ST. LOUIS, Mo., September 5, 2017 – The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that they have recalled infielder Breyvic Valera from Memphis (AAA) and that he will join the team for tonight’s game in San Diego.

Valera, 25, a non-drafted free agent (signed on May 13, 2010) from Montalban, Venezuela, played in 800 career minor league games over eight seasons before arriving in the Major Leagues.

The switch-hitting infielder batted .314 with eight home runs, 41 RBI and 11 stolen bases and led the Redbirds in batting average, hits (133) and triples (6) during the 2017 season.  From July 4 through the end of the season, Valera ranked 12th among all minor leaguers with a .359 average, tallying 24 multi-hit games and ran off a 26-game on-base streak from July 30-August 29, batting .366 with a .415 OBP during that stretch.  He was recognized as the Pacific Coast League Player of the Week for July 31-August 6.

The 5-10, 184-pound Valera struck out just 34 times in his 424 at-bats this season, and led Memphis down the stretch in their record-breaking 91-win season by batting .346 with 5 HR’s & 18 RBI in 25 games in August – earning the Cardinals Minor League Player of the Month award for the month of August.

Over his 800 career minor league games, Valera has a .303 batting average including a .359 on-base percentage.  He has been named to three mid-season All-Star Games (New York-Penn League 2012, Midwest League 2013 & Florida State League 2014) and was recognized as the 2016 Venezuelan Winter League Most Valuable Player.

Valera has been assigned uniform No. 41 and will become the 11th Cardinal to make his Major League debut this season.

Atlantic senior point guard Austin Alexander officially signed his letter of intent Tuesday morning to continue his education and basketball career at Northwestern College in Orange City.

The point guard averaged 11.9 points and 4 assists per game during his junior season in which the Trojans earned their way to the Class 3A State Basketball Tournament. Alexander shot 46% from the field and from three point range last year. Austin has also been active on the AAU basketball circuit this summer. Austin said he chose Northwestern over a couple of other GPAC schools and some Division II programs.  He said he felt very comfortable there after a visit.

Alexander likes the faith aspect of the Christian school and his intended major of Secondary Education is offered there so those were both strong factors. Atlantic Assistant Coach Jacey Hoegh played at Northwestern so he put in a good word during the process.

The Northwestern College Red Raiders play in the NAIA’s Great Plains Athletic Conference and went 27-7 last season under Head Coach Kris Korver. Korver said Austin has been a high recruiting priority for them for a long time.

Korver thinks Austin’s ability to shoot the three definitely plays in to their system but he likes his versatility.

Korver has four Seniors on this year’s Red Raiders team so he thinks Alexander will have the chance to contribute in the early part of his career. Alexander will be one of 4 returning starters for Coach Alan Jenkins’ Trojan squad this season

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast w/Jim Field.

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

DETROIT (AP) — The Kansas City Royals hit three homers and got two spectacular defensive plays in a 7-6 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Monday afternoon. Eric Hosmer, Salvador Perez and Alcides Escobar homered for the Royals.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Carlos Martinez threw a three-hitter and struck out 10, Yadier Molina hit a two-run single and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres 2-0 Monday for their fourth victory in five games. The Cardinals remained three games behind Colorado in the race for the NL’s second wild card.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — One of Iowa State’s biggest questions heading into 2017 was whether it could overcome its deficiencies by leaning heavily on its playmakers. The Cyclones got the answers they were looking for in their opener. Iowa State turned two interceptions into touchdowns and got two more TDs from running back David Montgomery in last weekend’s win over Northern Iowa. The Cyclones host rival Iowa on Saturday.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Patriots quarterback Tom Brady says the knee injury he suffered against Kansas City in New England’s season opener in 2008 isn’t on his mind as he prepares to host the Chiefs on Thursday. Brady said Monday that he’s happy to only be thinking about football a year after sitting out the first four games of 2016 as part of his “Deflategate” punishment.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Carlos Martinez threw a three-hitter and struck out 10, Yadier Molina hit a two-run single and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres 2-0 Monday for their fourth victory in five games. The Cardinals remained three games behind Colorado in the race for the NL’s second wild card.

It was the second career shutout and complete game for Martinez (11-10). He got his first of each on June 10 when he threw a four-hitter and struck out 11 in a 7-0 victory against Philadelphia. He also pitched nine scoreless innings against San Francisco on May 20 in a game the Cardinals lost 3-1 in the 13th.

Martinez allowed only three singles and walked three. The Padres didn’t get a runner into scoring position the whole game and never had two runners on in any inning. Luis Perdomo (7-9) allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings.

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast w/Ric Hanson.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The owner of the Kansas City Chiefs is being accused in a lawsuit of improperly receiving hundreds of millions in state investment money through a kickback deal with New Mexico officials.

The Kansas City Star reports Sunday the New Mexico State Investment Council filed the lawsuit late last month against Clark Hunt and HFV Asset Management over the politically influenced investment deals. Hunt didn’t comment to the newspaper on the lawsuit Sunday morning. Hunt’s father, Lamar, founded the Chiefs franchise and is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The lawsuit says Hunt made a deal 12 years ago with two men with political connections who promised to steer New Mexico investment money to a hedge fund in exchange for payments. Hunt was a partner in the hedge fund.

New Mexico awarded $300 million to the hedge fund and paid millions in management fees. The lawsuit said one of the investment funds lost $13 million during the period. “Hunt sought to gain unfair advantage by paying for influence over the process,” New Mexico officials said in the lawsuit.

The accusations are tied to the pay-to-play scandal that took place during administration of former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. New Mexico has already negotiated more than $30 million in settlements related to the pay-to-play investment scandal.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Harrison Bader hit a tiebreaking homer leading off the sixth after Madison Bumgarner homered in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Francisco Giants 7-3 on Sunday to gain ground again in the wild-card race.

Paul DeJong hit a solo homer in the fourth for the first St. Louis hit and Jose Martinez followed with a drive to nearly the same spot over the left-field fence. It was the seventh time the Cardinals hit consecutive homers this year.

Luke Weaver (4-1) struck out nine over seven innings to just miss a third straight start with double-digit Ks, helping St. Louis move within three games of Colorado for the NL’s second wild card.