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Chiefs sign LT Eric Fisher to contract extension

Sports

July 31st, 2016 by Ric Hanson

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs signed left tackle Eric Fisher to a contract extension Saturday, the first day veterans joined rookies on the practice field at Missouri Western for training camp. The Chiefs didn’t announce terms of the extension, but a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press it was a four-year, $48 million deal that includes $40 million guaranteed. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the contract terms were confidential.

Fisher was the first overall pick in the 2013 draft out of Central Michigan, but he struggled to adjust to the NFL his first couple years. He finally came into his own last season, showcasing the talent that the Chiefs hope can make him their left tackle for the foreseeable future. The Chiefs exercised their fifth-year option on him in May. That means Fisher’s total deal spans six years and $63 million.

Yelich, Mathis lead Marlins to 11-0 win over Cardinals

Sports

July 31st, 2016 by Ric Hanson

MIAMI (AP) — Christian Yelich and Jeff Mathis each had three hits and drove in two runs to help lead the Miami Marlins to an 11-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday night. Marcell Ozuna hit a two-run home run and Martin Prado had a two-run double for the Marlins. They drew even with the Cardinals at 56-48 for the second NL wild-card spot.

Miami outfielder Ichiro Suzuki remained at 2,998 hits, going 0 for 2 after entering as a defensive replacement in the sixth inning. Suzuki is 2 for 16 on the homestand that concludes today (Sunday). David Phelps (5-5) was the winner in relief. St. Louis starter Jaime Garcia (7-8) took the loss.

Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a double in the fourth inning.

State Baseball Championship Scores from Saturday, 7/30/16

Sports

July 30th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

At Principal Park in Des Moines…

Class 1A: Remsen St. Mary’s 8, West Sioux 5 :

The Remsen St. Mary’s Hawks and the West Sioux Falcons battled in the 1A championship match, but five runs in the fourth for the Hawks put them on top for good as they secured the title with an 8-5 win. It is the fourth state championship for St. Mary’s, adding to titles won in 1983-84-85. The unranked and fourth-seeded Hawks finish at 33-5. West Sioux — ranked third and seeded second — ends at 27-3.

Class 2A: Clear Lake 8, Kuemper Catholic 1 :

The Clear Lake Lions captured their second consecutive 2A baseball championship with a dominant 8-1 victory over the Kuemper Catholic Knights at Principal Park on a sun-kissed Saturday afternoon. It was an all-around team effort as seven Lions reached base at least once and six had at least one RBI. It was the third title in four years for the Lions, who also won the 3A title in 2013. Second-ranked and top-seeded Clear Lake ends at 31-7. Third-seeded Kuemper ends at 26-12.

Class 3A: Harlan 12, Carlisle 4 :

After losing in the championship game in 2015, the Harlan Cyclones earned their first 3A baseball championship since 2003 with a dominating 9-3 victory over the seventh-ranked Carlisle Wildcats, Saturday night at Principal Park. All nine batters for Harlan tallied a hit while Nick Tarney paced the team going 2-for-3 with four RBI. Brett Croghan pitched a complete game for the Cyclones allowing four runs on nine hits while walking one and sitting down six batters on strikes. Harlan finishes the season 30-5. Carlisle ends at 33-7.

Class 4A: Cedar Rapids Prairie 12, Iowa City West 3 :

The top-ranked Cedar Rapids Prairie Hawks captured their first Class 4A baseball championship with a crushing 12-3 victory over the Iowa City West Trojans, Saturday night at Principal Park. It was an all-out slugfest as the teams combined for 18 hits with multi-hit games by five players. Cedar Rapids Prairie finishes the season at 38-6. Iowa City West ends at 36-6.

Long race begins for ISU solar car team

News, Sports

July 30th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

Iowa State University’s solar car team will start a long race today (Saturday). Matt Goode, the project director for Team PrISUm, says they’re going into the American Solar Challenge with confidence, having won last year’s race. “This year, we are racing from Ohio to South Dakota and it’s going to be a little bit over 1,900 miles,” Goode says. “We are going from one national park to another with the national parks centennial and it’s a race to see who can get to South Dakota first with the least amount of energy.”

Given the starting and ending points, it was initially hoped the race might be trekking though Iowa this year but that won’t be the case. The race begins today (Saturday) at the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Brecksville, Ohio. Goode says, “When we start, it’s going to be in northern Ohio, we dip down through Dayton and southern Illinois, go through St. Louis, and then we dip further down into Missouri going through a national battlefield from the Civil War, then heading up to a couple of parks in Nebraska and then shooting over to South Dakota.”

The race is scheduled to conclude after a week on August 6th at the Wind Cave National Park in Hot Springs, South Dakota. Next year, the ISU team plans to take part in the World Solar Car Challenge in Australia. See updates on the Team PrISUm Facebook page: www.facebook.com/PrISUm.Solar.Car/

(Radio Iowa)

Pham homers, drives in 3 to lead Cardinals over Marlins

Sports

July 30th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

MIAMI (AP) — Tommy Pham homered and drove in three runs, leading the St. Louis Cardinals over the Miami Marlins 11-6 on Friday night. Kolten Wong had three hits and drove in two runs and Jeremy Hazelbaker hit a two-run homer for St. Louis. The Cardinals have won four of five and lead the Marlins by one game in the NL wild-card standings. Marlins outfielder Ichiro Suzuki went 0 for 4 to remain at 2,998 career hits.

Martin Prado homered and drove in three runs, and Marcell Ozuna also homered for the Marlins. Mike Leake (8-8) won despite giving up six runs and seven hits in five innings. Jose Urena (1-3) allowed eight runs in 4 1-3 innings in what is expected to be his final start in the Marlins’ rotation after Miami acquired starters Andrew Cashner and Colin Rea from San Diego earlier in the day.

State Baseball Championship round schedule: Sat., 7/30/16

Sports

July 30th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

At Principal Park in Des Moines….

Class 1A: 11 a.m. — Remsen-St. Mary’s (32-5) vs. West Sioux (27-2)

Class 2A: 1:30 p.m. — Clear Lake (30-7) vs. Kuemper Catholic (26-11)

Class 3A: 5 p.m. — Carlisle (33-6) vs. Harlan (29-5)

Class 4A: 7:30 p.m. — Cedar Rapids Prairie (37-6) vs. Iowa City West (35-6)

Harlan advances to 3-A State Baseball Championship round

Sports

July 29th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

The second-ranked Harlan Cyclones defeated the Solon Spartans 7-5 Friday afternoon at Principal Park to advance to the Class 3A championship game. It was a tough game for the defense as both teams combined to tally seven errors.

It was a pitcher’s duel between the two teams as the game remained scoreless until Nolan Hesse single to left field in the bottom of the third. Hesse eventually scored on a wild pitch by Luke Ira, putting Harlan up 1-0. Josh Cheek got the ball for Harlan, throwing a complete game giving up three earned runs on three hits and two walks while striking out two.

A pair of walks and a sacrifice bunt put runners on the corners for Solon in the top of the fourth. Zach Wegmann ignited the Spartans offense, drilling a two-out double to center field to give Solon the 2-1 lead. Harlan started a rally in the bottom of the frame as a walk and back-to-back hit batters juiced the bases for the Cyclones. Nick Foss knocked the tying run home, making the game two all but Harlan wasn’t done yet. Two runs scored on a fielder’s choice by Dillon Sears followed by a RBI-double to right-center by Kyle Juhl.

The Spartans were not going down without a fight as Ira led off the sixth with a single to left field. A sacrifice fly off the bat of Dillon Drake and a couple of errors by the Cyclones scored three for Solon making the score 6-5, Harlan. The Cyclones responded with an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth thanks three errors by the Spartan defense that allowed Hesse to score.

Ira was tagged with the loss for Solon giving up seven runs – four earned – on seven hits in five innings of work. He added three walks and three strikeouts to his stat line before exiting in the top of the sixth. Harlan (29-5) advances to the 3A championship game and will face Carlisle at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday at Principal Park. Solon ends at 22-21.

Friday’s 3A semifinals scores
Carlisle 5, Pella 3
*Harlan 7, Solon 5

Friday’s 4A semifinals scores

Cedar Rapids Prairie 4, Waukee 3
Iowa City West 6, Des Moines Roosevelt 5

Search on for veteran’s missing bike lost after RAGBRAI ride

News, Sports

July 29th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

A couple from Jefferson, South Dakota is asking for the public’s help to find a lost bike which fell off their car when they left to go back home from RAGBRAI this week. Breanne Demers says she and her husband Jeffrey had to leave Tuesday because of work commitments, and made their way around the bike route on gravel before hitting the highway. “We got on Highway 25, we headed north and we then turned west on Highway 34. And we continued on that route and we stopped in Red Oak to get a bite to eat, and we happened to notice that the strap had broken on the rack,” Demers says.

bikeShe says here husband’s bike was last on the rack it had fallen off somewhere along the route. Jeffrey served three tours in Iraq and the bike has sentimental meaning to him, as he bought it following the final tour. “When he met me he got into biking and he didn’t have a nice road bike,” Breanne explains. “And on that tour as he was making money overseas, he was sticking a little bit aside…and he saved enough to buy this bike and all the components he wanted on it. So for him, it’s kind of like his little medal from coming back from overseas, you know, it has a lot of meaning to him.”

They put out a call on Facebook and some state biking websites asking if anyone had seen it, and got some idea of where it may’ve fallen off from a woman who called them.
The woman had seen the bike in the middle of road somewhere between one and three miles south of Highway 34 on Highway 25. The woman stopped and moved the bike to the should and called the Creston Police Department. Creston police told the couple the bike was gone by the time they were able to check on it. She says the sentimental background of the bike is the reason they want it back as they know he will probably need to get a new bike for rides.

“When an aluminum-framed road bike hits the pavement at 70-miles-an-hour — not likely it’s going to be real ridable, the frame will be bent. She says she told her husband he likely won’t be able to ride the bike distances as he used to anymore and he will have to get a new bike anyway . “He said ‘I know but I want that bike back’, I don’t care if it hangs in the garage, I can just see it every day.” The bike is white Specialized brand with red handle bars. It has an Albrechts bike shop sticker on it. If find the bike or know where it may be, please call Breanne at 712-635-3161.

(Radio Iowa)

Cubs activate Coghlan from DL, option La Stella

Sports

July 29th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

CHICAGO (AP) – The Chicago Cubs activated outfielder Chris Coghlan from the disabled list Friday and optioned infielder Tommy La Stella to Triple-A Iowa. La Stella, who was hitting .295 in 105 at-bats with a .388 on-base percentage, didn’t take the news well, according to Cubs manager Joe Maddon.

La Stella had options remaining, which left him vulnerable. The Cubs needed a roster spot with Coghlan (ribs) healthy again after completing a rehab stint at Double-A Tennessee. They will need to make a decision soon on outfielder Jorge Soler (hamstring), who also is on a rehab assignment.

Maddon inserted Coghlan into left field and the leadoff spot for Friday’s game. Coghlan is hitting .155 with five home runs and 14 RBIs in 70 games this season, batting .194 since the Cubs reacquired him earlier this season.

Dayton Rodeo founder died in fire, authorities say

Ag/Outdoor, News, Sports

July 29th, 2016 by Ric Hanson

DAYTON, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say one of the founders of the Dayton Rodeo has died during a fire at his Dayton home. The Webster County medical examiner pronounced 98-year-old Allen Porter dead at the scene Thursday. Dr. Dan Cole told The Messenger that Porter’s body was found in a hallway. An autopsy has been ordered.  Fire officials say Porter’s caretaker escaped through a window. The fire cause is being investigated.

A Dayton Wranglers Saddle Club account of the rodeo’s history says Porter helped started the event in 1937 with Duane Vegors and Vern Danielson. They began with rope trucks in the city park. Porter will be honored during an empty saddle ceremony at the rodeo. It’s scheduled for Sept. 5 at 1:30 p.m.