Month: September 2018

Mild weather today, gradually warming through week

National Weather Service graphic

Today’s high will be a mild 79 degrees in Wyandotte County, with temperatures gradually warming to the mid-80s at the end of the week, according to the National Weather Service forecast.

Minor river flooding continues along the Missouri River in the region, although there is no river flooding reported in Wyandotte County, the weather service said.

Most of the river flooding in towns such as Atchison, Kansas, and St. Joseph, Missouri, have crested with river levels slowly beginning to fall, according to the weather service.

Some may remain in flood through mid to late week, the weather service said. Leavenworth is no longer listed as flooding.

No hazardous weather is expected through the next week, according to the weather service.

Today, expect sunny skies and a high near 79, with a calm wind becoming south southeast around 6 mph in the afternoon, the weather service said.

Tonight, it will be mostly clear with a low of 59 and a south southeast wind around 6 mph becoming calm after midnight, according to the weather service.

Tuesday, it will be sunny with a high near 81, the weather service said, and a south wind of 5 to 9 mph.

Tuesday night, it will be clear with a low of 62 and a south southeast wind of 6 to 8 mph, according to the weather service.

Wednesday, expect sunny skies and a high near 82 with a south wind of 6 to 9 mph, the weather service said.

Wednesday night, it will be mostly clear with a low of 65, according to the weather service.

Thursday, it will be sunny with a high near 83, the weather service said.

Thursday night, it will be mostly clear with a low of 67, according to the weather service.

Friday, it will be sunny with a high near 85, the weather service said.

Friday night, it will be mostly clear with a low of 68, according to the weather service.

Saturday, it will be sunny with a high near 86, the weather service said.

Saturday night, it will be mostly clear with a low of 67, according to the weather service.

Sunday, it will be sunny with a high near 84, the weather service said.

While Wyandotte County is not experiencing any Missouri River flooding, cities upstream including Atchison, Kansas, St. Joseph, Missouri, Rulo, Nebraska, Brownsville, Nebraska, and Nebraska City, Nebraska, are experiencing flooding. Cities to the east including Sibley, Missouri, Napoleon, Missouri, Waverly, Missouri, and Miami, Missouri, also experienced flooding. (National Weather Service graphic)

T-Bones to play for championship after winning division playoffs

The Kansas City T-Bones are headed to the American Association Championship Series after defeating the Sioux City Explorers 4-2 Sunday evening in Sioux City.

It was an extra-sweet win for Kansas City, who spent most of the season in second place behind the Explorers. The year was a record-breaking year for the T-Bones, as they ended their regular season with a franchise-high 62 wins and only 37 losses.

Manager Joe Calfapietra was named Manager of the Year, Todd Cunningham was honored as an all-star and Tommy Collier was awarded Pitcher of the Month in both July and August.

The T-Bones will now take on the St. Paul Saints, the Northern Division series winners, in the best-of-five American Association Championship Series Tuesday and Wednesday in Minnesota. They will return to Kansas City for a Friday night game, in addition to Saturday and Sunday games, if needed.

Sunday evening in Sioux City, Tommy Collier had a spectacular performance, holding Sioux City hitless until the fifth and striking out a total of nine batters. Six of the first eight half-innings were three-up, three-down.

It was scoreless going into the fifth when Adrian Nieto led off with a solo home run over the left field fence to give Kansas City a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the fifth, a double to left by Jay Baum and a pair of walks loaded the bases, but Tommy Collier, who leads the league in strikeouts, eliminated the threat by striking out the last two batters of the inning.

Todd Cunningham led off the seventh with a single to center and Adrian Nieto singled to center to put runners at the corners.

With one out, the Explorers brought in reliever Ryan Horstman for starting pitcher James Dykstra. Horstman threw four pitches, all balls, to walk the first batter he faced, Keith Curcio, and load the bases.

Sioux City went to their bullpen again, bringing in Luis Mateo, who struck out Alay Lago. Danny Hayes, on a 2-2 pitch, smacked a three-run RBI double to right field to clear the bases and put the T-Bones up 4-0.

In the bottom of the seventh, Sioux City grabbed a run to get on the board and prevent a shutout. Blake Schmit hit a single to right field, advanced to third on a double to left field by Dylan Kelly, then scored on a single to third by Daniel Jackson.

In the eighth, Joe Filomeno came in for relief of Collier, who worked seven innings, giving up only one run. Dean Green reached base after being hit by a pitch, Jay Baum walked and Green was then driven home by Schmit, who singled to center field.

Cody Winiarski came in to close out the ninth and Kansas City won it by a final score of 4-2.

Game time Tuesday at St. Paul is 7:05 p.m. The game can be heard, with Dan Vaughan Jr., at http://mixlr.com/t-bones-baseball/.

– Story from T-Bones