FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — The New York Jets have signed wide receiver Kyle Williams, who tried out for the team during minicamp this week. The Jets also announced Friday that they have waived wide receiver Quenton Bundrage, signed as an undrafted free agent in May out of Iowa State.

Williams is entering his sixth NFL season and has 47 catches for 574 yards and four touchdowns in his career. He was a sixth-round pick of the 49ers in 2010 out of Arizona State. He played three seasons for San Francisco, but lost two fumbles on punt returns in the NFC championship game in 2012 with the second setting up the Giants’ winning field goal in overtime.

Williams was claimed off waivers by Kansas City in 2013, and signed with Denver the following year, but missed last season with a ruptured left Achilles tendon.

ST. LOUIS, Mo., June 17, 2016 – The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that they have recalled second baseman Kolten Wong from Memphis (AAA) and that outfielder Jeremy Hazelbaker has been optioned to the triple-A club.

Wong, who was optioned to Memphis following the Cardinals game on June 5, hit safely in all seven of his games with the Redbirds, batting .429 (12-for-28) with 4 HR’s and 11 RBI. He hit a pair of homers in his first game with the Redbirds (June 9 vs. Colorado Springs), including a game-winning grand slam, and he also hit a pair of homers with 4 RBI on June 14 at Nashville.

Wong started in centerfield for the Redbirds in three games (28.0 innings) where he handled four chances and recorded an outfield assist. Wong, 25, was batting .222 (28-for-126) with one home run and 5 RBI in 49 games with St. Louis this season.

Hazelbaker, a rookie, was batting .250 (31-for-124) with 7 HR’s and 19 RBI in 61 games. He has hit three pinch-hit home runs, and was leading the team with four stolen bases.

Cedar Rapids native and NASCAR driver Joey Gase made a pit stop in Ankeny Thursday at the D-O-T Driver’s License station to encourage Iowans to sign up to be an organ donor. Gase got a quick education in organ donation as an 18-year-old when his mother Mary died suddenly of a brain aneurysm in 2011 and he found out she wanted to donate her organs.

“I didn’t really know anything much at all about organ donation besides when you go to the D-M-V it’s just a quick yes or no question. And I feel like that’s how it is for a lot of people,” Gase says. “And at that time I honestly didn’t know if I was an organ donor and had to take out my license and see. And I was.” Gase says the toughest part was when doctors didn’t come out and tell him that his mom was going to get better. But he says the family takes comfort in the way the donation of her organs has helped others.

“We know now that she is very happy I am sure right now that she was able to help 66 people,” Gase says. He has a picture of his mother on the front of his car along with another picture of organ donor, Jessica Peine and the logo for the Iowa Organ Donor Network. Gase says his experience with his mom prompted him to continue supporting the organ donation cause.

“I learned how important it was and how many misconceptions there are out there and how many people are on the wait list, and I wanted to help all of that,” Gase explains. “One of the biggest misconceptions is — if I am an organ donor, the doctor is not going to do everything they can to save me — and I learned first-hand with my mom’s experience that’s not the case.” He says you should get the facts and make your choice about whether you would like to mark your driver’s license to be an organ donor.

“I really encourage everyone to donatelife.net and look up all the facts. Where a lot of people hear about donation is through movies and T-V shows and stuff like that, and that is where a lot of the misconceptions come from unfortunately,” Gase says. D-O-T Motor Vehicle Services Division director Mark Lowe says they are focusing on doing a better job of explaining how motorists can sign up to donate organs.

“We needed to make sure that our staff knew that was an important function of their job and when people come to the station they knew that they were not just being asked if they are an organ donor, but if they wanted to be one. As we’ve tracked that, we are continuing to see increases throughout the state,” Lowe says. The information about being an organ donor may be one of the last worries of people who are waiting in line to get a driver’s license or take a test.

“And that’s why one of the things we’ve coached our staff about is actually slow and make sure they understand the question and they have a chance to say yes to this,” Lowe explains. “And at the same time we want to make sure that the customers know that this is a decision that they can make, and it is easy to do just by saying yes.” He says a little more than half of drivers agree to mark their license indicating they want to donate their organs.

He says there are about two-point-one million licensed drivers and somewhere between 55 and 60 percent are organ donors. “Which really puts Iowa very well place nationally — but we just think we can do better every year,” Lowe says. Gase had his car at the event and people were encouraged to put their handprints in paint on the car and write a message in support of organ donation. He is set to run in the NASCAR XFINITY Series American Ethanol E-15 250 at the Iowa Speedway in Newton Sunday.

(Radio Iowa)

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The College World Series begins on Saturday in Omaha and ticket sales are on pace with past years despite the absence of perennial powers like LSU and Mississippi State. Thousands of Iowans make the annual trip to TD Ameritrade Park to watch college baseball’s premier event. Herb Hames is the volunteer ticket chairman for the event.

He says “A majority of our season ticket holders just love the fact that this is still an amateur sport, where they get to see future Major Leaguers.”  Hames says there are always those who support the underdog.”U-C Santa Barbara and Coastal Carolina may not bring a lot of their own fans, but I think they will draw more and more fans from Omaha, season ticket holders that want to cheer for a first-timer.”

He says there are several teams in the field that will bring large followings. Such as Oklahoma State,which hasn’t been at the CWS since 1999. And, TCU, which Hames says draws an Omaha crowd because a lot of area residents have graduated from or had kids that graduated from, TCU. Hames says bleacher seats are always popular and group sales are big during the week when attendance is traditionally lower.

He says the weather is a big factor. “When you have games in the afternoon where the temperature is going to be in the high 90’s, a lot of people may prefer to watch it on TV, and sell their tickets to somebody else.” He says they’ll just have to see how what happens.

Oklahoma State will play UC-Santa Barbara in Saturday afternoon’s opener. Miami and Arizona collide on Saturday night.

(Radio Iowa Sports)

Big changes are coming to the seeding process for high school boys’ post season tournament basketball. The Quad City Times reports the Iowa High School Athletic Association board of control has approved a change that will allow the coaches to seed their district or sub-state. In recent years a team’s record during a portion of the season determined its seed. Matt Coss reported on the story for the Times.

He says “Now it’s gonna be in the coaches hands. They’re going to have seeding meetings the first part of February each year, for basketball, where they’ll take win/loss record into account. But I think you’ll also see strength of schedule play a bigger role into it as well. A lot of other states have gone to this format, such as Illinois and Missouri, so Iowa is just kinda jumping on-board with this now.”

Coss says way the state tournament is seeded will also change. “Now, the eight coaches that make the state tournament will rank the seven other teams (in their class). They won’t rank their own team. From there, the Association will take those rankings and determine the seeding of the eight teams. Then they’ll turn it into a “pairing show,” and things like that, so definitely some major changes from what’s taken place in the past.”

Previously, a team’s win-loss record was used to seed the state tournament and Coss says that system drew a number of complaints from coaches. “Especially in the lower classes. It seemed in 1-A and 2-A, you had a lot of teams that maybe were seeded 6th or 7th that ended-up in a State Championship game, just because maybe they were a little more ‘battle tested’ than some of the other teams. So I think now maybe we’ll get some better match-ups right out of the gate at the State Tournament, and it could make the State Tournament more competitive throughout the week.”

The changes will go into effect for next season.

(Radio Iowa Sports)

AHSTW, Avoca 12, Riverside, Oakland 2
Bedford 9, Stanton 3
Bishop Heelan Catholic, Sioux City 6, Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln 3
Bishop Heelan Catholic, Sioux City 6, Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln 5
CAM, Anita 11, West Central Valley, Stuart 0 (6 innings)
Coon Rapids-Bayard 16, Adair-Casey 1
Coon Rapids-Bayard 7, West Harrison, Mondamin 6
Council Bluffs, Thomas Jefferson 6, Sioux City, North 1
Creston 4, Denison-Schleswig 2
Creston 9, Denison-Schleswig 6
Earlham 12, Madrid 6
Griswold 5, Audubon 3
Guthrie Center 5, East Union, Afton 3
Lawton-Bronson 9, East Sac County 2
Lewis Central 6, Shenandoah 3
Madrid 4, Earlham 3
Missouri Valley 12, IKM-Manning 0
Sioux City, North 1, Council Bluffs, Thomas Jefferson 0
Winterset 6, Pleasantville 0
Woodward-Granger 12, Panorama, Panora 5
Woodward-Granger 2, Panorama, Panora 1

Atlantic 10, Clarinda 0
Atlantic 12, Clarinda 0
Bedford 16, Stanton 1
CAM, Anita 12, West Central Valley, Stuart 8
Central Decatur, Leon 9, Southwest Valley 1
IKM-Manning 5, Missouri Valley 4
LeMars Gehlen Catholic 16, Clay Central-Everly 4
Lewis Central 10, Shenandoah 0
Lewis Central 12, Shenandoah 0
OA-BCIG 9, South Central Calhoun 2
Orient-Macksburg 4, Twin Cedars 3
St. Albert, Council Bluffs 14, Fremont-Mills 1
Treynor 13, Tri-Center, Neola 0
Treynor 15, Tri-Center, Neola 0
Westwood, Sloan 12, West Harrison 1
Winterset 10, Carroll 0
Winterset 13, Carroll 0
Woodward-Granger 5, Panorama 4
Woodward-Granger 6, Panorama 5 (8)

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