Tampa Bay.

Royals: RHP Homer Bailey (4-6, 6.05 ERA) takes the mound Friday at home against the White Sox.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – The 3-point line is moving back in college basketball.

The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel announced Wednesday that the arc will be moved to 22 feet, 1 3/4 inches for the 2019-20 season, matching the international distance.

The change will not go into effect in Division II and III until 2020-21 due to the potential financial impact on schools.

The 3-point line was last moved in 2008-09, extending a foot to 20 feet, 9 inches.

The panel also approved resetting the shot clock to 20 seconds after an offensive rebound and gave coaches the ability to call live-ball timeouts in the last two minutes of the second half and any overtime period.

Players also will be assessed technical fouls for derogatory language about an opponent’s race, religion, sexual orientation or disability.

McCOOK, Neb. – The Hays Eagles Senior American Legion baseball team split their doubleheader in McCook Tuesday night. The Eagles (4-2) got a complete game shutout from Colby Dreiling in a 10-0, six inning run win in game one. Dreiling only struck out two but didn’t allow a walk while scattering four hits.

Willie Sennett, Brady Kreutzer and Brock Lummus all drove in two runs.

The Eagles were held to four singles in the second game and lost 7-4. McCook scored four runs in the first inning and never let the Eagles closer than two runs the rest of the way.

Jamison Martin lasted just a third of an inning allowing four runs and took the loss.

The 19U Eagles play at the Sam Ellis Classic this weekend in Emporia.

HAYS – It was a wild night for the Hays Jr. American Legion and Great Bend at the Hays High Field Tuesday night. The two teams combined to score 43 runs on 27 hits with 36 combined walks. The Braves rallied with eight runs in the top of the ninth for a 24-19 victory in a game that took nearly four hours to play.

The Eagles had scored three in the bottom of the eighth to take a 19-16 lead and used a five-run fifth and six-run sixth to go up 15-10 after trailing early 9-3.

The Eagles drew 22 walks but stranded 17 base runners. The Braves walked 14 times and stranded 11.

Remington Cox suffered the loss after walking four and allowing five runs in the ninth.

Keaton Barnett had three hits and Dalton Dale drove in four.

The 17U Eagles (0-4-1) are in McPherson for a tournament starting Friday.

HAYS – The Hays Monarchs 17U American Legion baseball team dropped to 0-4 on the season with all four losses to Dodge City. The Monarchs lost twice Tuesday night at at the TMP Field, 8-6 and 11-1.

Dodge City scored five runs in the fifth inning to take the lead for good in the first game. They added added a single run in the sixth and two more in the seventh. The Monarchs scored twice in the seventh and had the bases loaded with two outs but couldn’t score again.

Dodge City raced out to an 11-0 lead over the first three innings of the second game which was called after four innings by run-rule.

The Monarchs host Ellinwood Thursday.