June 2018 – Page 47 – Welcome to Wyandotte Daily!

Sporting KC resumes Open Cup title defense Saturday at home in KCK against Dallas

Two of the top teams in Major League Soccer lock horns Saturday in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Round of 16 as Sporting Kansas City welcomes FC Dallas to Children’s Mercy Park.

Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. and tickets for the match are available at SeatGeek.com.

Saturday’s encounter, which pits the champions of the last three U.S. Open Cup titles, will also stream live on SportingKC.com with additional in-game updates provided by the Sporting KC Uphoria app.

All fans attending Saturday’s match are permitted to bring one (1) sealed 20-oz. or less bottle of water into the stadium. Temperatures could be around 90 degrees at 8 p.m. Saturday, with a heat index of 95 possible.

Reigning Open Cup champions and current Western Conference leaders Sporting KC are coming off a scoreless draw at the Portland Timbers last Saturday.

The result kept manager Peter Vermes’ men level with FC Dallas on 29 points – Sporting KC holds the tiebreaker by virtue of greater goal difference – and gave goalkeeper Tim Melia his seventh clean sheet in his last 11 appearances dating back to March 31.

Sporting KC reached the Open Cup Round of 16 thanks to a 2-0 road win over Real Salt Lake on June 6. Forward Johnny Russell bagged his team-leading sixth goal in all competitions before setting up Kharlton Belmar for his first Sporting KC goal to seal the victory at Rio Tinto Stadium.

FC Dallas has lost just once in 14 league games this season, a 3-1 setback to New York City FC on April 29 at Yankee Stadium. Head coach Oscar Pareja’s side is currently on a five-game winning streak in all competitions, an impressive stretch that includes road wins at Toronto FC, LA Galaxy and San Antonio FC in the Open Cup Fourth Round on June 6.

Goalkeeper Jimmy Mauer started FC Dallas’ first 10 games of 2018, but U.S. international Jesse Gonzalez has started each of the last four en route to a perfect 4-0-0 record, two shutouts and 20 saves.

Roland Lamah and Maxi Urruti have accounted for exactly half of FC Dallas’ 24 goals, notching six each, while lethal playmaker Mauro Diaz ranks second in MLS with eight assists. FC Dallas is the only MLS team yet to be shut out this season, having scored in each of their 15 matches across all competitions.

Sporting KC and FC Dallas met in the 2017 U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals at Children’s Mercy Park last July, an epic encounter that saw the hosts prevail 3-0 in extra time.

After playing a man down for most of regulation, Sporting KC struck three times during a wild extra session – including a late goal from forward Daniel Salloi – to secure one of their most dramatic wins in recent memory. The emotional triumph came two days after the passing of Sporting KC co-owner Neal Patterson, chairman and CEO of Cerner Corp.

This time around, FC Dallas will look to exact revenge and reclaim a trophy the club first lifted in 1997 before doing so again in 2016. In order to do so, they’ll have to dethrone a Sporting KC outfit that has ruled the Open Cup with an iron fist over the last six seasons.

Vermes’ team has won the competition in 2012, 2015 and 2017 to go with the club’s first Open Cup championship in 2004. Sporting KC’s four Open Cup titles are tied with the Chicago Fire and Seattle Sounders FC for the most all-time among MLS clubs.

Sporting KC and FC Dallas have met three previous times in Open Cup competition, all of which taking place in the Kansas City area. In the 2004 quarterfinals, Kansas City waxed FC Dallas 4-0 at Blue Valley District Athletic Complex in Overland Park, Kansas.

Another blowout was in store 11 years later, when Dom Dwyer bagged a club-record four goals to pace Sporting KC to a 6-2 win in the 2015 Round of 16. Sporting KC is a perfect 3-0-0 against FC Dallas in Open Cup play with 13 goals scored and two conceded.

In the recent series between Sporting KC and FC Dallas, home field advantage has been extra pronounced: the home side is 10-0-4 in the last 14 meetings across all competitions.

Sporting KC is 6-0-1 in its last seven home meetings with FC Dallas, scoring 20 goals and conceding just three. Dallas won on its inaugural visit to the stadium in 2011, but has gone 0-7-2 since then while being outscored 23-5.

The 2018 U.S. Open Cup began May 6 with 97 teams from all levels of American soccer. The 105th edition of the storied tournament features a single-tiered bracket with eight rounds of single-elimination play until a champion is crowned in September.

2018 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup match dates (subject to change)
• Fifth Round – June 16-20
• Quarterfinals – July 18
• Semifinals – Aug. 8
• Final – Sept. 26

The winner of the 2018 U.S. Open Cup will receive $300,000 in prize money, up from $250,000 last year. The tournament runner-up will receive $100,000 (up from $60,000) and the team that advances the furthest from each lower division will earn $25,000 (up from $15,000). The 2018 champion will also receive a berth in the 2019 Concacaf Champions League, a tournament Sporting KC has already qualified for as last year’s champion.

The U.S. Open Cup, named in honor of the late soccer pioneer and former Kansas City Wizards owner Lamar Hunt since 1999, is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in the United States and the world’s third-longest-running open soccer tournament. An Open Cup champion has been crowned every year dating back to 1914.

– Story from Sporting KC

Offense leads T-Bones past Explorers, 9-5

The Kansas City T-Bones won a wild 9-5 thriller against the Sioux City Explorers in Kansas City Thursday night. Zach Walters powered the T-Bones offense, going 3-5 with 3 RBIs.

Walters started his night off by hitting his fourth home run of the season, putting the T-Bones up 1-0 in the second inning.

Singles by Walters, Cal Towey and Dexter Kjerstad loaded the bases with one out in the fourth inning.

A crucial wild pitch to Tucker Pennell sent Walters racing down the third base line to score the second run of the game. The T-Bones left runners on first and third, ending a promising fourth inning, but the T-Bones led the Explorers 2-0.

Sioux City stormed back in the sixth inning to take the lead.

A lead-off double by Dexture McCall started the Explorers rally. Dylan Kelly sliced a ball up the first base line for an out advancing McCall to third base.

Former T-Bone Jordan Edgerton ripped an RBI double to left field to put Sioux City on the board. Michael Lang then erased the Kansas City lead with a two-run homerun to left field that put Sioux City ahead 3-2.

With one out in the seventh inning, Keith Curcio lined a single to center field. He then stole second base to put Kansas City in scoring position. Todd Cunningham hit a game-tying RBI double that scored Curcio to tie the game at 3-3.

Dylan Tice extended the inning for the T-Bones with a single to right field, putting runners on first and second. Walters delivered for Kansas City, hitting a hard-hit ball off the left field wall scoring two runs. After a relentless seventh inning, the T-Bones regained the lead, 5-3.

Edgerton continued to be locked in against his former team. He hit his second RBI of the game, crushing a home run over the left-field wall to cut the T-Bones lead to 5-4.

Back-to-back singles by Adrian Nieto and Dexter Kjerstad quickly put two runners on base for the T-Bones in the eighth inning. Tucker Pennell reached first after being hit by a pitch, loading the bases for Kansas City.

The next at bat, Tice reached first on a hit by pitch, scoring Nieto, and Kansas City took a 6-4 lead. Todd Cunningham hit a sacrifice fly to score Kjerstad, followed by a base-clearing RBI double by Nick Torres that put the T-Bones on top 9-5.

After a late run in the ninth, the T-Bones went on to win by a final of 9-5. The T-Bone’s Joe Filomeno (1-0) pitched two innings, allowing one run on one hit, and is credited as the winning pitcher.

Explorers pitcher Taylor Jordan (4-1) struggled for the Explorers, allowing five runs on nine hits in six and two thirds inning pitched. Jordan is credited as the losing pitcher.

The T-Bones are 14-10 on the season after splitting a four-game series with the South Division leading Explorers. The Explorers fall to 20-7, clinging on to the division lead.

The T-Bones hit the road for a six-game road trip against the Fargo-Morehead RedHawks and the Winnipeg Goldeyes. The T-Bones return home Friday, June 22, against the Cleburne Railroaders.

Former University of Kansas basketball standout Frank Mason III will hold a charity softball game Saturday afternoon to benefit Children’s Mercy Kansas City and the National Youth Foundation. Mason will be joined by KU Head Basketball Coach Bill Self and a number of former Jayhawks and NBA players including Devonte Graham, Josh Jackson, and Sherron Collins as well Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt.

The game will be an interactive experience between players and attendees. Fans will be entertained by in-game promotions and giveaways all seven innings.

Mason was the 2016-17 Consensus National Player of the Year and currently plays for the Sacramento Kings in the NBA.

Gates open at 1 p.m. Saturday at T-Bones Stadium, with a home run derby at 2 p.m. and first pitch at 3 p.m.

Season, group, mini-plans and nightly party suites are on sale and can be purchased by visiting the Box Office at T-Bones Stadium. Call the box office at 913-328-5618 or purchase and print at www.tbonesbaseball.com. Box office hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday and Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
– Story from T-Bones

Slain deputy was seven-year veteran of Sheriff’s Department

Deputy Patrick Rohrer, 35, died in a shooting about 11:16 a.m. today near the Wyandotte County Courthouse, according to a Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department spokesman.

Rohrer had seven years of service with the Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Department.

Another Wyandotte County deputy who was shot is in critical condition at the University of Kansas Hospital, according to officials.

Two deputies were shot this morning as they were transferring inmates to the Wyandotte County Jail from a hearing in the court services building across the street, in the 800 block of North 7th Street. The shooting is believed to have happened in the gated parking lot behind the court services building.

The suspect in the case was shot and was in surgery at KU Hospital, according to officials.

Gov. Jeff Colyer has released a statement regarding the tragic shooting of two Wyandotte County Sheriff’s deputies this morning in Kansas City, Kansas:

“I was deeply saddened to learn of the tragic shooting of two sheriff’s deputies outside the Wyandotte County Courthouse earlier this morning. Our law enforcement officers put their lives on the line each and every day to protect the public and their selfless service deserves our highest honor.

“Ruth and I will be praying for the victims and their families, as well as all our law enforcement officers and other first responders as we come together as a community to mourn this horrific tragedy,” Gov. Colyer said in his statement.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt issued a statement on the shootings earlier today of two Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office deputies:

“Today’s terrible events in Kansas City bitterly remind us once again of the dangers and sacrifices faced every day by law enforcement officers throughout our state and nation. The prayers of all of Kansas lift up the deputy killed today, the deputy still fighting for life, their families and friends, and their fellow men and women in law enforcement who keep our communities safe each and every day.”