Month: March 2019

T-Bones make roster moves

The Kansas City T-Bones have made several roster moves recently.

Infielder Ryan Brett will return for the 2019 season. Brett is a key member of the 2018 championship club.

Kansas City also traded right handed pitcher Pasquale Mazzoccoli to Rockland (Can-Am League) for a player to be named later and signed catcher Roy Morales following the release of catcher Adrian Nieto.

Brett played the final 27 games of the 2018 championship season for the T-Bones. Brett went 24-for-61 during the final 13 games of the season, as the team made its run to the post-season. The T-Bones clinched its first playoff spot since joining the American Association in 2011 and its first since 2009. Brett scored 14 runs over the 13-game span for Kansas City. Then he went 15-for-37 in two post-season series with a home run and five RBIs, scoring six runs.

Pasquale Mazzoccoli spent the entire 2018 season with the T-Bones, posting a 4-2 record with a 4.52 ERA with 46 strike outs on the year. He made three spot starts for Kansas City and pitched another 24 in relief in 2018. Mazzoccoli would earn the name of “magic man” on Sept. 2 at Gary. The right-hander worked two scoreless innings where he got out of two jams with the winning run at third base to preserve a playoff-clinching win over Gary in 14 innings.

Roy Morales comes to Kansas City from the Miami Marlins organization where he was the 12th round pick in the 2014 June Amateur Draft out of Colegio Angel David High School in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico. In five professional seasons, Morales is a career .272 hitter in 208 games with two home runs and 70 RBIs. Last season he played 46 games for Jupiter in the Florida State League, hitting at a .255 clip with 13 RBIs for the Hammerheads. Morales had his 2017 season shortened to 30 games because of a suspension by the commissioner’s office. He hit .288 in 2017 with a home run and 15 RBIs at Jupiter.

Adrian Nieto was one of only three position players for the T-Bones to spend the entire season with Kansas City and one of two starters from the opening night lineup to finish the season with Kansas City. His .313 average was fifth on the team, and he was fourth in RBIs (44) and walks (34) for Kansas City. His 91 hits were third on the club, and his .313 average was a career high. Nieto, born in Havana, Cuba, and raised in Florida, came to the T-Bones following a 2017 season where he played 68 games between AA Pensacola and AAA Louisville in the Cincinnati Reds organization.

Full and half-season 2019 ticket packages, as well as mini plans, are on sale online, by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting the Saint Luke’s Box Office between the hours of 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Group ticket sales are also on sale. Individual tickets also are on sale.

Opening day for the T-Bones is set for Friday, May 17, at T-Bones Stadium when the T-Bones play host to the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks to open the 2019 season.

  • Information from T-Bones

New Kansas Speedway race dates for 2020 are out; May 2020 races moved back two weeks

Kansas Speedway today announced the dates for the 2020 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races.

Kansas Speedway’s spring race will move back two weeks to Sunday, May 31, 2020, while the fall race, which is the first race of the third round, will be Sunday, Oct. 18, 2020. Start times and TV networks will be released at a later date.

“We appreciate the efforts of everyone involved in making changes to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule,” Kansas Speedway President Patrick Warren said in a news release. “Our fans have been asking for a summer race date change because of the number of high school and college graduations in our area. With most schools out by the end of May, our new summer date should not only allow fans to plan their vacations for Kansas Speedway, but they will also be able to officially kick off summer here!”

Dates for the NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series races will be announced at a later date.

Racing returns to Kansas Speedway on Friday, May 10, 2019, with the NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series and on Saturday, May 11, 2019, with the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races. In October, the NASCAR XFINITY Series (Kansas Lottery 300) returns on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019, and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (Hollywood Casino 400) on Oct. 20, 2019, both of which are playoff races.

Kansas Speedway holds two NASCAR race weekends a year, in addition to 200 other events throughout the year in Kansas City, Kansas.


The first race weekend of the season at Kansas Speedway is in May with the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series and Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series under the lights. In the fall, the NASCAR playoffs return with the NASCAR XFINITY Series and Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Also in October, the ARCA Menards Series returns to Kansas Speedway.

To purchase season or single-day tickets, call 866-460-RACE or log onto www.kansasspeedway.com.

  • Information from Kansas Speedway

BPU offers community solar program for commercial customers

The Board of Public Utilities has opened its BPU Community Solar Farm to commercial utility customers.

The solar farm has nearly 4,000 photovoltaic solar panels.

Commercial customers now will be able to have access to solar energy through the BPU’s solar farm program, that makes it affordable and accessible to everyone, a spokesman stated.

Previously, the community solar farm program was available only to residential customers.

“We are pleased to now offer BPU commercial customers the option of utilizing renewable solar energy that is produced right here in Wyandotte County,” said Don Gray, general manager of BPU, in a news release. “The Community Solar Farm provides simple, affordable access to solar energy for the entire community, with participants benefiting from reduced costs on their electric bills and the knowledge that they are reducing their individual carbon footprint.”

The BPU scores high on the renewable energy scale, with 45 percent of its power generation from renewable energy sources including wind, hydropower, landfill gas and solar.

Each of the 3,780 individual solar panels in BPU’s 1,000 KW Community Solar Farm will eliminate 12 tons of CO2, according to the spokesman. That’s the equivalent of reducing single automobile emissions of 23,500 miles, planting 278 trees, or recycling 37 tons of waste versus placing it in a landfill.

Commercial BPU customers will be able to lease from one to 500 solar panels over a multi-year period depending on the size of that commercial customer, while receiving a credit of approximately $3.20 a month for each panel on their utility bill. An initial one-time lease fee of $470 applies throughout the 25-year life of the farm, with the user option of selling the individual panel back to BPU if a participant moves out of the service area.

For more information on this new program, go to www.bpu.com/solar, call 913-573-9997, or email BPU at [email protected].

The BPU also will hold a free solar seminar for Kansas City, Kansas, residents on Tuesday, April 16.

The seminar will take place at the West Wyandotte Public Library, 1737 N. 82nd St., Kansas City, Kansas. Two sessions will take place, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. and from 6 to 7:30 p.m. April 16.