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Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Drew Butera had a two-run single in the 10th inning and the Kansas City Royals earned a 5-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. Butera’s RBIs were his first since May 2. Jon Jay followed with an RBI single as the Royals won their first series since taking three of four from Detroit May 3-6.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Jess Franklin hit a game-winning sacrifice fly to lift third-seeded Michigan past Iowa 2-1 in 10 innings to open the Big Ten Tournament. Franklin also homered for the Wolverines, who held the Hawkeyes to just one hit _ and none after the second inning.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Eli Wilson drove in the go-ahead run in the fifth inning and Minnesota pitchers limited Michigan State to five hits in a 3-2 victory in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. The top-seeded Gophers have won 22 of 25 games. Brett Schulze pitched 3 2/3 shutout innings in relief of starter Jake Stevenson, and freshman closer Max Meyer got the last five outs for his conference-leading 15th save.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Quinn Snarskis and two relievers combined on a two-hitter and Michael Massey’s three-run homer broke open the game in Illinois’ 7-1 victory over Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament. The Illini play top-seeded Minnesota on Thursday night. Snarskis transferred to Illinois after Division II St. Joseph’s College closed last year and became Illinois’ No. 1 starter. He pitched 4 1/3 perfect innings before Luke Miller singled.

The Atlantic softball team opened up the 2018 campaign with a home win over Missouri Valley on Wednesday Night 10-0 in 5 innings. Atlantic got the game started quickly with three runs in the bottom of the first. Alexis Handel homered in her first at-bat of the season, a two-run shot after Alyssa Derby got on base with a walk. Ally Anderson followed that homer with a base hit and that run eventually came across the plate on a throwing error. Atlantic would add one more in the third and four runs in the 4th to lead 8-0. Alexis then ended the game in the bottom of the 5th with a two-out triple that brought in 2 runs to hit the 10-run rule.

Ally Anderson had a great night in the circle for Atlantic with 7 strikeouts and no walks. She allowed just two hits to the Lady Reds. Ashlynn Cook took the loss for Missouri Valley allowing 6 earned runs on 9 hits. Cook had 7 strikeouts and 6 walks on the night.

Alexis Handel finished the night 3-4 with 5 RBI’s including the two-run homer. Alyssa Derby scored three runs after earning walks in each of her 4 plate appearances.

Atlantic will head to Red Oak for a doubleheader on Thursday night.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Drew Butera had a two-run single in the 10th inning and the Kansas City Royals earned a 5-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday.

Butera’s RBIs were his first since May 2. Jon Jay followed with an RBI single as the Royals won their first series since taking three of four from Detroit May 3-6.

Salvador Perez hammered a first-pitch fastball by Cardinals starter Michael Wacha for his eighth home run of the season to lead off the second.

Royals starter Jakob Junis gave up two runs in five innings, while striking out seven.

Blaine Boyer (2-0) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win. Kelvin Herrera earned his 10th save with a perfect 10th.

Abraham Almonte scored on a sacrifice fly in the sixth to tie it 2-2.

Wacha retired 14 of the first 15 batters he faced. He gave up two runs, one earned, in 6 2/3 innings.

Bud Norris (1-1) pitched a perfect ninth, but couldn’t record an out in the 10th, giving up back-to-back singles to Jorge Soler and Alex Gordon before compounding the issue by committing an error on Alcides Escobar’s sacrifice attempt to load the bases ahead of Butera.

Francisco Pena capped a two-run second inning with an RBI double, giving the Cardinals a 2-1 lead. Pena had a pair of hits after going 1-for-12 the previous three games.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: RHP John Gant (1-1, 4.67 ERA) gets the start in the opener of a three-game series Friday at Pittsburgh and RHP Joe Musgrove (2018 debut). Gant is 0-0 with a 3.38 ERA in three appearances against the Pirates.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Jesse Franklin hit a game-winning sacrifice fly to lift third-seeded Michigan past Iowa 2-1 in 10 innings to open the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday. Franklin also homered for the Wolverines (33-19), who held the Hawkeyes to just one hit — and none after the second inning. Michigan lost starting pitcher Tommy Henry in the second inning after he was hit in the throwing arm by a ball. But reliever Alec Rennard threw 5 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, and Franklin tied it up at 1-all in the fourth.

Big Blue then loaded the bases in the 10th, and Franklin’s sacrifice to deep right field scored Christian Bullock easily. Zach Daniels (6-2) took the loss for the sixth-seeded Hawkeyes (33-19), while William Tribucher (4-3) picked up the win for Michigan.

The Big Ten Baseball Tournament begins today at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha. The Iowa Hawkeyes play the opening game against the Michigan Wolverines. Here is a look at the tournament schedule.

Wednesday, May 23
No. 3 Michigan vs. No. 6 Iowa, 9 a.m.
No. 2 Purdue vs. No. 7 Ohio State, 1 p.m.
No. 1 Minnesota vs. No. 8 Michigan State, 5 p.m.
No. 4 Illinois vs. No. 5 Indiana, 9 p.m.

Thursday, May 24
Michigan/Iowa Loser vs. Purdue/Ohio State Loser, 9 a.m. (Elimination game)
Minnesota/MSU Loser vs. Illinois/Indiana Loser, 1 p.m. (Elimination game)
Michigan/Iowa Winner vs. Purdue/Ohio State Winner, 5 p.m.
Minnesota/MSU Winner vs. Illinois/Indiana Winner, 9 p.m.

Friday, May 25
9 a.m. Thursday Winner vs. 5 p.m. Thursday Loser, 3:30 p.m. (Elimination game)
1 p.m. Thursday Winner vs. 9 p.m. Thursday Loser, 7:30 p.m. (Elimination game)

Saturday, May 26
3:30 p.m. Friday Winner vs. 9 p.m. Thursday Winner, 9 a.m.
7:30 p.m. Friday Winner vs. 5 p.m. Thursday Winner, 1 p.m.
9 a.m. rematch if necessary, 5 p.m.
1 p.m. rematch if necessary, 9 p.m.

Sunday, May 27
Championship, 1 p.m.

Boys Substate Soccer plays continues in all classes tonight. Here is a look at local match-ups.

Class 1A

Substate 1

Greene County vs. Kuemper Catholic (@ Denison-Schleswig) 5:00pm

Substate 7

Atlantic at Des Moines Christian 6:30pm
Clarke at AHSTW 6:30pm

Substate 8

Tri-Center vs. St. Albert (@ Treynor) 5:00pm
Riverside at Treynor 7:00pm

Class 2A

Substate 1

Sergeant Bluff-Luton at Denison-Schleswig 7:00pm

Substate 8

Glenwood at Harlan 6:30pm
Perry at Winterset/Earlham (@ Earlham) 4:00pm

Class 3A

Substate 7

Des Moines East at Lewis Central 5:00pm

Substate 8

CB Abraham Lincoln at Waukee 6:30pm

The Atlantic Trojans girls softball team will open up their 2018 season tonight against Missouri Valley and we will have coverage on KJAN. The Trojans are coming off a 32-9 season that ended a step away from the State Tournament. The 2017 season ended with a Regional final loss at home to West Marshall 3-2, putting the Trojans just shy of heading to back to back State Tournament appearances.

Atlantic has their sites set on another run to Fort Dodge in the 2018 campaign with just one senior lost from last year’s squad in Catherine Leonard.

Atlantic returns pitching ace Ally Anderson who finished last year with a 27-9 record in 38 appearances. She had 237 strikeouts, just 10 walks, and held a 1.62 ERA in 2017.

Alexis Handel returns as a big bat at the plate. The UMKC recruit had a .509 average last season with 17 home-runs and 56 RBI’s.

Missouri Valley was 22-11 in the 2017 campaign and reached the second round of Regional play before falling to Logan-Magnolia.

We’ll have coverage of the game tonight on KJAN AM 1220 and FM 101.1. Pregame will be at 7:15pm with first pitch approximately 7:30pm in Atlantic. You can also listen online or on the KJAN app.

Hawkeye Ten Conference

Creston 4, Glenwood 1 (10 inn.)
Denison-Schleswig 12, Spencer 11
Harlan 5, Kuemper Catholic 2
Shenandoah 9, Red Oak 3
St. Albert 9, Lewis Central 5

Western Iowa Conference

Audubon 14, Glidden-Ralston 4 (5 inn.)
IKM-Manning 9, Griswold 7
Logan-Magnolia 7, Treynor 4

Rolling Valley Conference

CAM 9, Southwest Valley 1

Pride of Iowa Conference

East Union 9, Orient-Macksburg 7
Norwalk 6, Nodaway Valley 2

Corner Confernce

Lenox 5, Sidney 3