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

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee center fielder Lorenzo Cain soared above the wall to rob Jose Martinez of a tying home run for the final out, lifting Christian Yelich and the Brewers over the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 in an opener. With at least one Cardinals player in the bullpen already raising his arms to celebrate, Cain pulled back the pinch-hit drive by Martinez in right-center. A fired-up Cain flung the ball high into the air as the Brewers poured onto the field to celebrate.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Brad Keller pitched two-hit ball over seven shutout innings, Adalberto Mondesi tripled twice and the Kansas Royals held off the Chicago White Sox 5-3 after the start of their season opener was delayed nearly two hours by rain. Eloy Jimenez went 0 for 3 with an RBI in his major league debut for Chicago after signing a $43 million, six-year contract _ a record high for a player under club control yet to appear in a big league game.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State and women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly have agreed to a three-year contract extension through 2025. Fennelly who finished his 24th season at Iowa State with an upset to loss at home to Missouri State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The 61-year-old Fennelly had been signed through 2022. Financial terms were not disclosed.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri-Kansas City hired Northwestern assistant Billy Donlon to take over its men’s basketball program, which has never qualified for the NCAA Tournament at the Division I level. Donlon spent six years as head coach at Wright State, going 109-94 while leading the program to three 20-win seasons and three Horizon League title games. He also spent time working under John Beilein at Michigan and as an assistant at his alma mater North Carolina-Wilmington.

The Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball team will play for a national championship on Saturday. The Bearcats defeated the Saint Anselm Hawks 76-53 in the Final Four on Thursday night in Evansville, Indiana.

For the second straight game the Bearcats held just a two point edge at halftime, this time at 31-29. The second half was obviously a much different story this time with Northwest using a 14-5 run to start the second half, and racing away to a comfortable victory.

Trevor Hudgins led the way again for Northwest with 27 points, 4 assists, and 6 steals. Ryan Hawkins had another big game with a monster double-double of 14 points and 14 rebounds.

The Bearcats will now try to cap an undefeated season with a National Championship on Saturday afternoon at 2:00pm at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. Northwest Missouri State will face Point Loma in the title game on Saturday. Point Loma defeated Southern Indiana 81-71 in the other semifinal. The championship game on Saturday will be televised on CBS.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee center fielder Lorenzo Cain soared above the wall to rob Jose Martinez of a tying home run for the final out, lifting Christian Yelich and the Brewers over the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 in an opener Thursday.

With at least one Cardinals player in the bullpen already raising his arms to celebrate, Cain pulled back the pinch-hit drive by Martinez in right-center. A fired-up Cain flung the ball high into the air as the Brewers poured onto the field to celebrate.

Yelich got right back to work after winning the NL MVP award last season, putting Milwaukee ahead to stay with a three-run homer off Miles Mikolas in the third. The Miller Park crowd of 45,304 roared as Yelich glided around the bases.

Mike Moustakas and pitcher Jhoulys Chacin also connected for the Brewers in a performance that looked a lot like their run to the NL Championship Series last October. Josh Hader retired the first two batters before Cain’s play finished off the save.

Kolten Wong homered twice for St. Louis and Harrison Bader also connected. The Cardinals blew a 3-0 lead in their fifth consecutive loss against the Brewers, including a three-game sweep last September that helped propel Milwaukee to the NL Central title.

Paul Goldschmidt went 0 for 3 with three strikeouts and a walk in his first regular-season game for St. Louis since he was acquired in an offseason trade with Arizona. The All-Star slugger had a short conversation with plate umpire Gary Cederstrom after he looked at a called third strike in each of his first two at-bats.

Chacin (1-0) struck out seven in 5 1/3 innings in his third opening-day start. He also helped himself with two hits, singling and scoring on Yelich’s drive before hitting a 2-2 pitch from Mikolas into Milwaukee’s bullpen in left-center for his second career homer in the fifth.

Mikolas (0-1), a surprise star last season when he went 18-4 in his first year with the Cardinals, allowed five runs and five hits in five innings.

Wong’s second homer made it 5-4 in the seventh, but Milwaukee’s depleted bullpen held on. Hader struck out four in two perfect innings, fanning Goldschmidt, Paul DeJong and Marcell Ozuna in the eighth.

Hader was a key figure for the Brewers last year, and he became even more important when key relievers Jeremy Jeffress and Corey Knebel opened this season on the injured list. Jeffress is coming back from a sore right shoulder, but Knebel could be headed for season-ending elbow surgery.

The Cardinals got off to a fast start, scoring the first three runs on consecutive first-pitch homers by Wong and Bader in the second. Wong connected after Dexter Fowler reached on a two-out walk, and Bader hit a deep drive to left.

The Brewers got one back when Moustakas went deep with two out in the bottom half of the inning. Moustakas also did just fine in his first game at second base after beginning his career as a third baseman.

UP NEXT
Young right-handers Jack Flaherty and Freddy Peralta get the ball when the series resumes Friday night. St. Louis is counting on the 23-year-old Flaherty to help anchor the rotation after he went 8-9 with a 3.34 ERA in 28 starts last year. Peralta, who turns 23 in June, won a spot in Milwaukee’s rotation during spring training. He went 6-4 with a 4.25 ERA in 16 appearances last season during his first year in the majors, including 14 starts.

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly will reach a milestone season next fall when he begins his 25th season on the sidelines in Ames.

And, after agreeing to a three-year contract extension Thursday, the dean of Big 12 coaches, will continue his tenure at Iowa State beyond the anniversary campaign. Fennelly’s contract extension runs through June 30, 2025.

“I love this place,” Fennelly said in his post-game comments Monday. “I love everything about it. I love coming to work. I love telling people I coach and work at Iowa State.”

The appreciation for Fennelly is equally strong.

“Bill built a program from scratch and, more impressively, maintained major success for more than two decades,” Athletics Director Jamie Pollard said. “There’s a loyalty factor and a commitment (to Iowa State) factor with Bill that isn’t very typical today. He has been fully invested in the ‘Iowa State Way’ for a long time and our fan base has reaped the benefits.”

As Fennelly prepares for his silver anniversary season in Ames, he will join a list of peers with at least 25 years working at one school that includes the likes of Geno Auriemma (34 years at UConn), Doug Bruno (33, DePaul), Sylvia Hatchell (33, North Carolina), Tara VanDerveer (33, Stanford) and Muffet McGraw (32, Notre Dame).

Fennelly is also climbing the list of longest-tenured coaches in Iowa State history, which includes Jack McGuire (men’s swimming, 34 years), Cap Timm (baseball, 33), Harold Nichols (wrestling, 32), Dale Anderson (men’s golf, 30), Hugo Otopalik (wrestling, 28) and Bill Bergan (men’s cross country, 25).

Fennelly won his 500th game at Iowa State last season and has a 24-year record of 505-262 (.658) with the Cyclones. His career mark over 31 years is 671-315 (.618). His career win total is 14th nationally among active coaches.

“Both (Iowa State President) Dr. Wendy Wintersteen and I wanted to extend our support to Bill in light of the fact that my tenure with the NCAA Men’s Basketball Committee begins this fall,” Pollard said. “I will miss some Cyclone games with my committee work, so we wanted to re-state and extend our support for Bill’s leadership of this program.”

Fennelly’s 2018-19 team was 26-9, finished second in both the Big 12 regular-season standings and the Big 12 Tournament and hosted two games in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship. It was Fennelly’s 20th season with at least 20 victories, making him one of only 13 active coaches with that distinction. He is one of 13 finalists for the 2019 U.S. Marine Corps / WBCA National Coach of the Year award.

St. Louis Cardinals (88-74, third in the NL Central in 2018) vs. Milwaukee Brewers (96-67, first in the NL Central in 2018)

Milwaukee; Thursday, 1:10 p.m. CDT Pregame begins at 12:15pm on KJAN

PITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Miles Mikolas (0-0, 0.00 ERA) Brewers: Jhoulys Chacín (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

BOTTOM LINE: St. Louis visits Milwaukee on opening day.

The Brewers went 51-30 at home in 2018. Milwaukee averaged 8.6 hits with 3.0 extra base hits per game last year.

The Cardinals finished 41-35 against NL Central Division opponents in 2018. St. Louis averaged 8.5 hits with 2.9 extra base hits per game and 248 total doubles last year. The Brewers won the season series 11-8 in 2018.

Brewers Injuries: Jeremy Jeffress: day-to-day (shoulder).

Cardinals Injuries: None listed.

TODAY’S MEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

NCAA Sweet 16

WEST
at Honda Center

Florida St. vs Gonzaga 6:09 p.m.
Texas Tech vs Michigan 8:39 p.m.

SOUTH
at KFC Yum! Center

Purdue vs Tennessee 6:29 p.m.
Oregon vs Virginia 8:59 p.m.

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

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

UNDATED (AP) — Christian Yelich and the Milwaukee Brewers host Paul Goldschmidt and the St. Louis Cardinals on opening day. Miles Mikolas pitches for St. Louis and Jhoulys Chacin gets the ball for Milwaukee in a matchup of NL Central teams with postseason aspirations. Goldschmidt is making his Cardinals debut after he was acquired in an offseason trade with Arizona. (Listen for the game today beginning at 12:15-p.m. on KJAN)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The consensus among prognosticators is that the Chicago White Sox or Kansas City Royals will finish in the bottom of the AL Central, and whichever team avoids the cellar won’t fare a whole lot better. Well, one of them will start the season with a win. The White Sox visit the Royals for opening day Thursday.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa reached the Sweet Sixteen in large part because of the spectacular play of Megan Gustafson. If the Hawkeyes want to go further, they’ll need Gustafson’s teammates to give her some help.

The Northwest Missouri State Bearcats are on to the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Final Four after an Elite Eight win over Mercyhurst 55-51 on Wednesday afternoon.

Most of the game was a defensive battle with Northwest leading by just 2 at halftime 24-22. The Bearcats were able to build a small lead early in the second half and held the Lakers off at the end of the game. Mercyhurst cut the lead to 3 with under a minute to play but Atlantic native Ryan Hawkins grabbed a key rebound off a three point miss from the Lakers and the Bearcats made their free throws to hold serve.

Hawkins finished with 13 points and 7 rebounds. Trevor Hudgins lead the Bearcats with 20 points, 3 boards, and 3 assists. Northwest improves to 36-0 on the season and advances to the Final Four Thursday.

Mercyhurst was led by 17 points and 6 rebounds from Jason Massey. The Lakers end their season at 26-8.

The Bearcats will face St. Anselm in the Final Four on Thursday. Saint Anselm (25-5) beat Nova Southeastern on Wednesday 91-81 to advance. All games are being played at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.

Other scores from Elite Eight action had No 7. seed Southern Indiana knocking off No. 2 seed West Texas A&M 94-84. The nightcap saw No. 6 Point Loma defeat Queens (NC) 87-74.

The Final Four schedule on Thursday will have Northwest Missouri State facing Saint Anselm at 6:00pm CT followed by Point Loma taking on Southern Indiana at 8:30pm. Both games will be televised on CBS Sports Network.

Northwest Missouri State begins their run at the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Elite Eight this afternoon. The Bearcats (35-0) take on Mercyhurst (26-7) at 2:30pm in Evansville, Indiana.

Atlantic alum Ryan Hawkins has been a key member of the Bearcats success this season and was named MIAA Defensive Player of the Year. Hawkins led the way in the Bearcats Regional Final win over Missouri Southern State with 28 points and 9 rebounds.

Northwest Missouri State is three games away from becoming just the fifth undefeated national champion in the history of Division II men’s hoops.

The other Elite Eight games on the schedule today include:

No. 4 Nova Southeastern vs. No. 5 St. Anselm at 12:00pm
No. 1 Northwest Missouri State vs. No. 8 Mercyhurst 2:30pm
No. 2 West Texas A&M vs. No. 7 Southern Indiana 6:00pm
No. 3 Queens (NC) vs. No. 6. Point Loma 8:30pm

All the games today will be streamed through ncaa.com