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Kansas, NC State newly mentioned in NCAA hoops case

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NEW YORK (AP) – Kansas and North Carolina State are the latest schools to be swept up in a bribery scandal involving college basketball.

A rewritten indictment released Tuesday in New York alleges that an Adidas representative, who no longer works for the company, arranged for payments to parents of athletes willing to commit to the schools.

The refreshed indictment came several months after 10 men were charged in an alleged scheme to bribe assistant coaches in exchange for steering top-flight NBA prospects to a particular agent or financial adviser. Four assistant coaches have been prosecuted and the scandal has led to the end of coach Rick Pitino’s career at the University of Louisville. The new indictment expands the scope of the charges, alleging a wire-fraud conspiracy that included alleged payments to families of six student-athletes being recruited by four schools, prosecutors said.

The court papers portrayed the shoe executive and some coaches as bad actors, saying the conspiracy included hiding payments and signing forms falsely asserting that no payments had been made. The indictment paints a picture of transactions that were concealed to allow athletes to make it through eligibility reviews.

Prosecutors said the Adidas representative, James Gatto, and others agreed to pay $90,000 to the mother of a Kansas recruit and to funnel $40,000 to the father of a recruit at North Carolina State who was widely regarded as the top high school recruit in the state of North Carolina and who had played for an Adidas-sponsored Amateur Athletic Union team. No players are directly named, but specific details make clear the indictment is describing former North Carolina State star Dennis Smith Jr. and Kansas player Silvio De Sousa.

Prosecutors say money helped secure the players’ commitments to play college basketball at the schools and encouraged them to sign an Adidas sponsorship deal when they entered the NBA.

Smith, a point guard, was drafted by the Mavericks and declined comment to The Associated Press on Tuesday night as Dallas played the Phoenix Suns.

A date listed in court papers for the announcement – Aug. 30 – is when De Sousa made a surprise announcement he would play for Kansas. He became a crucial player off the bench this season as the Jayhawks reached the Final Four before losing to eventual champion Villanova.

Kansas coach Bill Self said following the program’s year-end banquet Tuesday night that he would not discuss individual student-athletes. But Self did say that “it certainly took away from what was a nice evening tonight from a thought standpoint.

“It doesn’t and shouldn’t take away from us feeling good about what is going on within our program,” he said, adding that he would allow the school to make any future comments.

Prosecutors said they beefed up charges related to the Louisville conspiracy, adding a wire fraud charge. Louisville declined comment.

N.C. State received a grand jury subpoena in January seeking records involving school officials, its former coaching staff, ex-Wolfpack one-and-done guard Dennis Smith Jr. and his representatives.

A recent Yahoo Sports report revealed bank records and other expense reports that listed impermissible payments from agents to at least two dozen players or their relatives, including loans of thousands of dollars to Smith.

In a lengthy statement Tuesday evening, N.C. State said its lawyers and athletics compliance staff contacted former coaches after the first indictments were announced in September.

“Former staff questioned stated they had neither any knowledge nor involvement” in activities related to the allegations in the case, the school said in its statement, pledging cooperation with prosecutors and the NCAA.

Joe Monaco, a Kansas spokesman, said the school learned earlier Tuesday that it was named as a victim in the indictment.

“The indictment does not suggest any wrongdoing by the university, its coaches or its staff. We will cooperate fully with investigators in this matter. Because this is an active investigation, it is not appropriate for us to comment further at this time,” he said.

A lawyer for Gatto did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

— Associated Press —

Griffons let another 9th inning lead slip away at Northeastern State

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TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Griffon baseball (18-16) fell to Northeastern State (19-15) 9-8 in the final game of a three-game series. NSU scored three unearned runs in the bottom of the ninth inning for the win.

After NSU scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, Missouri Western answered with four runs in the sixth inning. A dropped fly ball scored both Dusty Stroup and Brooks Day. Later in the inning, back-to-back hit batters loaded the bases for a two-run pinch hit single by Ryan Fisher. Fisher’s two RBI’s cut the Riverhawk lead to 6-5.

MWSU tied the game in seventh inning when an NSU error scored Brooks Day. Nolan Meyer gave the Griffons the lead with a sac fly to centerfield that scored Dusty Stroup in the next at-bat. A solo home run in the top of the ninth extended the lead, 8-6, before the Northeastern State comeback.

NOTABLES

  • The two teams combined for 17 runs on 23 hits, six errors and used 10 pitchers in the game
  • MWSU’s two through six batters combined for seven runs on seven hits and three RBIs
  • Dusty Stroup went 2-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored and an RBI
  • Levi Schreiner’s home run was his first of the season

UP NEXT
Missouri Western hosts rival Northwest Missouri on Wednesday, April 11 at 7 p.m.

— MWSU Athletics —

Junis carries no-hitter into seventh, Royals rout Mariners 10-0

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jakob Junis carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning, the Royals scored more runs than they had in their last six games combined, and Kansas City routed the Seattle Mariners 10-0 on Monday night.

Junis (2-0) hit three batters and walked two, but the quick-working right-hander did not allow a hit until Daniel Vogelbach’s grounder up the middle with one out in the seventh.

Junis finished up the inning without any more trouble, running his scoreless streak to 14 innings to start the season. He was given a standing ovation when his night was done by the announced crowd of 12,324, most of whom promptly filed out with temperatures just above freezing.

By that point, everybody in the Royals lineup but Drew Butera had scored off Marco Gonzales (1-1) and the Seattle bullpen — and all the catcher had done was drive in a couple of runs.

Mike Moustakas homered in the eighth off infielder Taylor Motter as Seattle saved its `pen.

Gonzalez allowed four runs, eight hits and a walk for the Mariners while retiring seven batters, and reliever Casey Lawrence promptly allowed five more runs while getting five more outs.

Kansas City’s offensive outburst on a cold, blustery night came out of nowhere. The club had been held to a single run in four of its previous five games, and two runs in the other. The Royals hadn’t scored more than three runs in a game since a season-opening 14-7 loss to the White Sox.

They had three runs in the first inning alone Monday night.

They tacked on another in the third before a five-spot in the fifth, a half-inning that lasted so long it was a wonder Junis didn’t cool off — or freeze entirely — while sitting in the dugout.

Instead, he trotted back out and worked a four-pitch sixth inning that lasted about 2 minutes in real time. And after he finally yielded a single to Vogelbach in the seventh, Junis struck out Guillermo Heredia and got Ichiro Suzuki to fly out to cap his dominant performance.

Seattle finished with two hits and left five runners on base.

MARINERS MOVES

1B Ryon Healy flew back to Seattle on Monday to meet with Dr. Edward Khalfayan and review an MRI of his ankle, which he hurt Saturday during a postgame workout. Healy was put on the DL retroactive to Sunday and RHP Chasen Bradford was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Mariners: DH Nelson Cruz (sprained right ankle) and C Mike Zunino (left oblique strain) resumed baseball activities Monday, and both could be back this weekend. OF Ben Gamel (right oblique strain) is getting at-bats at Tacoma and is also close to returning.

Royals: C Salvador Perez (left knee sprain) hit and ran bases for the first time prior to the game, and reported feeling “pretty good.” Manager Ned Yost said his All-Star could be back early in the four-to-six-week timeframe that was given when Perez got hurt just before opening day.

UP NEXT

Royals LHP Eric Skoglund makes his season debut against RHP Felix Hernandez as the three-game set continues Tuesday night. Skoglund has not pitched in a game since an exhibition March 17, thanks to rain outs and postponements that have wrecked the Royals’ early schedule.

— Associated Press —

Missouri Western men tied for fourth after two rounds at Lindenwood Invite

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ST. CHARLES, Mo. – Griffon men’s golf shot a 593 and is tied for fourth place after two rounds at the Lindenwood Invitational at Missouri Bluffs Golf Course.

Patrick McCarthy led Missouri Western with a 3-over-par 145 and is tied for 10th place. Kevin Kim and Cole Roberts are tied for 13thplace with a 148 in the two rounds. Jacob Majeske carded a 155 for the first day of the tournament. Lucas Horseman rounded out the MWSU scorecard with a 158.

Lindenwood’s Yente Van Doren led the individual field in the two rounds with a 5-under-par 137. The Lions shot a 571 to lead the team field of the tournament. Missouri Western tees off the final round tomorrow at 9:24 a.m.

— MWSU Athletics —

Holland walks in lead run in St. Louis debut, Cardinals lose in 10 innings

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ST. LOUIS (AP) — In his St. Louis debut, Greg Holland walked four batters in the 10th inning and forced home the go-ahead run Monday night that gave the Milwaukee Brewers a 5-4 win over the Cardinals.

The 32-year-old Holland, who tied for the NL lead with 41 saves for Colorado last season, was signed as a free agent on opening day. He pitched two innings at Class A before joining the Cardinals earlier in the day.

Holland (0-1) walked two batters to begin the 10th. After a sacrifice bunt, an intentional walk loaded the bases. The three-time All-Star closer then walked Orlando Arcia and was pulled.

Matt Albers (2-0) gave up the tying run in the ninth. The Cardinals loaded the bases with no outs, and Dexter Fowler’s sacrificed fly tied it at 4.

Brewers newcomer Lorenzo Cain tripped over the foot of Cardinals first baseman Jose Martinez on a play in the ninth, and both exited. Martinez bruised his right Achilles.

St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas pitched 6 1/3 innings. He gave up four runs on eight hits. He struck out five and had a balk.

A two-run single by Manny Pina gave the Brewers a 4-3 lead in the fourth.

The Cardinals took a 3-2 in the third with all the runs coming after there were two outs. Fowler hit an RBI single and after Jhoulys Chacin walked the bases loaded, Marcell Ozuna hit a two-run single.

Milwaukee scored twice in the second on a single by Domingo Santana and a two-out double by Arcia.

OUTFIELD ASSISTS

Milwaukee outfielders cut down two runners attempting to take an extra base. In the first, Fowler tried to stretch a single to right center into a double and was thrown out by center fielder Cain. In the second, Ozuna was thrown out at third after hitting a double down the third-base line by left fielder Ryan Braun.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Brewers: OF Brett Phillips was recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs on Monday. He replaces OF Christian Yelich (right oblique injury). Phillips, who was 1 for 7 with a triple and seven walks at Colorado Springs, takes the spot of reliever Adrian Houser, who was optioned Sunday to Double-A Biloxi.

Cardinals: RHP Luke Gregerson (left hamstring strain) was to make his third rehab appearance Monday, general manager Mike Girsch said before the game. “We’re getting close. We’re probably trying to get him back-to-back and see how that goes, but maybe a week or 10 days, something like that in that range,” Girsch said. … 3B Jedd Gyorko (right hamstring strain) did some work on the field Monday, Girsch said. “He’s probably a few days from ramping up his baseball activities,” said Girsch, who expects Gyorko to be back in about 10 days. … RHP Brett Cecil (left shoulder strain) also is dealing with tendinitis in his foot, Girsch said. He is not expected back until close to the end of the month if not later.

UP NEXT

Brewers: LHP Suter (1-1, 6.30) will be making his third start of the season. Suter is 0-2 with a 4.50 ERA in six career games and two starts against the Cardinals.

Cardinals: RHP Carlos Martinez (1-1, 2.84) has a 1.98 ERA against Milwaukee. That’s the second-lowest mark among active pitchers. He pitched 8 1/3 innings on April 4 at Milwaukee and allowed no runs in a 6-0 St. Louis victory.

— Associated Press —

Ong tied for individual lead as MWSU women sit fifth after day one

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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Missouri Western junior Shi Qing Ong shot a 2-over-par 74 to tie for the lead after one round at the Central Region Spring Preview at Rivercut Golf Course Monday. The Griffons are in fifth place as a team after shooting a 317 after the opening round.

MWSU’s Chong Yong is tied for 20th after the opening day with a 79. Jenna Kosmatka is inside the top-30 with an 81. Tiffanie Yabut carded an 83 and Katie Irvin recorded an 87 for MWSU.

Ong shares the individual lead with three other golfers. Southwest Oklahoma State sits atop of the team leaderboard with a 301. The final round begins Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. with a shotgun start.

— MWSU Athletics —

Mizzou’s Plassmeyer named SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week

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COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Baseball junior lefty Michael Plassmeyer (St. Louis, Mo.) is the SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week, announced Monday by the league office. The award comes on the heels of his first career complete game shutout last Saturday vs. Alabama. Plassmeyer is the second Mizzou pitcher to earn the honor this season, joining junior RHP Bryce Montes De Oca (Lawrence, Kan.) who earned the award after throwing the first 7.0 innings of a combined no-hitter vs. UMBC March 2.

Plassmeyer allowed just four baserunners in his first career complete game shutout in a 1-0 win over Alabama Saturday, striking out seven and walking none while scattering only four hits. He dominated Alabama batters all afternoon as he retired 16 straight in a stretch spanning from the first inning until the sixth. It was the longest streak of consecutive retired batters for a Mizzou pitcher this season and the longest of Plassmeyer’s career. It was also the first complete game shutout for a Mizzou pitcher since Cole Bartlett shut out Tennessee last season (5/19/17). The 9.0 innings are a new career-high in IP for Plassmeyer.

Plassmeyer has now made four starts in SEC play and the junior has worked 29.1 innings while allowing only 20 hits and four runs. Meanwhile, he’s totaled 30 strikeouts and has only issued five walks in those outings. Plassmeyer has now made four straight starts with seven or more strikeouts. Overall, the St. Louis, Mo., native has struck out at least seven in six of his seven starts. Plassmeyer delivered first-pitch strikes to 30 of the 33 batters he faced and he faced just four over the minimum in the start.

Plassmeyer is now fifth in the SEC with a 1.99 ERA and second in strikeouts, with 20 of his 65 being of the looking variety. He trails only Auburn’s Casey Mize in strikeouts – Mize is projected to be a top-five pick in this summer’s MLB Draft. Plassmeyer is also second in the SEC in innings pitched at 54.1 this season. His 1.23 ERA in SEC games is second in the league while his 29.1 innings are the most for any SEC pitcher in league action this season.

— Mizzou Athletics —

Griffons blow 9th inning lead at NSU, lose on walk-off grand slam

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TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Griffon baseball (18-15) fell at Northeastern State (18-15) 10-6 in game two of the series. The two teams combined for six runs in the final inning of play.

Northeastern State tied the game in the bottom of the ninth with a bases loaded single to centerfield. The next batter provided the walk-off grand slam for the Riverhawks.

Missouri Western broke a 5-5 ninth inning tie when Nick Schranck scored on a wild pitch. Schranck was put on a base after he pinch ran for Ryan Fisher. Fisher’s two-out single to centerfield kept MWSU in position to take the late-game lead. An inning earlier, Brooks Day tied the game when he slammed his second home run of the day.

The Griffons took their first lead of the game, 4-3, in the sixth inning when Casey Danley and Day hit back-to-back home runs.

NOTABLES

  • Brooks Day is the first Griffon this season to hit two home runs in a game
  • Day and Casey Danley combined for three of MWSU’s six runs
  • Levi Schreiner was 2-for-3 at the plate with a run scored
  • Nate Hunter threw seven innings and struck out four batters
  • Northeastern State pitchers combined for 10 strikeouts

UP NEXT
Missouri Western and Northeastern State play for the series win tomorrow at 12 p.m. in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

— MWSU Athletics —

Royals lose series finale at Cleveland on Gomes’ walk-off HR

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CLEVELAND (AP) — Yan Gomes hit a tiebreaking two-run homer off Brandon Maurer in the ninth inning, lifting the Cleveland Indians to a 3-1 win over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday in the coldest game in Progressive Field history.

Gomes drove a 3-2 pitch barely over the 19-foot wall in left field, ending another tough day for Cleveland’s offense on a high note. Gomes was mobbed by his teammates at home plate after just the fourth hit of the day for the Indians.

Maurer (0-2) walked Yonder Alonso with one out before Gomes connected for his second homer. Cody Allen (1-0) worked the ninth for the win.

The game-time temperature was 32 degrees, the lowest in the 25-year history of the ballpark.

Jon Jay’s run-scoring triple put Kansas City in front in the fifth, but the Indians pushed across an unearned run in the eighth without registering a hit.

Bradley Zimmer led off with a walk and swiped second. He advanced to third on Francisco Lindor’s sacrifice.

Zimmer stayed at third when Jason Kipnis reached on a throwing error by reliever Justin Grimm. But Jose Ramirez followed with a check-swing dribbler, bringing home Zimmer with the tying run. Ramirez was originally ruled safe on Grimm’s wide throw to first, but the call was overturned after a review.

Cleveland hadn’t scored since the first inning of Friday’s 3-2 win. Lucas Duda’s seventh-inning homer gave Kansas City a 1-0 victory on Saturday.

Cleveland’s Mike Clevinger allowed one run in 7 1/3 innings while Kansas City starter Jason Hammel pitched six innings of three-hit ball.

Zimmer denied the Royals a run in the third when he threw Jay out at home on Mike Moustakas’ single. Jay drew a two-out walk and took second on Whit Merrifield’s single.

Kansas City right fielder Jorge Soler snapped a 0-for-34 skid dating to last season with three hits.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Duda (right hamstring tightness) served as the designated hitter for the third straight game.

Indians: RF Lonnie Chisenhall (strained right calf) is expected to be sidelined for four to six weeks. The injury is similar to the one that caused him to miss nearly two months last season. OF Tyler Naquin was recalled from Triple-A Columbus.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Jakob Junis (1-0, 0.00 ERA) takes on Seattle on Monday in the opener of a three-game series at Kauffman Stadium.

Indians: RHP Corey Kluber (0-1, 2.40 ERA), the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, faces the Tigers as Cleveland continues its 10-game homestand.

— Associated Press —

St. Louis falls to Arizona Sunday 4-1

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ST. LOUIS (AP) — David Peralta hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer off Dominic Leone in the eighth, A.J. Pollock went deep later in the inning and Arizona Diamondbacks beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1 Sunday in a game marred by a benches-clearing incident in the second inning.

Arizona opened the season with three straight series wins for the first time, and its 7-2 start matched the franchise best accomplished four previous times.

Arizona manager Torey Lovullo was ejected by plate umpire Tim Timmons in the second inning. Lovullo was arguing a called third strike on Pollock and got into a shouting match with St. Louis catcher Yadi Molina during the argument with Timmons. Molina appeared to lunge at Luvollo and made contact as players ran onto the field.

St. Louis manager Mike Matheny stepped between Molina and Lovullo.

With three losses in its last five games, St. Louis dropped to 4-5.

Arizona also started 7-2 in 2000, 2007, 2008 and 2017.

Yoshihisa Hirano (1-0), a 34-year-old Japanese right-hander who agreed to a $6 million, two-year contract in December, pitched a perfect seventh for his first major league win.

Archie Bradley pitched around Kolten Wong’s leadoff single in the eighth, and Brad Boxberger finished for his fourth save in as many chances, retiring Jose Martinez on a game-ending, double-play grounder.

St. Louis starter Luke Weaver allowed one run and three hits in 6 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts, leaving with a 1-0 lead created by Wong’s RBI single in the fifth.

Nick Ahmed hit a tying RBI single off Matt Bowman in the seventh.

Chris Owings singled off Dominic Leone (0-2) starting the eighth and Peralta hit his second home run this season. Pollock followed two batters later with his first.

MAKING MOVES

Arizona recalled INF/OF Christian Walker from Triple-A Reno and optioned RHP Matt Koch to the Pacific Coast League farm team.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: LHP Ryan Sherriff was placed on the 10-day disabled list with a broken right big toe. RHP John Brebbia was recalled from Triple-A Memphis.

UP NEXT

Diamondbacks: RHP Zack Godley (1-0, 1.29) is to open a three-game series at San Francisco against LHP Derek Holland (0-1, 5.40) Godley allowed one earned run in seven innings of a 6-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday.

Cardinals: RHP Miles Mikolas (1-0, 6.35) is scheduled to start Monday in the first of three games against Milwaukee and RHP Jhoulys Chacin (0-1, 7.00) start for the Brewers. Mikolas hit a two-run homer for his first major league hit in a 8-4 win over Milwaukee on April 2.

— Associated Press —

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