HOUSTON (AP) — Stephen Strasburg’s time had come.

Famously held out of the postseason seven years ago, Strasburg delivered on the biggest stage of all Wednesday night.

The right-hander outpitched fellow ace Justin Verlander, overcoming a shaky start to help the Washington Nationals beat the Houston Astros 12-3 for a commanding 2-0 lead in the World Series.

Strasburg went six innings to earn the win — and a group hug in the dugout when he was done on the mound.

“They keep squeezing me a little harder every time,” he said. “That’s OK.”

Kurt Suzuki hit a tiebreaking homer in what became a messy six-run seventh, and the Nationals headed back home needing two wins in three potential games in Washington to claim their first championship.

Adam Eaton paraded around the bases pointing to the Houston crowd after a late home run as the Nationals won their eighth in a row. They’ve won 18 of 20 overall dating back to the regular season, with the last two over AL Cy Young Award favorites Gerrit Cole and Verlander.

Game 3 is Friday night when Aníbal Sánchez opposes Houston’s Zack Greinke in the first World Series game in the nation’s capital since 1933.

“Probably going to be a little frigid, might be a little cold, so bring your jackets and your beanies,” said slugger Anthony Rendon, who hit a two-run double in the first inning.

The 31-year-old Strasburg had waited years for this chance. Back in 2012, he was about two years removed from Tommy John surgery when Nationals brass decided protecting his elbow was more important than pitching him in the playoffs, so he was shut down late in a season full of promise.

Making his Series debut, Strasburg allowed a two-run homer to Alex Bregman in the first before throwing five shutout innings to improve to 4-0 this postseason. He allowed seven hits and struck out seven.

Nationals manager Dave Martinez was asked what’s made Strasburg so good this October.

“One, he has the confidence to do it and two, he’s become a premier pitcher, a big-game pitcher,” Martinez said. “He doesn’t get rattled.”

Verlander, so good in the regular season, fell to 0-5 in six World Series starts. He gave up seven hits and four runs, and was lifted after walking a batter following Suzuki’s home run.

Verlander led the majors with 21 wins this season and struck out a career-high 300 to reach 3,000 in his career. He has a World Series ring, MVP and Cy Young Award trophies, and three no-hitters to his name.

He fanned six to become the career leader in postseason strikeouts with 202 — another impressive statistic on a stellar resume that’s still missing that elusive World Series win.

“Obviously it’s magnified in the World Series when you’re not clicking on all cylinders,” Verlander said.

Their wins against Houston’s best pitchers turned the underdog Nationals into heavy favorites to take the title.

Only three of the previous 25 teams to lose the first two games at home under the 2-3-2 format have come back to win the Series. No one has done it since the 1996 New York Yankees.

“I wish I was a betting man, but I’m not,” Martinez said. “I don’t really believe in that stuff. … We’re here because the boys never gave up.”

Long after most players had left the field and only a handful of Nationals were left, a small but boisterous crowd of Washington fans assembled behind their dugout. The red-clad group cheered and waved their hands as players ascended the dugout stairs, finishing up an out-of-town party they hope to continue at home on Friday.

But the Astros insist the tough start hasn’t dampened their confidence.

“We have a really good team,” manager AJ Hinch said. “Clearly, the Nats have outplayed us — bottom line. They came into our building and played two really good games. We’re going to have to try to sleep off the latter third of this game.”

Added shortstop Carlos Correa on digging out of the early hole: “If there is a team out there that can do it, it’s us.”

Things went wrong immediately for Verlander when he walked leadoff man Trea Turner on four pitches. Eaton, who homered in the eighth, singled before Rendon, the Houston native who said he’d certainly have 100 friends and family members at Minute Maid Park for each game, knocked a ball off the wall in left field to put the Nationals up 2-0.

“This is my city. I love Houston,” Rendon said. “We were going to try to just steal one game and we just happened to steal two, and we’ve got to take care of business at home.”

Verlander got his 200th postseason strikeout when he fanned Victor Robles in the second. The eight-time All-Star passed John Smoltz, who had 199 and was in the TV booth for Fox to see his record fall.

Verlander and Strasburg both settled in after early wobbles, until Houston fell apart in the seventh.

Suzuki sent Verlander’s 100th pitch sailing above the seats in left field to start the inning. Ryan Pressly, who left Game 6 of the ALCS with a knee injury, took over and didn’t look right from the start.

He walked Turner before Hinch called for his first intentional walk of the season when he gave Juan Soto a free pass to load the bases with two outs. Howie Kendrick, Asdrúbal Cabrera and Ryan Zimmerman followed with successive singles to bust it open, putting the Nationals up 8-2. As those hits were piling up and run after run crossed the plate, many in the stunned sellout crowd of 43,357 began streaming for the exits.

Hinch was asked what happened in the seventh.

“Where would you like me to start?” he said.

Michael A. Taylor padded the lead further with a solo homer off Chris Devenski in the ninth.

The only time Strasburg was under any real duress after the first inning came when Yuli Gurriel doubled with one out in the sixth before the Nationals intentionally walked Yordan Álvarez. The slumping Correa hit a weak fly ball before rookie pinch-hitter Kyle Tucker struck out, allowing Strasburg to wriggle out of the jam and end his solid night.

UP NEXT

Sánchez has made two sharp starts this postseason and took a no-hitter into the eighth inning in Game 1 of the NLCS against St. Louis.

Greinke, acquired from Arizona at the July 31 trade deadline, is 0-2 with a 6.43 ERA in three October outings.

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Behind four players in double-figure kills, K-State battled to erase a two-set deficit and stun in-state rival Kansas in five sets in the Dillons Sunflower Showdown Wednesday night at Ahearn Field House, 31-33, 22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 15-9.

Freshman Anna Dixon matched her career high with 21 kills while Brynn Carlson picked up five of her 15 kills in the fifth set to help K-State (7-12, 2-5 Big 12) defeat KU (6-11, 2-5 Big 12) for the third straight time. The Cats held a 75-54 advantage in total kills, as they snapped their season-long five-match skid.

“I thought we showed a lot of perseverance,” head coach Suzie Fritz said after the match. “You know all the buzz words for staying at something: perseverance, grit, determination. It’s something we’ve been trying to build. We’ve talked a lot about having the confidence that one bad moment doesn’t have to lead to another.

“We have the capacity to overcome ourselves in some ways. I was really proud of them for that. To go down two, that’s a pretty steep hill to climb and I thought we just steadily got better and better as the match went.”

Carlson put down four consecutive kills to help the Cats build a 5-0 lead to begin the final set. K-State went on to an 8-3 lead as the teams changed ends. The Cats closed the match by tallying four of the final five points, including kills by Dixon, Gloria Mutiri and Peyton Williams. K-State picked up 13 kills and hit .400 in the fifth set.

“I want to point out Jacque Smith, who we brought in in the fifth, and put together a four-point scoring run (on her serve) at the end and made two key digs and a couple key plays there,” added Fritz. “That’s MVP stuff for me, coming off the bench and being able to do that and helping your team in the fifth and being ready when we need you.”

After the first two sets saw a total of 29 tie scores and 10 lead changes, the Wildcats trailed just once over the match’s final three sets (1-0 to begin the third set). K-State hit over .300 in Sets 3-5 while holding the Jayhawks to .200 or below in each set.

“We showed determination that I think we forgot we had,” said Williams, whose 13th kill of the night sealed the victory. “It took tremendous grit to be down two in the beginning and come back and not give up. You know it’s against KU, so you’ve got a little extra, but still we showed a lot of perseverance as a team.”

K-State’s 75 kills marked a season best, as the Wildcats hit .257 to KU’s .191. The Cats set a season high in service aces with 12, as Teana Adams-Kaonohi, Dixon and Loren Hinkle each registered three.

Hinkle led K-State with 13 digs while setter Sarah Dixon produced her fourth straight double-double with 41 assists and 11 digs.

The opening set matched a season-long game for K-State, as the frame held 19 tie scores and eight lead changes. The Cats had four set-point opportunities while fighting off four set points before KU’s Zoe Hill ended a 3-1 run with a kill.

Set 2 saw 10 more tie scores and a late three-point burst that included kills by Dixon and Mutiri got the Cats within a point at 22-21. Dixon added six kills and hit .385 while Mutiri added three. Mutiri ended the night with a dozen kills.

“I didn’t think we played poorly in the first game,” Fritz said. “I thought we let up a little bit in the second, but I thought we played rather consistently from start to finish, with one exception: we are missing too many serves. But outside of that, I thought the other parts were pretty good. We tried a little different look with both setters in the match, so managing the substitutions is a little bit more complicated but our kill production was up quite a bit from where it’s been, and that was the goal and I think we accomplished that.”

“It helped that (the first two) sets were both really close” Williams added. “We were like, ‘we’re better than this, there’s just a couple points we need to change … it’s on us, we can do it.’ It took us recognizing that the ball was in our court.”

K-State opened up leads as large as eight points in the third set and seven in the fourth. Dixon added five kills in the third while the Wildcat offense hit at a .303 clip. Five different Cats collected multiple kills in the fourth set while hitting .324.

Combined over the last three sets, K-State produced 17 more kills than the Jayhawks (43-26).

“There’s probably a little extra on it, because they’re an hour and a half down the road,” said Fritz. “It’s hard to ignore the K-State-KU thing.”

Morgan Christon led Kansas with 18 kills while Ashley Smith added 14 and Rachel Langs 11. Allie Nelson dug a match-high 19 balls to lead four Jayhawks in double digits.

The Wildcats take on Iowa State at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa on Saturday at 8 pm. The match will air live on Cyclones.TV. Rob Voelker will have the call on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) with free, live audio available at K-StateSports.com/watch.

INSIDE THE BOX SCOREK-State hit .257 as a team (75 kills, 27 errors, 187 attacks).
KU turned in a .191 hitting percentage (54 kills, 24 errors, 157 swings).
K-State’s 75 kills marked a season high.
The Wildcats set season highs in service aces (12) and service errors (20).
Four Cats reached double-digit kills: Dixon (21), Carlson (15), Williams (13), Mutiri (12).
Dixon’s 21 kills equaled her career high and marked her second straight outing with 21 kills.
Vernon hit a team-high .417 to go with a team-best six blocks.
Vernon led K-State in blocks for the sixth consecutive match.
Each team reached double-digit blocks, K-State with 10 and KU with 12.
After the first two sets held 29 tie scores and 10 lead changes, the final three sets had just two ties and one lead change.
Sarah Dixon turned in her fourth consecutive double-double (41 assists, 11 digs), her team-leading 11th of the season.
NOTES:

K-State lead the all-time series with Kansas, 66-52-1.
The Cats are 30-19 all-time at home vs. the Jayhawks.
Fritz is 22-16 in her career vs. KU.
The Wildcats have won three meetings.
The three-match winning streak is the longest since the Cats won four straight from 2010-11.
K-State ended its season-long five-match skid.
The match marked the ninth five-set match K-State has played this season (4-5), one shy of tying a single-season program record.
K-State now has two victories this season when trailing 2-0.
The Cats have trailed by two sets and won in five in each of the last two meetings with KU.
K-State has two 2-0 comeback wins in a season for the first time since 2014 (2).

(BY STEVE CARPENTER)
(HUTCHINSON CC SPORT INFORMATION)

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – Freshman Camila Espejo had a career-high 20 kills, including nine in a huge second-set rally, to lead the Hutchinson Community College Volleyball team to a critical Jayhawk West sweep of Butler on Wednesday at the Sports Arena.

The Blue Dragons won three tight sets over the Grizzlies 28-26, 25-22, 29-27. Hutch and Butler split the season series with Hutchinson. The Grizzlies swept the Blue Dragons on September 23 in El Dorado.

The Blue Dragons, 12-17 overall, move to 8-6 in the Jayhawk West. Butler, 16-11 overall, finishes its conference season at 8-8. Hutchinson has two more league matches remaining – Independence at home on Saturday and at Barton on Monday. One win in either of those final two matches will clinch a home match for the opening round of the Region VI Tournament on November 5.

Blue Dragon head coach Patrick Hall also moves within one victory of his milestone 200th win with the Blue Dragons.

With leading hitter Katelyn Elstun being used sparingly down the stretch, Espejo came up huge for the Blue Dragons against Butler.

Espejo had a season-high 21 kills on 39 attacks with a .487 attack percentage to lead the Blue Dragons. Trailing 19-12 in the second set, Espejo had a huge second set to lead a Blue Dragon comeback. Espejo hammered home nine kills in the second set, the most kills in any single set this season by a Dragon hitter, getting five in a set-clinching 10-2 run.

Freshman Jenna Thorne had 10 kills, hitting .250 on 25 swings. Freshman Myracle Lettries and sophomore Eden Hiebert had six kills each. Jaydin Schake had five kills.

Butler held a 9-6 blocks advantage. Lettries had two solo and five total blocks. Thorne had three blocks. Hutchinson had six service aces, four by Hiebert. Freshman libero Alissa Bautista had 16 digs.

Sophomore setter Eboni Sapien posted her third double-double of the season with 47 assists and 11 digs.

Milayna Hollinger had 12 kills and three blocks to lead to lead the Grizzlies. Morgan Bryand and Jaryn Benning had nine kills each.

Set 1: The Blue Dragons got off to a fast start. A kill and two-straight aces by Hiebert followed by a Thorne/Lettries double block gave Hutch a 7-1 lead. A Thorne kill make it 10-2. Schake’s kill helped Hutch maintain a 13-6 lead, but the Grizzlies went on a 12-3 run and led 18-16 after a Benning back-row kill. A Lettries kill snapped that run and started a 7-2 Hutch run. Espejo had three kills helped the Dragons take a 23-20 lead. A Schake kill brought the Dragons a set point. Hutch had to fight off a set point against with a Hiebert kill to knot the score at 25. Tied at 26, Hiebert hit a cross-court kill and the Grizzlies put an attack in the net on set-point No. 3 to give the Dragons a 28-26 first-set win.

Set 2: Butler came out the aggressor in the second set in building leads of 4-0, 8-3, 11-4 and 13-6. Espejo had three kills and Schake’s termination capped a 6-2 run to pull the Dragons within 15-11. Butler stretched its lead back out to 19-12, which is where the Dragon comeback started. A Sapien ace pulled the Dragons within 19-15. A pair of Lettries blocks drew the Dragons within 20-19. At 21-19, Espejo took over with five kills in the final eight rallies. A Hiebert ace gave Hutch a 23-22 lead before Espejo closed out the set with back-to-back kills for a 25-22 Dragon win.

Set 3: Tied at 9-all, the Blue Dragons scored four-straight points to take a 13-9 lead after a Morgan Armburst/Schake double block. Two Espejo kills and a Grizzly attack error capped a 7-1 run for a 16-10 Hutch lead. The Dragons looked to be in good shape after a Bautista ace that gave the Dragons a 22-19 lead. Butler scored four straight to take a 23-22 lead. Schake then delivered a kill and Hiebert had her fourth ace for a 24-23 lead. With Butler leading 25-24, the Dragons erased a set-point against with an Espejo kill. Butler fought off two more match points. Tied at 27, Espejo’s 21st kill of the match was from the back row for a 28-27 lead. Butler was called for a double contact on match point No. 4 to close out the match. There were 13 ties and three lead changes in the third set.

(BY GLEN GRUNWALD)
(HUTCHPOST SPORTS)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Big 12 Basketball Media Days kicked off in Kansas City on Tuesday with the Women of the Big 12 being featured.  The defending National Champion Baylor Lady Bears are again picked to win the Big 12. Also announced was that the Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship returns to Kansas City, MO, at the Municipal Arena on March 12, 2020.

Jeff Mittie might be the happiest about the Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship returning to Kansas City in March.

The Kansas State University women’s coach is a Blue Springs, Missouri, native and grew up watching games at Municipal Auditorium, site of the tournament and of Tuesday’s Media Day.

Mittie also is excited about his senior forward Peyton Williams, an All-Big 12 First Team player and member of Team USA’s Pan-American Games silver medal squad this offseason.

“Her experience with USA Basketball this summer took her to another level,” Mittie said of Williams. “We’ve seen a confidence level in Peyton that we haven’t seen before.”

Kansas State is picked to finish fifth in the Big 12. The Wildcats open with Omaha in Manhattan, Kansas, on Nov. 8.

KU’s Brandon Schneider is in his fifth season leading the University of Kansas Jayhawks.

Schneider holds maybe the youngest roster in a league that houses the defending national champion Baylor University.

“Seven sophomores and freshmen,” Schneider said. “But we feel pretty good about some of our freshmen and their ability to come in and make an impact right away.”

KU is picked to finish 10th in the Big 12. The Jayhawks open with Indiana State on Nov. 7.

A total of 22 student-athletes and the league’s 10 head coaches attended the annual media event Tuesday, October 22, at Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium and Convention Center.

With six Big 12 teams earning postseason bids last season — four NCAA, two WNIT — finishing in that top six once again will be crucial for getting to play more games after the conference tournament. And with how some of these teams are looking going into this season, that top-six is, similarly, wide-open.

As not just the defending Big 12 champions, but also the defending nationalchampions, the target on the Baylor Lady Bears’ back is extra-big this season.

Preseason All-Big 12 Player of the Year Lauren Cox is expected to be back in playing shape after suffering a knee injury in the national championship game that, thankfully, didn’t require surgery. Starters Juicy Landrum and NaLyssa Smith also return; both, along with Cox, were voted to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team.

Despite the losses of Kalani Brown and Chloe Jackson to the WNBA, the Lady Bears have plenty of new firepower: graduate transfers Te’a Cooper (South Carolina) and Erin DeGrate (Texas Tech) as well as No. 12 freshman recruit Jordyn Oliver.

More newbies to watch:
-Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw (Iowa State): A five-star recruit who is already in line for some starts this season, if not winning the starting point guard position
-Angela Harris (Kansas State): A graduate transfer and former standout point guard at Houston; the “only NCAA Division I player entering 2019-20 with 1,000 or more points, 185 or more 3-point field goals made, 200 or more rebounds, 200 or more assists and 200 or more steals”
-Jaycee Bradley (TCU): A transfer from South Dakota in her first year of eligibility after sitting out last season; was a starter on the 2017-18 Yotes squad that went undefeated in Summit League play
-Alexis Tucker and Maka Jackson (Texas Tech): A four-star recruit and the No. 15 junior college transfer, respectively; both headline head coach Marlene Stollings’ first true recruiting class

The 2019-20 season opens on Tuesday, November 5 with three non-conference games. League action begins on Friday, January 3.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Long time former Seward County Coach Jim Littell, now head coach of Oklahoma State was also in attendance as well.

“We return eight players from last year’s squad and we add seven newcomers to this year’s team. We felt that last year was not the type of year we want to have, but we had lost three pros the year before and knew we were in a rebuilding session. We return a lot of players who gained valuable experience, led by All-American Vivian Gray who averaged over 20 a game for us last year.

We returned kids like Ja’mee Asberry, Kassidy De Lapp, Clitan de Sousa and Mariam Gnanou, who all gained a wealth of experience last year. We feel good about our recruiting class. We have added a lot of size and depth to our roster. If I had to go over our strengths, it would be our size, our athleticism and the ability to go pretty deep in the bench. Probably one of the top kids coming in is Natasha Mack from Angelina Community College. She was the NJCAA national player of the year and put up great numbers. We are expecting great things out of Mack.

We added Micah Dennis, the Canadian high school basketball player of the year, and she played both the point guard and off guard position. We really like Sara Rodrigues, the 6’4 young lady from Brazil. She is very raw right now, but when you see her you will see that she is a tremendous athlete who is going to be a really nice player before she graduates. Vivian Gray is nice to have back. She is a young lady who plays extremely hard every day in practice.

I talk about two of the best practice players I ever coached, one was Tiffany Bias and the other is Vivian Gray. It was no accident that she had a great year last year. She puts a lot of time into her game and is a great practice player. We hope with the experience that we gained last year and the pieces that we have added here, we are optimistic about having a great year.”

 

 

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – The Hutchinson Salthawk Volleyball wins best of 5 in 3 over Salina South 25-13 25-17 25-22.  The Salthawks will now prepare for Sub-State play this weekend.

Nickerson High School Volleyball split a pare with Smokey Valley and Chapman Tuesday  The Panthers beat Smokey Valley 25-23, 25-14, but lost to Chapman 25-18, 19-25, 20-25.  Nickerson returns to Chapman for Sub-State on Saturday, October 26th.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Packers and Chiefs met more than 50 years ago in the first Super Bowl, pitting the best from the NFL against the best from the AFL. Fourteen players who took the field that day at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum would land in the Hall of Fame, including quarterbacks Bart Starr and Len Dawson. The Packers triumphed 35-10 in a game that was a far cry from the event the Super Bowl would become in more recent years.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — No. 23 Iowa State will take a three-game winning streak into Saturday’s home game against Oklahoma State. The Cyclones are 5-2 so far this season and struggled early. Coach Matt Campbell says it took a while for his young players in skill positions to get settled. Now that they have, Iowa State is rolling.

UNDATED (AP) — The University of Oklahoma says the “Sooner Schooner” will not run the rest of the season after it tipped over during a home game against West Virginia. A school spokesman said in a statement that the Schooner will be repaired and used for viewing purposes, but it will not run. He said a new Schooner is under construction and should be ready to run its customary loop on the field for the Spring Game in 2020.

National Headlines

HOUSTON (AP) _ Juan Soto drove in three runs and Max Scherzer provided a gritty effort on the mound as the Washington Nationals held off the Houston Astros, 5-4 in Game 1 of the World Series. Soto delivered a solo homer and a two-run double while the Nats were turning a 2-0 deficit into a 5-2 lead against Gerrit Cole. Scherzer needed 112 pitches to get through five innings, striking out seven and allowing two runs on five hits and three walks.

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Kawhi Leonard scored a game-high 30 points on 10 of 19 shooting in his Los Angeles Clippers debut to lead a 112-102 win over the Lakers. Lou Williams added 21 points and Montrezl Harrell had 17 off the bench for the winners. Danny Green led the Lakers with 28 points, Anthony Davis added 25 and LeBron James contributed 18 with nine rebounds and eight assists.

TORONTO (AP) _ Fred VanVleet scored a career-high 34 points and the Toronto Raptors opened their NBA title defense by closing on an 8-0 run to earn a 130-122 victory in the league’s first game of the season. Kyle Lowry scored 22 points, including a pair of free throws that put Toronto in the lead for good. Pascal Siakam fouled out with 34 points and 18 rebounds before the Raptors completed their seventh consecutive season-opening victory.

PFLUGERVILLE, Texas (AP) — A committee representing the governing body of public high school sports in Texas has denied the appeals of two players declared ineligible on a football team led by former Baylor coach Art Briles. A pair of 4-1 votes upheld a finding that Brock and Cameron Nellor moved to Mount Vernon for athletic purposes in violation of University Interscholastic League rules. Briles attended the hearing but didn’t speak.

UNDATED (AP) — Michigan State’s Cassius Winston is a unanimous selection on The Associated Press preseason All-America team after opting to return to school. He is joined by Marquette’s Markus Howard, Louisville’s Jordan Nwora, Seton Hall’s Myles Powell and Memphis freshman James Wiseman.

Tuesday Scores

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYOFFS
Final Washington 5 Houston 4

NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final OT Toronto 130 New Orleans 122
Final L.A. Clippers 112 L.A. Lakers 102

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — With Patrick Mahomes dealing with a right knee injury, the Kansas City Chiefs on Tuesday made a move to bolster the quarterback position.

The Chiefs elevated rookie Kyle Shurmur from the practice squad to their active 53-player roster, where he will serve as a backup to veteran Matt Moore.

Moore, who joined the Chiefs in August, projects to start in the short-term while Mahomes rehabilitates from a dislocated kneecap suffered in Week 7’s 30-6 win over the Denver Broncos.

The 6-foot-4, 225-pound Shurmur originally joined the Chiefs in April as an undrafted free agent out of Vanderbilt, where he owns numerous school records, including career passing yards (8,865). Shurmur is the son of New York Giants head coach Pat Shurmur, who served under then-Eagles head coach Andy Reid from 1999 to 2008.

To make room on the roster for Shurmur, the Chiefs released wide receiver DeAnthony Thomas, who appeared in six games this season and contributed mostly as a returner. Thomas re-signed with the Chiefs as an unrestricted free agent in August after spending five seasons with the team since 2014.

Kansas City also released defensive tackle Terrell McClain, who joined the team two weeks ago, and announced the signing of defensive tackle Mike Pennel.

MANHATTAN – Kansas State senior punter Devin Anctil was rewarded for his performance last Saturday against TCU as he was named the Ray Guy Award Punter of the Week, the Augusta Sports Council and Ray Guy Award announced on Tuesday.

Anctil, a native of Lenexa, Kansas, punted seven times for a 49.0-yard average against the Horned Frogs, which was highlighted by punts of 55, 60 and 62 yards. Two of his punts landed inside the TCU 20-yard line, while four were fair caught to tie a career high.

Anctil currently ranks first in school history with his 45.5-yard average this season, while he enters this week’s game against Oklahoma ranked 13^th in the nation in average.

– k-statesports.com –

LAWRENCE – Kansas travels to Manhattan for the first of two editions of the Dillons Sunflower Showdown against in-state rival Kansas State Wednesday at 6 p.m. The match will be nationally televised on ESPNU.

KU enters the match winning two of its last three matches, including a three-set sweep over TCU in the Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena. The Jayhawk offense was led by Ashley Smith and Morgan Christon, who each amassed 12 kills in the victory over the Horned Frogs.

Kansas continues to receive efficient performances from Sara Nielsen and Allie Nelson, who are the team leaders in assists per set and digs per set, respectively. Nielsen averages 8.91 assists per set and is 18th in career ranks at Kansas with 508 assists.

Nelson also continues her climb up the career rankings for digs and now is ninth in program history with 1,146 digs after her 16 dig performance against TCU.

Kansas State enters the match 6-12 overall and 1-5 in Big 12 play. The Wildcats opened conference play with a win over TCU, but dropped their five previous contests.

Fans can watch the match on ESPNU or listen on the Jayhawk Radio Network with Nick Springer calling the action.

—kuathletics.com—

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – Senior night provided some dramatics at the Salthawk Soccer Complex on Tuesday night as the Salthawk Boys Varsity Soccer battled to a 1-1 tie with Salina South in double overtime.

Next action for the Salthawk will be the final regular season game at Campus on Thursday.