Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis Cardinals great Bob Gibson is fighting pancreatic cancer. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch said the 83-year-old Hall of Famer was diagnosed with the cancer several weeks ago and revealed the news Saturday to the other living Hall of Famers.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Tyler O’Neill drove in four runs, tying a career-high, and Dakota Hudson tossed six effective innings to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 4-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday. The Cardinals broke a three-game losing streak,. Eduardo Escobar homered for Arizona, which had a four-game streak snapped.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Hometown boy Bubba Starling delivered his first career hit and RBI for Kansas City, Brad Keller out-dueled Matthew Boyd and the Royals beat the Detroit Tigers 4-1. Keller allowed an RBI single to Harold Castro in the second but otherwise shut down Detroit, allowing four hits over eight innings. Boyd faced the minimum number of batters through four before things came undone. Ian Kennedy earned the save for Kansas City.

SILVIS, Illinois (AP) — Cameron Tringale and Andrew Landry shared the third-round lead in the John Deere Classic. Winless on the PGA Tour, Tringale shot a 6-under 65 to match Landy at 16-under 197 at TPC Deere Run. Landry had a 67. He won the Valero Texas Open last year for his lone tour title.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Gerso Fernandes played a role in all three goals and Sporting Kansas City beat the Vancouver Whitecaps 3-0. Fernandes scored in the 91st minute and set up an own goal that went off the foot of Whitecaps defender Ali Adnan in the first half. Fernandes assisted on Felipe Gutierrez’s goal in the 56th minute.

The baseball postseason gets into full swing on Saturday for Class 1A and 2A schools with District Quarterfinal games set to be played. Here is a look at area match-ups. Games are listed by bracket position order.

CLASS 1A

District 13

Griswold @ Martensdale St. Marys 7:00pm
Murray vs. Lenox (@Martensdale) 5:00pm
East Union @ Lamoni 7:00pm
Southwest Valley vs. Bedford (@ Lamoni) 5:00pm

District 14

Essex/South Page @ St. Albert 7:00pm
Fremont-Mills @ AHSTW 7:00pm
Sidney vs. Logan-Magnolia (@ St. Albert) 5:00pm
Stanton vs. East Mills (@ AHSTW) 5:00pm

District 15

Orient-Macksburg @ Southeast Warren (@ Milo) 7:00pm
Nodaway Valley vs. Ankeny Christian Academy (@ Milo) 5:00pm
Exira-EHK @ CAM 7:00pm
Audubon vs. Earlham (@ CAM) 5:00pm

District 16

Glidden-Ralston @ Coon Rapids-Bayard 7:00pm
Ar-We-Va vs. IKM-Manning (@ Coon Rapids) 5:00pm
Woodbine vs. Woodbine (@ Onawa) 5:00pm
West Harrison @ West Monona (@ Onawa) 7:00pm

CLASS 2A

District 14

Mount Ayr vs. West Central Valley (@ Panora) 5:00pm
ACGC @ Panorama (Panora) 7:00pm

District 15

Red Oak vs. Tri-Center (@ Underwood) 5:00pm
Shenandoah @ Underwood 7:00pm

District 16

OABCIG vs. Missouri Valley (@ Alta-Aurelia) 5:00pm
Cherokee, Washington @ Alta/Aurelia 7:00pm

Class 4A and 5A Regional Softball Semifinals will be contested today around the state. Here is a look at the area schedule.

CLASS 4A

Region 2

Gilbert @ Carlisle 7:00pm
Harlan @ Boone 7:00pm

Region 4

Glenwood @ Dallas Center-Grimes 7:00pm
Winterset @ Ballard 7:00pm

Region 8

Denison-Schleswig @ Sergeant Bluff-Luton 7:00pm
LeMars @ Bishop Heelan (@ Briar Cliff University) 5:00pm

CLASS 5A

Region 1

CB Abraham Lincoln @ Waukee 7:00pm
Urbandale @ Sioux City North 7:00pm

Carroll 12 , Greene County 2 (Final 5 innings)
Harlan 10 , LeMars 2
Urbandale 7 , Lewis Central 2

Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jake Lamb and Ketel Marte homered, Robbie Ray allowed just two hits over 6 1/3 innings, and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2. Ray struck out eight and walked two as the Diamondbacks won their fourth straight. He won back-to-back road starts for the first time since May 3-8 and improved to 9-0 when starting on six-plus days of rest dating back to 2015.Ray also improved to 2-1 with a 1.41 ERA in four career starts at Busch Stadium.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Adam Wainwright was scratched his schedule start against Arizona due to back spasms. Daniel Ponce de Leon replaced the 37-year-old right-hander. A three-time All-Star, Wainwright is 5-7 with a 4.31 ERA in 16 starts this season. The Cardinals did not put him on the injured list, and manager Mike Shildt said he could make his next start as early as Sunday.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Martin Maldonado and Jorge Soler hit late homers and Whit Merrifield scored on a wild pitch as the Kansas City Royals beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5. Bubba Starling was hitless in his long-awaited major league debut for Kansas City, and the Royals lost starter Danny Duffy to a bruised pitching hand.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Bubba Starling has finally reached his goal of getting to the major leagues with the Kansas City Royals. The three-sport star from nearby Gardner, Kansas, was taken by the Royals in the first round of the 2011 draft. While many people in his hometown expected him to be patrolling the outfield and hitting home runs for the big-league club very quickly, it took 7 1/2 seasons in the minor league system before he was called up and inserted in the starting lineup against the Detroit Tigers.

SILVIS, Ill. (AP) — Jhonattan Vegas shot a 9-under 62 in the John Deere Classic to take a one-stroke lead into the weekend. Vegas, the three-time PGA tour winner from Venezuela, had a 13-under 129 total at TPC Deere Run. Andrew Landry was second after his second 65.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis Blues acquired forward Dakota Joshua from the Toronto Maple Leafs for future considerations. The Blues signed the 23-year-old former Ohio State player to a two-year entry-level contract.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Former Hawkeye standout Jake Yacinich has been named the volunteer assistant coach with the University of Iowa baseball program, head coach Rick Heller announced Friday.  Yacinich played for the Hawkeyes from 2012-14.
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“We are all excited to have Jake back in Iowa City wearing a Hawkeye uniform again,” said Heller. “I knew when his professional career was over that Jake would be a great coach if that’s what he chose to do. With his excellent communication skills and positive energy, Jake will do an outstanding job working with our players.”

Yacinich returns to the program after serving one season as the volunteer assistant at Xavier University, where he helped the Muskateers to 27 victories.  Yacinich worked with Xavier’s infielders and the team finished fourth nationally in team fielding percentage (.982).

Prior to joining the coaching ranks, Yacinich spent five seasons in the Los Angeles Angels organization where he reached the Triple-A level in 2017.   He was a .254 career hitter in professional baseball with 11 home runs, 10 triples, and 31 doubles, while driving in 94 in 258 games.

Yacinich was a first-team All-Big Ten and first-team All-Mideast Region shortstop as a Hawkeye in 2014 during Heller’s first season.  He hit .365 as a junior, ranking second in the Big Ten in batting average and steals (25).  Yacinich ranked in the top seven in the Big Ten in seven categories before being selected in eighth round of the 2014 MLB First-Year Player Draft by the Angels with the 239th pick.

Yacinich completed his bachelor’s degree in health and human physiology from the University of Iowa in 2018.

w/ Chris Parks

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Regional Softball Semifinals are set to be contested in Class 1A, 2A, and 3A tonight. Here is a look at the area schedule.

CLASS 1A

Region 2

Exira-EHK @ Newell-Fonda 7:00pm
Ar-We-Va vs. Ridge View (@ West Monona) 5:30pm

Region 3

Murray @ Collins-Maxwell 7:00pm
Grand View Christian @ Lenox 7:00pm

Class 2A

Region 2

Pella Christian @ Ogden 7:00pm
Earlham @ Van Meter 7:00pm

Region 3

AHSTW @ West Monona 7:30pm
Underwood @ Mount Ayr 7:00pm

CLASS 3A

Region 7

Sioux Center @ Treynor 7:00pm
Southeast Valley vs. Kuemper Catholic (@ Atlantic) 7:00pm

Region 8

Clarke @ Albia 7:00pm
Shenandoah @ North Polk 7:00pm

Class 1A District Pigtail Games

District 14

Essex-South Page 10 , Riverside, Oakland 0

District 11

Collins-Maxwell 5 , Dunkerton 3 (8 Innings)

Regular Season Scores

Ballard 11 , Carroll 3
Sioux City, North 6 , Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln 5
Sioux City, West 5 , Lewis Central 4 (9 innings)
St. Albert 11 , Harlan 6