ST. LOUIS (AP) – Brad Keller pitched seven-plus innings of two-hit baseball, Jorge Soler hit a three-run homer and the Kansas City Royals beat the St. Louis Cardinals 8-2 Wednesday in the first game of a doubleheader.
Severe storms around St. Louis forced Tuesday night’s game to be postponed and created the day-night twinbill.
Keller (3-5) snapped a six-start winless streak. He pitched around leadoff walks in the first, second and fourth innings and had retired 12 of 13 batters before Matt Carpenter walked and Paul Goldschmidt singled to start the eighth, ending Keller’s day.
Keller matched his longest outing of the season. He struck out three, walked four and hit two batters.
Kevin McCarthy relieved and gave up a two-run double to Marcell Ozuna. The Cardinals finished with four hits, two by Matt Wieters.
Soler’s drive into the left field seats off Michael Wacha (3-2) capped a six-run third and made it 7-0. Wacha has allowed 18 earned runs and 30 hits in 25 1/3 innings in five starts since returning from the injured list with left knee patellar tendinitis.
Whit Merrifield had two hits, drove in a run and scored once. Nicky Lopez reached three times and scored twice and Hunter Dozier hit a pair of sacrifice flies.
ROSTER MOVES
Royals: McCarthy, a right-hander, was recalled from Triple-A Omaha after RHP Heath Fillmyer was optioned on Sunday. RHP Jake Newberry will be the 26th man for the second game.
Cardinals: RHP Luke Gregerson cleared waivers and was given his unconditional release, making him a free agent. OF Lane Thomas will be the 26th man for the second game.
UP NEXT
RHP Homer Bailey (4-4, 5.36 ERA) will get the start for the Royals in the nightcap against RHP Adam Wainwright (3-4, 4.75 ERA). Bailey is 5-16 with a 5.56 ERA against St. Louis. Wainwright will be facing Kansas City for the first time since 2016.
Hays High placed five players on the All-Western Athletic Conference softball team. Seniors Jaysa Wichers and Kaitlyn Brown were named to the first team. Juniors Macee Altman, Madelyn Waddell and Cassidy Prough are honorable mention picks.
Brown led the Indians with 25 hits and a .424 batting average. She went 1-1 in the circle with eight strikeouts and four walks.
Wichers tied for the team lead with 20 RBI and was second on the team with six doubles. She went 7-7 in the circle with a team-low 3.06 ERA. Wichers struck out 102 while walking 23.
Altman led the team with eight doubles and two triples and was tied for the team lead with 20 RBI while hitting .364.
Waddell hit .404 and hit a team-best three home runs.
Prough was second on the team with a .410 batting average.
Hays High has placed five players on the All-Western Athletic Conference girls’ soccer team. Senior Cori Isbell and junior Isabel Robben were named to the first team with senior Hannah McGuire, junior Judith Isabel and sophomore Allison Shubert honorable mention picks.
The Indians finished 11-2-5 on the year, losing in the regional finals to Valley Center who has since advanced to the state semifinals.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Five Tigers have been selected to compete in the 2019 edition of the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The event will be hosted in Kingsville, Texas from May 23-25. For FHSU, four men and one woman earned the right to compete in the meet.
Alexcia Deutscher qualified in the javelin after throwing her best of 160 feet, 2 inches to sit her at No. 7 on the national performance list. Last season, Deutscher finished eight at nationals in her event when she recorded her top throw of 145 feet 4 inches.
Brett Meyer earns his qualification after hitting an automatic mark in the 1,500-meters with a time of 3:44.18. This time puts Meyer had No. 4 on the performance list. Last season, Meyer earned his fourth All-American trophy in two years after placing fourth in the event with a time of 3:46.43.
Philip Landrum qualified in the 200-meters following his time of 21.07 to put him at No. 24 on the national performance list. Kolt Newell will be heading to Kingsville to compete in the high jump where he turned in a qualifying mark of 6 feet, 11 inches to put him at No. 14 on the national performance list. The final Tiger to head to nationals is Ryan Stanley who will attempt to earn a title in the pole vault following his best height of 16 feet, 9 ¼ inches and a No. 10 placement on the national performance list.
Below is the schedule for the Tigers at the 2019 National Championships
Thursday, May 23
Men’s pole vault finals (Stanley) – 2:30 pm CT
Men’s 1,500-meter prelims (Meyer) – 6:10 pm CT
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Fort Hays State junior wrestler Brandon Ball has been selected as a finalist for the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association’s Ken B. Jones Award, announced Tuesday (May 21) by the league office. The annual award recognizes the conference’s male and female student-athletes of the year.
The winners will be announced at the 2018-19 MIAA Awards Celebrations presented by Husch Blackwell on Monday, June 3 at the Truman Forum Auditorium in the Kansas City Public Library’s Plaza Branch.
A 15-member panel of athletics directors, senior woman administrators, faculty athletics representatives and sports information directors – including a representative from each member institution – select the finalists. Each nominee is judged in three areas – 2018-19 athletic accomplishments, career academic accomplishments and 2018-19 campus/community service.
Ball, a native of Great Bend, Kan., is the only junior among this year’s five male finalists. He will be joined in Kansas City by Emporia State’s Landon Nault (football), Lincoln’s Grant Olsson (basketball), Nebraska-Kearney’s Jacob Bartling (track & field) and Pittsburg State’s Levi Wyrick (football and track & field).
Ball was one of the top wrestlers in NCAA Division II this season, holding the No. 1 ranking at 141 pounds from February 4 all the way through the NCAA Championships. He entered the national championships with an unblemished 24-0 record and won his first three matches before dropping an overtime decision in the national semifinals. He battled back to earn his second All-America honor with a fourth-place finish, concluding the season 28-2 overall.
Ball was the champion of the 141 pound weight class at the NCAA Super Region IV Championships, the Bethany Swede Open and the Bob Smith Open as well as earning the 2018-19 MIAA Dual Meet Championship at 141 pounds. He pushed his career record to 114-21, good for a .844 winning percentage.
Ball maintains a 3.80 cumulative GPA as a technology studies major and was recently named a CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree, making him one of 85 nominees for Academic All-America honors from the NCAA Division II sports of wrestling, fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, swimming, tennis, volleyball, and water polo. He is also a three-time member of the NWCA Division II All-Academic Team, a three-time recipient of the MIAA Scholar-Athlete Award, a four-time member of the MIAA Academic Honor Roll and a four-time recipient of the FHSU Athletic Department Academic Excellence Award.
Off the mat and outside the classroom, Ball donated his time to help with multiple events and organizations. He helped behind the scenes with the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure as well as the SAAC dodgeball tournament. Ball volunteered his time to help coach wrestling at Hoisington High School and the Hoisington Kids Club while also serving in his church youth group.
The female nominee from Fort Hays State was senior basketball player Tatyana Legette. Legette wrapped up her senior season with multiple All-America honors while being named MIAA Player of the Year. The Topeka, Kan. native holds a 3.39 GPA as a Health and Human Performance major while donating her time to numerous charitable organizations around town.
Mother nature was the big winner at the state golf tournaments around Kansas with play suspended yesterday at every location.
At the 3A state tournament at the Emporia Municipal Club in Emporia, where the TMP golf team is, play is scheduled to resume on Wednesday morning at 11 am. The Monarchs Cameron Rozean sits in seventh place at 5-over through 11 holes. Trevor Wilson of Caney Valley and Tyler Martin of Phillipsburg share the lead at 3-over when play resumes.
Play will also resume at 11 a.m. Wednesday in Hesston at the Hesston Golf Park at the 2A state tournament. Plainville’s Tanner Copeland sits two back of the lead at 1-over-par through six holes. Teammate Parker Krob is 2-over through eight. Carter Minson of Trego is also 2-over through three and Ellis’ Brady Frickey 3-over through six.
In Salina, at the Salina Municipal Golf Course, the 1A tournament will resume tomorrow at 10 a.m. Stockton’s Brady Beougher sits at 1-over-par through five holes and is one shot off the lead. Central Plains Alex Hickel and Osborne’s Lathe Watkins are both 2-over through five.
Hays High is at 5A tournament is Dodge City, at Mariah Hills Golf Course and that is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
The sand green tournament has been moved to Wednesday in LaCrosse.
Brandon Ball of Fort Hays State Wrestling was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team for At-Large Sports on Thursday (May 16). Ball is one of just 11 student-athletes on the District 7 Team chosen from several sports that are part of the at-large category. Men’s sports included in the at-large category include wrestling, fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, swimming, tennis, volleyball, and water polo.
Ball is a Technology Studies major at Fort Hays State. He carries a 3.77 cumulative GPA. The CoSIDA Academic All-District and All-America programs are voted on based off both a student-athlete’s academic and athletic accomplishments.
Ball is one of the top wrestlers in NCAA Division II. He held the No. 1 ranking at 141 pounds from February 4 all the way through to the NCAA Championships at the end of the 2018-19 season. Ball entered the NCAA Championships undefeated at 24-0 and won his first three matches before dropping an overtime decision in the semifinals. He went on to earn All-America honors with a fourth-place finish, completing the year at 28-2 overall. In the process, Ball ran his career record at FHSU to 114-21.
Ball is a three-time member of the NWCA Division II All-Academic Team and a two-time All-America performer on the mat.
ANAHEIM (AP) – Danny Duffy won his third straight start and the Kansas City Royals stopped a four-game skid Sunday with a 5-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.
Hunter Dozier hit a two-run double and Duffy (3-1) allowed five hits in six effective innings. The veteran left-hander, who is from California and had family in town, worked out of trouble in the first before settling in. He struck out five and walked three.
Kansas City scored three runs in the third to take the lead. Adalberto Mondesi’s single to right sent Whit Merrifield to third and he scored on Kole Calhoun’s error. Dozier’s two-out double made it 3-0.
Mike Trout had two hits for the Angels, including a first-inning double that gave him an extra-base hit in three consecutive games. He appears to be finding his swing and timing. A day earlier, he hit his 250th career home run.
Trout and Kevan Smith were each on base three times. Smith’s run-scoring double in the fourth scored Calhoun.
In the sixth, Duffy was hit in the lower left leg by Tommy La Stella’s comebacker. Royals manager Ned Yost and a trainer went out to check on Duffy, but he stayed in the game. He retired the next batter to end the inning and was done for the day after 106 pitches.
The Royals had lost six of seven.
Tyler Skaggs (4-4) struck out seven and allowed four runs – three earned – on 110 pitches in 5 2/3 innings. He needed 24 pitches to get through a scoreless first inning and threw 72 pitches over the first three.
A struggling Chris Owings had an RBI single in the sixth to make it 4-1 and chase Skaggs.
Cam Gallagher singled off Angels reliever Noe Ramirez in the ninth to snap an 0-for-22 slide.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Royals 1B Lucas Duda (back) is getting closer to a rehab assignment.
UP NEXT
Royals: RHP Homer Bailey (4-4, 5.36 ERA) is scheduled to start Tuesday at St. Louis. In his last outing, he allowed six runs on a season-high eight hits in 4 1/3 innings.
Angels: RHP Felix Pena (2-1, 3.49 ERA) is set to pitch Monday night at home against Minnesota, though the Angels have used an opener in his last four outings. In those appearances, he is 2-0 with a 2.95 ERA.
Earlier this week Thomas More Prep-Marian announced that Jay Harris had been hired as the new head football coach. Here’s what he had to say about taking over the Monarchs program.
SCOTT CITY – The TMP girls had seven individuals and a pair of relay teams and the boys had five individuals and two relay teams qualify for the state track meet next week in Wichita following their performances at the 3A regional meet in Scott City on Thursday.
The boys and girls each brought home the top spot in the high jump. Jenna Romme won the girls high jump clearing a height of 5 feet 2 inches. Kassidi Yost finished right behind Romme in second and Makinsey Schlautman was fourth.
Jared Mayers won the boys high jump with height of 6 feet.
Sasha Wasinger finished second in the girls shot put with a distance of 36 feet 4 ¼ inches.
Abby Rueschhoff was third in the triple jump with a jump of 35 feet 6 ¾ inches and in the long jump Paris Wolf was fourth with a jump of 16 feet 6 ¾ inches.
Adell Riedel came in second in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:27.17.
The 4×800 team was second and the 4×400 third.
For the TMP boys Ethan Lang won the 400 meters with a time of 51.81 seconds. He also placed second in the 800 meters.
Sheldon Weber finished fourth in both the 1600 meter and the 3200 meters.
Both the 4×400 and 4×800 teams both finished third.
VALLEY CENTER, Kan.-Not every story can conclude with a happy ending. Not every story ends with a smile. That was the case Thursday night for the Hays High Lady Indians as they fell to Valley Center in the 5A Regional Soccer Championship by a score of 2-1 in three overtimes.
SILAS HIBBS INTERVIEW
You could tell from the outset that this championship game was going to be a battle as both teams made early runs but came up empty in the first half. Valley Center would notch the first goal of the night early in the second half when a mad scramble ensued in front of the Hays’ goal and found it’s way in for a score and a 1-0 Lady Hornet lead in the 43rd minute. You wondered if that was going to be all or would Hays High be able to mount a charge.
Mount a charge they did. In the 69th minute Allison Shubert was fouled in the box and was awarded a penalty kick. The sophomore calmly approached the ball and sailed it past the Valley Center goalie for the equalizer. The two teams would remain scoreless the remainder of regulation and the match would go to overtime.
It would be the eighth overtime match on the season for Hays and the third for Valley Center. Both teams would have opportunities in the first two overtimes but could not score. The story quickly changed in the third extra period as the Lady Indians were called for a handball in the box a little over a minute in and the Lady Hornets were able to convert the subsequent penalty kick and win the match 2-1.
Hays finishes their fine season with a record of 11-2-5. It will be the final time on the pitch for Hays High seniors Hannah McGuire, Kallie Leiker, Savannah Schneider, and Cori Isbell. This group of seniors have left quite a legacy for Hays High soccer.
As I finish this story, I finish it with tears in my eyes as my daughter Hannah has competed for the final time for Hays High. It has been a true pleasure to watch her and her teammates battle. It has been a joy to get to know the family and friends of all of the players over the years. I cannot thank the coaches and administration enough for the investment of their time and talents to better my daughter as well as the countless other players that have graced the pitch for the Lady Indians. I look forward to watching this new team compete next year. In the meantime, God-speed and I love you Hannah.
New Blue Dragon head track and field coach Robert Spies speaks to a gathering at his introductory news conference on Monday at the Sports Arena. (Steve Carpenter / Blue Dragon Sports Information)
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
The Hutchinson Community College Athletic Department announced on Monday that Robert Spies will become the new head coach of the Blue Dragon Track and Field program.
Director of Athletics Josh Gooch made the announcement at an introductory news conference on Monday at the Sports Arena.
Spies will officially take the program over July 1. Hall of Fame Blue Dragon head coach Pat Becher announced his retirement earlier this season after 34 seasons. Becher’s official last day is June 30.
Spies becomes just the fifth head coach of the Blue Dragon men’s program and just the third head coach of the women’s program at Hutch CC.
“This is an exciting day for the future of Blue Dragon Track and Field,” Gooch said.
“This is a great time, not just for myself, but my family,” Spies said. “I know that there are very, very, very big shoes to fill. I’ve known Coach Becher for a very long time. I’m going to do my best to keep things going.”
Before Hutchinson, Spies has guided four other collegiate track and field programs and has had success at each stop.
Prior to Hutchinson, Spies was the head coach at McPherson College. Starting at McPherson in 2013, Spies produced 75 NAIA national qualifiers and 33 NAIA All-Americans. He coached one NAIA national champion, 73 conference champions, 92 all-KCAC performers and more than 60 school records fell in his tenure with the Bulldogs.
From 2011 to 2013, Spies was the head coach at Bethany College in Lindsborg. At Bethany, Spies’ teams produced eight NAIA national qualifiers, three All-Americans, 13 conference champions, 58 all-conference performers and 10 school records.
Spies isn’t a stranger to the Jayhawk Conference. From 2007 to 2010, he was the head coach at Fort Scott Community College. While at Fort Scott, Spies mentored three NJCAA All-Americans, nine NJCAA national qualifiers, 36 all-Jayhawk East performers and 34 school records fell in those four seasons.
Spies started coaching at Pittsburg State University as an assistant in 2006 and 2007. With the Gorillas Spies coached eight NCAA All-Americans, one NCAA national runner-up, 10 national qualifiers, six conference champions and 18 all-conference performers and five school records fell.
Spies was named the KCAC Coach of the Year three times (2016, 2017 and 2018). He was also the McPherson College Coach of the Year in 2018.
“One of the things that was appealing to me about Hutch was the continuity … not in just the athletic department but around the campus,” Spies said. “(Gowans Stadium is a nice selling point. When you can bring a kid in and tell them we host nationals here, that’s a really nice selling point. I like to have a stadium.”
While at Pittsburg State, Spies was also the Student Fitness Facility Supervisor. Before that, from 2001 to 2004, Spies was the Strength and Conditioning coach at Virginia Military Institute.
Spies ran collegiately at Fort Hays State University. He was a 4-time NCAA Division II All-American, a 12-time Conference champion in both the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. While at Fort Hays State, Spies was ranked 14th in the world in the 60 meters, clocking a time of 6.57 seconds during his senior year. He has also competed at the USA National Championship level.
Spies completed a Bachelor’s degree in childhood development with a minor in recreation from Pittsburg State. He earned a Master’s degree in human health performance and recreation with an emphasis in sport and leisure management.
Robert and his wife, Ermelinda, have two children, Davian and Sofia.
The TMP baseball team saw their season come to an end Wednesday afternoon in a wild, 15-14 loss to Concordia in the 3A regional semifinals in Concordia.
In the nearly three-hour contest, the two teams combined for 26 hits and 29 runs.
Aaron Breit postgame interview
The Monarchs raced out to a four-run lead in the bottom of the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Carson Jacobs and then with the bases loaded, Colby Dreiling delivered a bases-clearing double to take a 4-0 lead after one inning.
In the top of the season the Panthers offense exploded for nine runs on six hits to take a 9-4 lead.
Each team added a run in the third and then Concordia scored two in the fourth and three in the fifth to build a 15-5 lead through four and a half innings. But the Monarchs, on the brink of elimination would rally for nine runs in their half of the fifth.
The Monarchs sent 14 to the plate and collected six hits in the inning. Among those were a Tyson Dinkel two-run single and the second three-run double of the game for Dreiling, giving him a career-high six RBI’s. But after the Monarchs closed within one at 15-14 Dreiling struck out to end the inning leaving the tying run at third and the go-ahead run at second.
TMP was able to get the tying run to second in the sixth inning but were unable to threaten again as they see their season come to an end with the 15-14 loss.
Colby Dreiling suffered the loss for the Monarchs. He allowed nine runs, six were earned with a pair of walks in an inning and two-thirds.
Dreiling collected a pair of hits and drover in six runs. Brady Kreutzer was three-for-four with four runs scored. Carson Jacobs added a pair of RBI’s.
