UNDATED (AP) — Iowa State guard Rasir Bolton said he decided to leave Penn State last spring because of a comment by coach Pat Chambers, who said the player had a noose around his neck. Bolton, who is Black, disclosed the reason for his departure Monday in a tweet he titled “a noose around my neck.”

Chambers, who is white, later tweeted an apology. Bolton tweeted that Chambers made the noose comment after the coach returned from a one-game suspension for shoving Nittany Lions player Myles Dread in the chest during the previous game. Bolton told The Undefeated he wasoffended by the reference and confronted both Chambers and the athletic director’s office.

ST. LOUIS, Mo., July 6, 2020 – The St. Louis Cardinals, in conjunction with Major League Baseball’s league-wide release, announced today their 60-game 2020 season schedule.  The regionally-based schedule will feature 40 divisional games amongst National League Central opponents and 20 Interleague games against American League Central teams.

The Cardinals will open up the season at Busch Stadium on Friday, July 24, with a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates and finish their 60-game slate at Busch Stadium on Sunday, September 27, versus the Milwaukee Brewers.  The Redbirds will also take part in the only game to be played outside a current Major League city when they take on the host Chicago White Sox in the “MLB at Field of Dreams™ presented by GEICO” game at the site of the beloved 1989 baseball-themed movie in Dyersville, Iowa on Thursday, August 13.

The 60-game schedule will feature 10 home series and 10 road series, with home matchups against Pittsburgh (July 24-26, August 10-12), Detroit (August 5-6), Chicago Cubs (August 7-9), Cincinnati (August 20-23, September 11-13), Kansas City (August 24-26), Cleveland (August 28-30), Minnesota (September 8-9), and Milwaukee (September 24-27).  The club will have multiple road series against Milwaukee (July 31-August 2, September 14-16) and the Chicago Cubs (August 17-19, September 4-7).

Of the Cardinals five home stands at Busch Stadium, the longest consists of 10 games (August 20-30) with the Reds (four games), Royals (three games) and Indians (three games).  The team’s longest road trip will also consist of 10 games (September 14-23) while visiting the Brewers (three games), Pirates (four games) and the Royals (three games).  The 60-game schedule allows the team to play three series against each NL Central opponent, two series versus AL Central opponents Kansas City (six games), Detroit (four games) and Minnesota (four games), and one series against both Cleveland (three games) and the Chicago White Sox (three games).

The Cardinals will make future announcements regarding broadcast schedules and any possible ticket availability for 2020 games at a later date.  The complete 60-game schedule can be viewed at cardinals.com/schedule

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The University of Iowa Athletics Department announced four additional positive coronavirus tests on Monday along with one negative test. KGAN-TV reports that the new cases bring the number of positive tests in the athletics department to 21 on 392 total tests. The department is not disclosing which sports the positive tests stem from or if they are athletes or staff. Statewide, the number of confirmed cases rose by 417 to 31,660. The state’s health department also reported two more deaths, bringing the total to 723.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa State basketball coach Steve Prohm is confident the Cyclones will make major strides next season. The Cyclones add four freshmen and three transfers to a team that struggled to a 12-20 record a year ago. It was Iowa State’s second losing season in three years.

Prohm says the three transfers this spring will add scoring punch. Tyler Harris transferred from Memphis. Jalen Coleman-Lands played at De Paul and Blake Hinson at Ole Miss.

The Cyclones bounced back from a losing season by posting 23 wins in 2019 and Prohm is confident of similar improvement.

Cyclone guard Rasir Bolton says one of the reasons he transferred from Penn State was racially insensitive remarks by Nittany Lion coach Pat Chambers. Bolton was second on the Cyclones in in scorning at just over 14 and a half points per game.

SOFTBALL

Hawkeye Ten Conference 

• Harlan at Creston
• Kuemper Catholic at Denison-Schleswig
• Red Oak at Lewis Central (DH)

Western Iowa Conference 

• Logan-Magnolia at Treynor

Pride of Iowa Conference 

• Southeast Warren at Martensdale-St. Marys

Other Games

• Audubon at West Harrison
• CB Abraham Lincoln at St. Albert
• CB Thomas Jefferson at Glenwood
• Earlham at Nodaway Valley
• Glidden-Ralston at Grand View Christian
• Griswold at Clarinda
• IKM-Manning at Coon Rapids-Bayard
• Interstate 35 at Central Decatur
• Orient-Macksburg at Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton
• Riverside at Fremont-Mills
• Shenandoah at Tri-Center
• Stanton at Lenox
• Westwood at Woodbine

BASEBALL

Hawkeye Ten Conference 

• Harlan at Creston
• Kuemper Catholic at Denison-Schleswig
• Red Oak at Lewis Central

Bluegrass Conference 

• Orient-Macksburg vs. Ankeny Christian Academy (at Principal Park)

Other Games

• Ar-We-Va at East Sac County
• Audubon at West Harrison
• CAM at Woodward-Granger
• Earlham at Nodaway Valley
• East Mills at Bedford
• Glidden-Ralston at Panorama
• Interstate 35 at Central Decatur
• Logan-Magnolia at Boyer Valley
• Martensdale-St. Marys at Carlisle
• Mormon Trail at Southeast Warren
• Orient-Macksburg at Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton
• Riverside at Fremont-Mills
• Shenandoah at Tri-Center
• Sidney at AHSTW
• Southwest Valley at Stanton
• Underwood at St. Albert
• Van Meter at Treynor

The Kansas City Chiefs made sure they’ll have Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes around as long as possible. Mahomes agreed to a 10-year extension worth up to $503 million, according to his agency, Steinberg Sports. The deal is worth $477 million in guarantee mechanisms and includes a no-trade clause and opt-out clauses if guarantee mechanisms aren’t met.

It’s the richest contract in professional sports history, surpassing Mike Trout’s $426.5 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels.The Chiefs had the 2018 NFL MVP under contract for the next two seasons but that wasn’t nearly enough.

The contract extension starts in 2022 when the NFL salary cap is projected to be $227.5 million. However, that number could be lower depending on revenue losses due to the cornonavirus pandemic and the possibility any games played this season won’t have fans.

The latest top ten rankings for high school baseball were released Monday by the Radio Iowa/Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association poll. Here is a look at the rankings with area teams in bold. These are the final rankings of the regular season for Class 1A and 2A.

Class 4A
1. Dowling Catholic (15-1)
2. Johnston (13-3)
3. Ankeny (12-6)
4. Sioux City East (13-1)
5. Dubuque Hempstead (8-0)
6. Urbandale (10-8)
7. Southeast Polk (12-6)
8. Cedar Rapids Kennedy (8-2)
9. Waukee (9-9)
10. Ankeny Centennial (10-8)

Class 3A
1. Central DeWitt (14-2)
2. Dallas Center-Grimes (12-1)
3. Davenport Assumption (12-3)
4. Sergeant Bluff-Luton (12-1)
5. Gilbert (14-1)
6. Cedar Rapids Xavie r(7-3)
7. Sioux City Heelan (10-3)
8. Ballard (Huxley) (9-2)
9. Winterset (9-2)
10. Boone (8-2)

Class 2A (Final Poll)
1. Van Meter (13-0)
2. North Linn (14-2)
3. Dike-New Hartford (10-1)
4. Underwood (10-2)
5. Woodward-Granger (12-4)
6. Mid-Prairie (9-3)
7. Roland-Story (11-5)
8. Camanche (8-3)
9. West Lyon (9-2)
10. Pocahontas Area (11-1)

Class 1A (Final Poll)
1. Martensdale-St. Mary’s (18-0)
2. Remsen St. Mary’s (12-0)
3. Council Bluffs St. Albert (14-1)
4. South Winneshiek (19-0)
5. Alburnett (11-3)
6. Mason City Newman (10-3)
7. Don Bosco (10-1)
8. Kingsley-Pierson (10-0)
9. Easton Valley (10-0)
10. HLV (Victor) (9-0)

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast with Jim Field.

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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Kevin Harvick took advantage of Denny Hamlin’s late crash and wound up winning his third Brickyard 400 title. The Cup points leader beat Matt Kenseth across the yard of brick by 0.743 seconds to win his fourth race of the season. Harvick won for the 53rd time to move within one of tying Lee Petty for 11th on NASCAR’s career list, and it gave Stewart-Haas Racing a sweep of the weekend following Chase Briscoe’s win Saturday in the Xfinity Series race.

UNDATED (AP) — Colleges might have to pay into the hundreds of thousands of dollars to have their football players and other athletes tested for coronavirus. Many athletic departments already are in financial binds because of declines in state funding and student fees stemming from the pandemic. Especially hard hit are the small-budget schools on the lower end of the Football Bowl Subdivision. Methods are being developed that would allow multiple athletes to be tested simultaneously. That would provide some cost savings. An individual coronavirus test now runs about $100.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich acknowledges he benefited from fortunate timing in his contract negotiations. The Brewers held a March 6 news conference to announce that the 2018 NL MVP had agreed to a nine-year, $215 million contract. Spring training was halted less than a week later because of the coronavirus pandemic. Yelich’s deal was finalized before the loss of revenue from Major League Baseball’s shortened season and labor unrest created at least some uncertainty about the game’s financial future. He says everybody is in a unique situation this season.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Yankees had their Sunday brightened by Masahiro Tanaka, who came to the ballpark and seemed well a day after being hit in the head by Giancarlo Stanton’s line drive. They’re hoping Yankee Stadium’s lights will do the same this week. The Yankees are planning to hold intrasquad night games Monday and Tuesday in the Bronx as they prepare for the July 23 start of a 60-game regular season condensed by the coronavirus pandemic. Tanaka is in concussion protocol after a CT scan came back negative. Manager Aaron Boone says it looks like the Japanese right-hander “dodged a bullet.”

UNDATED (AP) — The Oakland Athletics’ first full-squad workout was pushed back from Sunday following the July 4 holiday given the club hadn’t received results from position player intake testing done Friday, according to general manager David Forst. Manager Bob Melvin is eager to get everybody on the field together at the Coliseum while understanding he must be flexible during this fluid time.

UNDATED (AP) — Former Cy Young Award winner Félix Hernández has joined the list of major leaguers opting out of the 2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 34-year-old’s decision at least temporarily ends his bid to revive his career. The news comes amid growing unease in major league clubhouses with the season less than three weeks away. Stars Christian Yelich and Jose Altuve say they plan to play the 60-game season scheduled to start later this month. Reliever Sean Doolittle, who helped Washington win the World Series, plans to play but says that if he feels uncomfortable, he’ll opt out.

UNDATED (AP) — Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly says the NHL and NHL Players’ Association have agreed on protocols to resume the season but are still negotiating a collective bargaining agreement extension. The league’s board of governors and players’ executive committee and full membership must approve it for it to happen. If ratified, the agreement will end a pandemic-forced shutdown for 31 teams across North America that began in mid-March. Games would resume in late July or early August with 24 teams taking part in expanded playoffs, finishing with the Stanley Cup being awarded in October.