Sports – Page 754 – St. Joseph Post Archive

Cardinals hit three home runs to top Reds, move closer to playoffs

Posted on September 20, 2014September 21, 2014

ST. LOUIS (AP) — It didn’t take Tony Cruz long to consider all of his home runs and rank his latest.

He’s only had three in his 100-game career and the first two came on the road.

Cruz hit a three-run homer and the St. Louis Cardinals connected three times, beating the Cincinnati Reds 8-4 on Saturday night and moving closer to their fourth straight playoff berth.

“It was a really good feeling,” said Cruz, who also had the first curtain call of his career. “The first one of the year is always a really good feeling and my first one at home. You know you hear the crowd. It’s amazing.”

Milwaukee beat second-place Pittsburgh 1-0 on Saturday to give the St. Louis a 3½-game lead in the NL Central. The Cardinals cut their magic number to one for clinching a postseason berth, and five for their second NL Central title in a row.

Kolten Wong and Randal Grichuk also homered as St. Louis won for the seventh time in eight games.

The Cardinals have hit five homers in the past two games, but have just 104 for the season — among the lowest total in the majors. Their lack of power has provided an ongoing issue manager Mike Matheny has had to address.

“I like the home runs,” Matheny said in his postgame interview. “You guys always accuse me of not liking them, but especially those three-runners that Tony did. We know we have the kind of team that can do that and it’s nice to see them.”

Cincinnati’s four runs were as many as it scored in the previous five games. The Reds have lost six in row and has been outscored 30-8 in that stretch.

They are 20-40 since the All-Star break.

“You’re seeing us having to go out there and really struggle so mightily to try to find a way to win a ball game,” manager Bryan Price said. “Certainly nobody’s enjoying this current portion of our schedule. The way we’ve played for the last 60 games has been miserable.”

Jason Motte (1-0) needed just three pitches and one out to earn the win. He came in relief of starter Michael Wacha and got Todd Frazier to foul out to right.

Wacha didn’t qualify for the win because he lasted just 4 2/3 innings. He was seeking his first win since June 17 before going on the disabled list with a shoulder injury.

Wacha gave up two runs and six hits on 78 pitches, the most since returning at the start of the month.

“I felt a lot better, today,” he said. “More secondary stuff was working for me. My command was a little bit better. I felt it was a step in the right direction.”

Mike Leake (11-13) allowed six runs in five innings. He also walked two and hit a batter, all of whom scored. He gave up two homers and has surrendered 22 this season.

Cruz hit his first homer in more than a year, connecting in the second. His last home run was Aug. 4, 2013, at Cincinnati.

Wong hit his 12th, a two-run shot in the third. Grichuck added a pinch-hit homer in the sixth — it was his third of the season and his second in two nights.

Grichuck later added an RBI bloop double.

Zack Cozart homered for the Reds and Kris Negron doubled twice.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: 1B Matt Adams and 3B Matt Carpenter both were out of the starting lineup with a stomach virus. Matheny said they were “quarantined,” though it wasn’t clear if they were at Busch Stadium and available or sent home. … Star C Yadier Molina got his first start of the season at first base.

Reds: C Devin Mesoraco was pulled in the sixth inning because of a stomach bug. Price said Mesoraco could have continued but the manager didn’t think it was worth it.

UP NEXT

Reds: RHP Alfredo Simon (14-10, 3.35) has given up five hits in seven innings during each of his past two starts, including in a 4-2 win against St. Louis on Sept. 10. The Cardinals have batted .228 in 101 at-bats against Simon over 22 2/3 innings.

Cardinals: RHP Lance Lynn (15-9, 2.68) has given up two runs over his past 15 innings and went 0-1 in those games, including a 1-0 loss at Cincinnati on Sept. 11. He has a 2.00 ERA this month over four starts and goes after his fourth win against the Reds. He is 3-1 with a 3.12 ERA in four games against them division rivals this season.

— Associated Press —

Cozart leads Kansas past Central Michigan

Posted on September 20, 2014September 21, 2014

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Montell Cozart threw a 60-yard touchdown pass to Justin McCay to break a fourth-quarter tie, and Kansas pulled away for a 24-10 victory over Central Michigan on Saturday.

Tony Pierson ran 74 yards for a touchdown on the game’s opening play, and Cozart added a 30-yard touchdown pass to Corey Avery with about 2 minutes remaining to seal the win.

Cozart finished with 226 yards passing for the Jayhawks (2-1), a big part coming on the toss to McCay with 13:23 remaining. The third-down throw was caught underneath the coverage, and McCay slipped the grasp of safety Dennis Nalor and scooted untouched the rest of the way.

Martez Walker had 56 yards rushing and a touchdown for the Chippewas (2-2), who were trying to start 2-0 on the road for the first time since 1985. They won at Purdue on Sept. 6.

Cooper Rush added 178 yards passing, but he was unable to march Central Michigan downfield when the outcome was still in the question. After Kansas had regained the lead, Rush was sacked on third down to end one drive and threw short of the first-down marker to end the next two.

JaCorey Shepherd picked Rush off in the final minutes, allowing Kansas to run out the clock.

The victory may have been a crucial one for embattled Kansas coach Charlie Weis. The Jayhawks were routed 41-3 by Duke last week, and Weis is trying to prove he’s made enough progress in two-plus years in charge to warrant the rest of his five-year contract.

It was just Weis’s third win over a Football Bowl Subdivision school.

After failing to reach the end zone last week, the Jayhawks needed all of 18 seconds to accomplish the feat Saturday. Pierson took a handoff out of the shotgun, glided to his left and hit a crease, running untouched the rest of the way for the score.

It was the first touchdown for Kansas since the 10:17 mark of the third quarter of its opener against Southeast Missouri State, and only the fifth scored in the Jayhawks’ first 10 quarters this season.

After that, the Jayhawks managed 95 yards on 33 plays the rest of the first half.

Playing without its top running back, Thomas Rawls, due to a suspension, Central Michigan fared little better with the ball. Rush was under constant pressure, a quartet of runners found no room to move and punter Ron Coluzzi started to wear out his foot.

The Chippewas’ Brian Eavey hit a 37-yard field goal to make it 7-3 at halftime, and Matt Wyman connected from 27 yards for Kansas early in the second half.

Walker, who did not have a carry in the first half, finally sparked Central Michigan early in the third quarter. The sophomore carried six times on a tying touchdown drive, barreling over All-Big 12 linebacker Ben Heeney on the way to the end zone.

Kansas buckled down on defense, though. And when Cozart hit McCay to regain the lead, a sparse crowd, made sparser by a 27-minute weather delay, finally exhaled.

— Associated Press —

Area High School Football Scores – Friday, Sept. 19

Posted on September 20, 2014

CITY
Raymore-Peculiar 42, Central 21

Smithville 32, Lafayette 28

Savannah 47, Benton 31

Bishop LeBlond 25, Chillicothe 23

Hardin-Central 42, St. Joseph Christian 40

AREA
Maryville 56, Cameron 14

East Buchanan 62, Mid-Buchanan 6

Hamilton 47, Plattsburg 8

West Platte 45, North Platte 0

Lawson 7, Lathrop 0

Polo 48, Princeton 12

Maysville 42, King City 32

Gallatin 17, South Harrison 14

Braymer 69, Wentworth 0

8-MAN
Albany 56, Nodaway-Holt 6

South Nodaway 68, DeKalb 44

East Atchison 54, South Holt 0

North Andrew 74, Stewartsville 14

Rock Port 30, Mound City 14

Southwest Livingston 86, Pattonsburg 14

Stanberry 64, Greenfield 20

North West Nodaway 70, Worth County 46

Western volleyball sweeps Emporia State for first MIAA win

Posted on September 20, 2014September 20, 2014

The Missouri Western volleyball team got their first win of MIAA play Friday night in a three-set sweep of Emporia State, 25-17, 25-22 and 25-23.

With the win, the Griffons improve to 7-3 on the season and 1-1 in the MIAA. Emporia State dropped to 4-3 overall and 0-2 in MIAA play.

Jessie Thorup improved her team lead with 17 kills, the most on the team. Thorup was extremely efficient at the net, hitting .773 on the night. Erica Rottinghaus added 12 kills.

The Hornet hitters avoided Sarah Faubel, who finished with just four digs. Jordan Chohon had a strong performance once again, with 37 of the team’s 40 assists.

Missouri Western’s tough opening stretch continues Saturday in the Fieldhouse when No. 5 Washburn comes to town for a 1 p.m. start.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Royals get roughed up by Detroit in series opener

Posted on September 20, 2014September 20, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Detroit Tigers insisted that they weren’t trying to make a statement.

They accomplished it anyway.

Ian Kinsler hit a two-run homer, everyone in the Detroit starting lineup had a hit by the fourth inning and the Tigers pounded Jason Vargas and the second-place Kansas City Royals 10-1 on Friday night to add another game to their AL Central lead.

The Tigers (85-68), who now lead the division by 1 1/2 games, have forged their advantage by dominating head-to-head matchups. They are 12-5 against the Royals his season.

MWSU soccer plays Northwest Missouri State to a draw

Posted on September 20, 2014

The Missouri Western soccer team opened MIAA play with a 1-1 draw at Northwest Missouri State Friday night. MWSU is now 3-1-1 on the season and 0-0-1 in MIAA play.

The Griffons were able to create some opportunities with three corner kicks early in the first half. Northwest was able to strike first in the 21st minute with a header by sophomore Cassie Phillips off a corner kick sent into the box. Western responded quickly with a goal by Tara Russell. She scored her first goal of the season in the 33rd minute to tie the game, 1-1.

The second half was a defensive struggle with both teams only creating eight total shots. In overtime, Missouri Western had a majority of control creating five shots and pressuring the Bearcats defense. Goalkeeper Sarah Lyle had five saves on the night.

Missouri Western continues MIAA play heading to Lindenwood University on Sunday, Sept. 21 with a 1 p.m. start.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Lackey dominates as St. Louis defeats Reds 2-1

Posted on September 20, 2014September 20, 2014

ST. LOUIS (AP) — John Lackey still isn’t happy about getting pushed back in the rotation.

After powering back into the St. Louis postseason pitching picture with 7 2/3 dominant innings in a 2-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Friday night, the veteran right-hander grudgingly admitted extra rest might have been a good thing.

“Yeah, I guess it helped,” Lackey said after a pause. “We’ll go with that.”

Asked whether he had his best stuff, Lackey fired back a fastball.

“Since when? Since ever? No, not even close,” Lackey said. “I definitely felt better than I have in a couple weeks, for sure.”

Randal Grichuk and Matt Holliday hit consecutive homers in the first for the NL Central leaders, who had only five hits but maintained a 2 1-2-game lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates with eight games remaining.

The Cardinals’ magic number is seven for clinching a second straight division title and two over third-place Milwaukee for securing a fourth straight postseason berth.

St. Louis is 6-1 on its final nine-game homestand.

Lackey (14-9) was passed over in the just-completed three-game series against Milwaukee after complaining of a dead arm.

The 35-year-old right-hander arrived at the trade deadline with a big-game reputation and noted after beating Cincinnati, “I think that’s why I’m here.”

But he was 2-2 with a 5.05 ERA in his first eight starts.

Lackey was especially well-rested for the sagging Reds, considering he was ejected in the third inning of his previous outing Sept. 10 at Cincinnati.

The Cardinals jumped on rookie lefty Mike Holmberg (1-2) early. With one out in the first, Grichuk lined an 0-2 pitch into the visitors bullpen in left. Three pitches later, Holliday lined his 19th over the center field wall.

Center fielder Jon Jay helped keep the Reds down, twice robbing Ryan Ludwick of extra bases with leaping catches at the wall. The first catch came one at-bat before Zack Cozart’s RBI single in the second.

“This ballpark plays bigger now, the colder it gets,” Jay said. “I knew on both of those balls I was going to have a chance.”

Cozart was thrown out at second, and the call was confirmed by replay after the Reds appealed.

Holmberg allowed three hits the rest of his six innings in his fourth start of the year and second appearance this month against St. Louis. He worked 5 2/3 innings against the Cardinals on Sept. 8 after replacing injured Dylan Axelrod after one batter.

The Cardinals have 101 homers, second-fewest in the majors ahead of only the cross-state Royals. They have gone back-to-back just twice, the other on July 5 when Allen Craig and Jhonny Peralta connected against Miami.

Lackey was the eighth straight starter to allow no more than one earned run, but lately the margin has been thin. The Cardinals have totaled nine runs while winning three of the last four, two of those games lasting a combined seven extra innings.

After Trevor Rosenthal was pulled with two on and one out in the ninth, Randy Choate struck out Jay Bruce and Seth Maness, and retired Ryan Ludwick for his third save in three chances.

The Reds, who have lost five in a row, fell to 22-38 in one-run decisions. They lead the majors in one-run losses.

“It’s a broken record,” manager Bryan Price said. “To be honest with you, it’s at the point where you’re tired talking about the same game, losing 2-1, 3-2.

“At some point in time we’ve got to do something to win some of these games.”

The Cardinals are 47-24 against the Reds at 9-year-old Busch Stadium.

UP NEXT:

Reds: Mike Leake (11-12, 3.65) needs one strikeout for 600. He has been victimized by a team-high five blown saves. He is 2-1 in four starts this year against St. Louis.

Cardinals: Michael Wacha (5-6, 3.14) makes his first start since Sept. 9 and likely will be on a limited pitch count. He is 1-1 with a 3.24 ERA in three starts against the Reds this year.

TRAINER’S ROOM:

Reds: Joey Votto (left knee) is on the trip but is running out of time to play. He has missed 91 games during two stints on the DL.

Cardinals: Shelby Miller took a one-hop liner off his right ankle in the sixth inning and was taken out as a precaution. Though sporting a nasty bruise, tests showed nothing serious.

STREAK ENDS:

Reds 2B Brandon Phillips’ 107-game errorless streak, a franchise record for his position, ended when he threw wide to first on Jon Jay’s grounder in the second.

— Associated Press —

No. 20 Kansas State comes up short against 5th-ranked Auburn 20-14

Posted on September 19, 2014

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Gus Malzahn squeezed into the ramshackle shed used for postgame news conferences at Kansas State, gripped both sides of the makeshift podium and exhaled deeply.

Fifth-ranked Auburn had just squeezed out a 20-14 victory over the No. 20 Wildcats, and its coach was asked whether it was the kind of nip-and-tuck nonconference game that he likes to play.

“After they’re over and you win, yeah,” Malzahn said. “You do.”

Aubun’s vaunted ground game held in check all night, the Tigers finally pulled away when they went to the air. Nick Marshall threw for 231 yards and two touchdowns, and Auburn forced a trio of turnovers while capitalizing on three missed field goals by the Wildcats.

Still, the game wasn’t over until Marshall found D’haquille Williams running wide open on third-and-9 at the Auburn 37. The completion with 2:06 remaining went for 39 yards, a first down that effectively ended the game, and gave the Tigers (3-0) their first nonconference road win over a ranked team since knocking off Florida State in 1984.

“Our guys found a way,” Malzahn said. “I told them after the game, I think this could be a game that really helps us in the future, because we faced some major adversity tonight.”

Not nearly as much as Kansas State.

Jake Waters threw for 245 yards, but he also tossed two picks — one in the Auburn end zone. The Wildcats (2-1) also fumbled the ball away, and Jack Cantele missed those crucial field goals.

Still, the Wildcats tried to rally in the closing minutes, scoring on a run by Charles Jones out of the wildcat formation with 3:49 left. But after holding the Tigers to third down, Marshall took advantage of one more miscue — a bad call on defense — for a first down to seal it.

“There was a ton of mistakes that we made that impacted the outcome,” Kansas State coach Bill Snyder said. “Auburn is a tremendous football team and we just made too many mistakes.”

The result was Kansas State’s lowest point total in more than three years.

“It hurts a lot,” wide receiver Tyler Lockett said. “We left a lot out there on the field. One of the plays I remember, I dropped a touchdown that turned into an interception. Missed field goals, fumbled the ball. We just made a lot of mistakes today.”

Auburn was the highest-ranked team to play in Manhattan since second-ranked Penn State in 1969, and an overflow crowd started tailgating Tuesday. The festivities continued until shortly after kickoff, when the Wildcats started to throw away opportunities to spring an upset.

The first serious miscue was a fumbled handoff deep in Kansas State territory. Auburn hopped on the loose ball and, four plays later, kicked a 34-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead.

The second turnover was even more costly. The Wildcats had second-and-goal from the Auburn 2, and Waters zipped a pass that bounced off Lockett’s shoulder pads in the end zone. Rather than an easy touchdown, the ball was picked off by the Tigers’ Jonathan Jones.

“Coach always says you get interceptions on tips and overthrows,” Jones said.

The Wildcats kept buckling down on defense, though, stuffing Auburn’s read-option attack. The Tigers had just 55 yards rushing in the first half, the fewest in the Malzahn era.

The nation’s best team in converting third downs also failed on its first five attempts.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Marshall said. “Adversity hit us and we wanted to see how we would respond, and we responded well.”

Kansas State finally scored with 4:56 left in the first half when DeMarcus Robinson scampered in from 3 yards out for his first career touchdown. But the Tigers hurried the other way, capping a 75-yard drive with Marshall’s 40-yard strike to Ricardo Louis for a 10-7 lead.

Cantele pushed a potential tying field-goal attempt wide on the final play of the half, his second miss of the night. He hooked one wide left late in the first quarter.

He made it a frustrating hat-trick midway through the third quarter.

The Wildcats had once again marched downfield, and once again pushed the ball inside the Auburn 5. But after the Tigers stiffened, Cantele was summoned to try a 22-yarder — a mere chip-shot, hardly more than an extra point. He missed it wide right.

The Tigers tacked on a touchdown and a field goal, eventually putting the game out of reach.

“It was a collective team loss,” Kansas State defensive end Ryan Mueller said. “There were some missed opportunities there and that’s all I can really say.”

— Associated Press —

Cardinals outlast Milwaukee and win in 13 innings

Posted on September 19, 2014

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Tony Cruz singled in the winning run in the 13th inning and the St. Louis Cardinals moved closer to their second straight NL Central title with a 3-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday night.

The defending National League champions took two of three in a tight series that featured only 12 runs and another game that lasted 12 innings, and lead the division by 2 1/2 games with nine games to go. They begin their final home series of the year Friday night with the first of three against Cincinnati.

Aramis Ramirez and Scooter Gennett had an RBI apiece for the Brewers, who are five games back and 3 1/2 out for the second NL wild card. Jonathan Lucroy’s 45th double tied the major league record for a catcher set by Ivan Rodriguez in 1996 and was his major league-leading 52nd overall.

Cruz singled up the middle with one out for the third hit of the 13th against Jimmy Nelson (2-8) and Matt Adam scored from second.

— Associated Press —

Mizzou-UCONN Agree to home-and-home football series

Posted on September 18, 2014

The University of Missouri and the University of Connecticut have finalized an agreement to play a home-and-home football series between the two schools, as announced today jointly by both athletic programs.

Mizzou and UCONN will meet for the first time ever on the gridiron when the Huskies visit Columbia, Mo. for a game on September 19, 2015. The Tigers will return the game two years later, and play at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn. on September 23, 2017. The Huskies have played in five bowl games during the past 10 seasons, including an appearance in the 2011 Fiesta Bowl.

The agreement with UCONN helps Mizzou get closer to finishing out its 2015 schedule, as three of the four non-conference games are now set, with games scheduled for Sept. 5 against Southeast Missouri State, a road game on Sept. 12 at Arkansas State, in addition to the UCONN contest. The 2017 schedule has two non-conference games remaining to be filled around a Sept. 16 home date with Purdue and the Sept. 23 road game at UCONN.

“We’re really pleased to be able to reach an agreement to schedule UCONN,” said Executive Associate Athletic Director Bryan Maggard, who oversees football scheduling. “It’s fun to bring new opponents into Columbia for our fans, and this is a program that’s had a high level of success in the past decade. One of the most challenging aspects of conference realignment has involved football scheduling, and reconstructing things after we moved to the SEC. We’re getting really close to having 2015 taken care of and being able to move on to future schedules, so that’s very exciting,” he said.

The 18th-ranked Tigers continue preparations for Saturday’s home contest against the Indiana Hoosiers. Kickoff for the game is set for 3:00 p.m.

— MU Sports Information —