AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State spent years trying to figure out what it had in quarterback Sam Richardson, and know now that he might be the Cyclones’ most valuable player. Richardson set a school record with 37 completions in Iowa State’s 37-30 win over Toledo last weekend. He threw for 351 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions while rallying the Cyclones (2-4, 0-3 Big 12) past the Rockets to keep their slim bowl hopes alive.

The junior quarterback has thrown 10 TD passes with just four picks through six games. He’s also Iowa State’s leading rusher with 283 yards. The Cyclones take on Texas (2-4, 1-2) in Austin on Saturday.

10/13/2014

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ST. LOUIS (AP) — Kolten Wong hit a leadoff home run in the ninth inning and the resilient St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Francisco Giants 5-4 Sunday night, evening the NL Championship Series at one game each. The Cardinals lost All-Star catcher Yadier Molina to a strained oblique muscle in the sixth. St. Louis got late homers from Oscar Taveras and Matt Adams before Wong connected off Sergio Romo.

The Giants made it 4-all when pinch-runner Matt Duffy dashed home from second base on a two-out wild pitch in the ninth. Game 3 will be Tuesday in San Francisco.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Star catcher Yadier Molina of the St. Louis Cardinals left Game 2 of the NL Championship Series with a strained muscle on his left side. Molina was replaced by Tony Cruz in the top of the seventh inning with the score tied 2-all Sunday night. Cruz’s passed ball helped the Giants go ahead in the seventh.

Molina hardly budged from the batter’s box when he grounded into a double play against San Francisco reliever Jeremy Affeldt in the sixth. The six-time All-Star remained hunched over until a trainer and manager Mike Matheny came out to meet him. Molina walked off on his own, but was clearly in pain.

Molina, who missed seven weeks this season with a thumb injury, has won six straight Gold Gloves and finished third in NL MVP voting last year. His loss was a huge blow to the Cardinals, who had trailed 1-0 in the best-of-seven series.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright insists he’s fine physically, though he’s failed to make it through the fifth inning in both of his postseason starts. St. Louis general manager John Mozeliak said Sunday that he thinks Wainwright’s workload is simply taking a toll. The GM said it might be a good idea in the offseason to figure how to cut down on all those innings.

Counting the postseason, Wainwright has thrown 512 2-3 innings the last two years. That’s by far the most in the majors. In nine postseason innings, Wainwright has surrendered eight earned runs and 17 hits. He blamed mechanical woes and not a chronic elbow issue after losing Game 1 of the NL Championship Series to San Francisco on Saturday night.

A big September may have worn down Wainwright. He was 5-0 while totaling 39 innings, although he was scratched from the regular-season finale after the Cardinals clinched the NL Central.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – The St. Louis Cardinals shelled Madison Bumgarner the first time they faced him in the National League playoffs before last night, torching him for six runs in three 2/3 innings during the 2012 division series. Bumgarner turned the tables on the Redbirds Saturday while leading the Giants to victory in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.

Bumgarner struck out seven while allowing four hits over 7 2/3 innings of a 3-0 shutout at St. Louis. He was breezing until the seventh, when the Cardinals collected consecutive one-out singles before Kolten Wong tapped out and pinch-hitter Tony Cruz fanned. Bumgarner also set a major league postseason record with 26 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings on the road.

Travis Ishikawa put the Giants ahead with an RBI single in the second before Hunter Pence scored on Matt Carpenter’s error at third base later in the inning. Brandon Belt added a sacrifice fly one inning later. That was more than enough offense for the Giants to win for the 12th time in their last 13 playoff games.

Loser Adam Wainwright allowed two earned runs and six hits in just 4 2/3 innnings.  Game 2 is tonight (Sunday) in St. Louis, where Lance Lynn will get the starting nod for the Cards against Jake Peavy. Pre-game coverage on KJAN begins at 6:12-p.m., with the first pitch at around 7:07.

Western Christian Tournament:
1st place: Western Christian (W/C def. Harlan in the Championship 2-1)
2nd place: Harlan
3rd place: Sioux City Bishop Heelan

CAM Tournament:
1st Place: Guthrie Center (GC def. Nodaway Valley 2-1 for the Championship)
2nd Place: Nodaway Valley

Individual games results:
Adair-Casey 2 Iowa Christian Academy 1; Adair-Casey 2 Orient-Macksburg 0; Guthrie Center 2 Adair-Casey 0; Guthrie Center 2, Panorama 0; Nodaway Valley 2 Adair-Casey 0; Nodaway Valley 2 CAM 0; Nodaway Valley 2 Panorama 0; Nodaway Valley 2 Riverside 0; Panorama 2 CAM 1; Panorama 2 Riverside 0.

Other scores from around western Iowa:
(2-1) Charles City 25-20-15, Kuemper Catholic 19-25-9
(2-0) Independence 21-21, Kuemper Catholic 19-19
(2-0) Kuemper Catholic 21-21, Hampton-Dumont 11-9
(2-0) Kuemper Catholic 21-21, West Fork 19-15
(2-0) Kuemper Catholic 25-25, Denver 23-17
(2-1) Sidney 20-25-25, Tri-County, NE 25-5-11
(2-0) Sidney 25-25, Fairbury, NE 22-17

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Sam Richardson threw for a career-high 351 yards and three second-half touchdowns Saturday, rallying Iowa State to a 37-30 victory over Toledo. Unable to finish drives in the first half, Richardson and the offense got rolling in the second and gave the Cyclones (2-4) a much needed victory in a rare October break from Big 12 play.

Toledo (4-2), which had a three-game winning streak broken, ran the ball well and pulled into a 23-23 tie in the fourth quarter. But the Cyclones took the lead on Richardson’s 5-yard TD pass to E.J. Bibbs and secured the victory with a 16-play, 85-yard drive that Richardson finished with a 14-yard scoring pass to Alan Lazard, making it 37-23.

Richardson finished with a school-record 37 completions in 53 attempts and connected with nine different receivers, including a lineman.

VERMILLION, S.D. (AP) — Sawyer Kollmorgen and Brion Carnes each threw touchdown passes as Northern Iowa beat South Dakota 27-16 Saturday. South Dakota (2-4, 0-2 Missouri Valley) opened the game with an 11-play, 76-yard drive which culminated when Trevor Bouma scored on a 17-yard run. He finished with 70 yards on 14 carries. Northern Iowa (3-3, 1-1), however, would score 17-straight points, including Carnes’ 28-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Vereen, Jr., and lead the rest of the way.

Northern Iowa had seven sacks, including three by Brett McMakin, keeping Kevin Earl, who was injured South Dakota’s season opener against Oregon, on the run most of the game. Earl completed 17 of 29 passes for 260 yards, including a 25-yard TD pass to Brandt Van Roekel to cap a 99-yard scoring drive, in his return.

Carnes added 55 yards on nine carries.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Jake Rudock threw for 210 yards and two touchdowns and Iowa rolled past Indiana 45-29 on Saturday for its third straight win. Mark Weisman had a pair of short TD runs for the Hawkeyes (5-1, 2-0 Big Ten), who scored all but seven of their points in the first half.

Iowa scored 28 points in the first quarter — surpassing its total in each of its first four games against Power 5 schools — and led by as much as 21. Indiana pulled within 28-21, but Weisman closed the first half on a 1-yard TD run to give Iowa a 38-21 lead.

Tevin Coleman had 219 yards rushing for Indiana (3-3, 0-2), including TD runs of 83, 69 and 45 yards. Hoosiers quarterback Nate Sudfeld left with an apparent injury in the first half and never returned.