Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press
UNDATED (AP) — Iowa State’s Breece Hall leads the Big 12 and is third in the nation in rushing through two games. His first real test comes when No. 18 Oklahoma visits Ames, Iowa, on Saturday night. Hall ran for 154 yards and matched his career high with three touchdowns in a 37-34 win at TCU. That followed a 103-yard, one-touchdown outing in the season-opening loss to Louisiana-Lafayette. Oklahoma has allowed just 120 yards rushing and 2.4 yards per carry in its first two games to rank first in the Big 12 and fourth in the nation.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The San Diego Padres are bringing some serious swagger and talent to their first postseason appearance in 14 years, against their old nemesis, the St. Louis Cardinals. Led by 21-year-old Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Wil Myers, the Padres will host the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of a wild-card series on Wednesday. Says Tatis: “Man, we’re good.” St. Louis will start left-hander Kwang Hyun Kim (3-0, 1.62 ERA), who pitched at Petco Park for Korea in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. San Diego will counter with right-hander Chris Paddack (4-5, 4.73), who has had a seesaw season.
UNDATED (AP) — It took one week for the Big 12 to bring just a little more strangeness to the year 2020. Five-time defending conference champion Oklahoma opened league play with a shocking home loss to Kansas State, perhaps opening the door for another program to finally to step in and claim the title. Iowa State can put Oklahoma’s season on the ropes Saturday when the Cyclones host the Sooners. Iowa State beat the Sooners in 2017 and lost to them by a point in 2019.
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Patrick Maroon has joined elite company by winning the Stanley Cup in consecutive seasons with different teams. Maroon is the only member of the champion Tampa Bay Lightning to win it last year with the St. Louis Blues. He’s the eighth player to do it in NHL history and first since Claude Lemieux in the 1990s to get his name on the Cup in consecutive years. Corey Stillman went back to back in 2004 and 2006 after the lockout prevented the trophy from being awarded in 2005. Maroon is one of several additions to the Lightning that helped them finally win it all.