Sports
No. 23 Kansas looking to find form vs. Oklahoma State
Feb 15, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Kansas Jayhawks head coach Bill Self calls a play against the Utah Utes during the first half at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Creveling-Imagn Images No. 23 Kansas is in jeopardy of seeing its 80-week streak of being ranked in the Associated Press poll come to an end after back-to-back road losses to Utah and BYU.
The Jayhawks will get a chance to right the ship Saturday afternoon against Oklahoma State in Lawrence, Kan.
Kansas (17-9, 8-7 Big 12) alternated losses and wins in its previous seven games entering the Utah game last Saturday. But with a chance to end that trend with a victory over the Utes, the Jayhawks followed that with a decisive 91-57 setback at BYU on Tuesday.
The situation is getting rough for Kansas coach Bill Self. And that was evident in his post-game press conference after the loss in Provo, Utah.
“We need to regroup, get away from each other,” he said. “A lot of times teams need to have something happen to pull everybody together that is ‘us against the outside.’ We’re going to have an opportunity to do that for sure.
“A lot of teams go through that. We just haven’t been through that much at all in a long time. All we have is each other, and we’re going to have to be strong for each other and be good teammates and good leaders. We need to look in the mirror — all of us — and say, ‘What can we do to change the momentum?'”
These are uncharted waters for Kansas under Self. The combined 20 losses the last two years are the most in any two-year period in Self’s 22 seasons at the helm. And there are still five games remaining in the regular season, including hosting No. 9 Texas Tech and No. 19 Arizona sandwiched around a trip to No. 5 Houston.
“I thought BYU could beat anybody tonight,” Self said. “They were great. And then we didn’t do anything to make them less than great. A lot of times with teams there needs to be something (to) happen to pull everybody together that is us against the outside. And we’re going to have an opportunity to do that for sure. We haven’t been through it much at all in a long time.”
The Jayhawks need to get things turned around against Self’s alma mater on Friday.
Oklahoma State (13-13, 5-10) has lost seven straight games to Kansas and has not won in Lawrence since 2018. The Cowboys are coming off a 104-95 victory over UCF on Wednesday night in Stillwater, Okla.
Bryce Thompson had a career-high 25 points for Oklahoma State, which posted its biggest point total of the season.
A lot of the credit for the high number of points goes to forcing UCF turnovers. The Cowboys outscored the Knights 20-0 in the first half in points off turnovers. The Cowboys had 82 possessions in the game, a high number even for the pace coach Steve Lutz prefers.
“(That’s) a lot of possessions,” Lutz said after the game. “I have a hard time thinking we can manage 82 possessions night-in and night-out, especially if we are going to play defense the way I would like our program to play defense.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Hunter Brown in control, Astros down White Sox for 5th straight
Jul 25, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Houston Astros pitcher Hunter Brown (58) throws the ball against the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images Hunter Brown allowed two hits over seven shutout innings and Isaac Paredes drove in three runs to lead the Houston Astros to a 4-1 win over the host Chicago White Sox on Saturday night.
Jeremy Pena was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and Paredes 2-for 4 for the Astros, who have won five straight, including the first two of the three-game weekend series.
The White Sox, who managed five hits, have lost three of their last four.
They threatened in the eighth with runners on second and third and two out, but reliever Bennett Sousa replaced Bryan Abreu and got pinch hitter Randall Grichuk on a pop up to first.
After Colson Montgomery’s RBI single in the ninth, Josh Hader came in to get the last two outs for his 12th save.
Brown (2-1) finished strong, setting down 12 consecutive batters from the fourth through seventh innings. The right-hander did not walk a batter and struck out seven as he fired 60 strikes in 90 pitches.
Chicago starter Sean Burke (7-5) surrendered three runs (two earned) on four hits in six innings with a walk and 10 strikeouts.
It was a 0-0 pitcher’s duel through five with Burke also retiring 12 in a row, from the second through the fifth, but heading for trouble.
The streak was broken when Burke hit Cam Smith leading off the sixth. Pena’s single and a walk to Yordan Alvarez loaded the bases. Paredes then grounded a single to right that got past right fielder Braden Montgomery for an error that also allowed Alvarez to score, for a 3-0 Houston lead, and Paredes to reach third.
Burke then limited the damage by getting Jose Altuve on a groundout and striking out LaMonte Wade Jr. and Christian Walker.
Paredes added an RBI single in the eighth to make it 4-0.
White Sox left fielder Sam Antonnaci robbed Paredes, who was leading off the fourth, of a likely home run with a leaping catch of Paredes’ long drive by pulling the ball in just above the fence.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Robert Gasser holds Rockies in check as Brewers win
Jul 25, 2026; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Robert Gasser (54) delivers a pitch against the Colorado Rockies in the fourth inning at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Michael McLoone-Imagn Images Cooper Pratt homered and drove in three runs, Robert Gasser tossed six solid innings, and the host Milwaukee Brewers beat the Colorado Rockies 8-5 on Saturday night.
Luis Lara had two hits and also drove in three runs, Jake Bauers contributed two hits and scored three times and Brice Turang added two hits for Milwaukee.
The Brewers have won four of five games from Colorado this season, with the teams wrapping up the 2026 schedule Sunday.
Gasser (3-4), in his first career start against the Rockies, allowed two runs on five hits, struck out four and didn’t walk a batter.
Jake McCarthy extended his on-base streak to 19 games with a single and Kyle Karros had two hits for Colorado.
The Brewers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Bauers led off with a walk, stole second and went to third on a groundout. Lara drove him in with a sacrifice fly and Pratt hit a solo home run, his second of the season.
Colorado rallied to tie it in the fourth.
Karros led off with a single, Cole Carrigg doubled and Hunter Goodman followed with a two-run single.
Milwaukee went back in front in the bottom of the inning when Pratt drove in Bauers with a single, and then broke it open in the sixth inning.
William Contreras and Bauers started the rally with singles, chasing starter Ryan Feltner (3-5), who allowed five runs on nine hits in five-plus innings. Juan Mejia walked Garrett Mitchell to load the bases and Lara drove in two with a double to left.
Pratt’s sacrifice fly made it 6-2 and Rockies catcher Braxton Fulford’s throwing error on a pickoff attempt at third allowed Lara to come home. The Brewers tacked on a run in the eighth on Christian Yelich’s sacrifice fly.
But Colorado mounted a rally in the ninth. The Rockies loaded the bases on two walks and a fielder’s choice, and McCarthy drove in two with a single. Trevor Megill gave up an RBI single to Karros before striking out Carrigg to earn his 17th save.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Nathan Eovaldi leads Rangers to another win over Mariners
Jul 25, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi (17) delivers a pitch to the Seattle Mariners during the first inning at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Jim Cowsert-Imagn Images Nathan Eovaldi pitched seven strong innings as the Texas Rangers defeated the visiting Seattle Mariners 7-1 Saturday night in Arlington, Texas. to increase their lead over the defending American League West champions to 2 1/2 games.
The top three batters in Texas’ order — Joc Pederson, Wyatt Langford and Ezequiel Duran — went a combined 8-for-13 with three doubles, a triple, three RBIs and four runs. The Rangers have won the first two games of the four-game series.
Eovaldi allowed one run on three hits — a one-out single by J.P. Crawford in the third then a two-out single by Luke Raley followed by a double to right by Crawford to score Seattle’s lone run in the fifth. The veteran right-hander walked one and struck out eight.
The Rangers scored three runs in the first inning and two more in the second against Seattle’s Bryan Woo (7-7), whose road woes continued.
In the first, Langford lined a one-out double to right field and Duran followed with a liner that eluded a diving center fielder Raley and rolled all the way to the wall for a run-scoring triple. Following a walk to Brandon Nimmo, Evan Carter doubled down the left field line to score Duran. Nicky Lopez’s groundout to short scored the third run.
Woo retired the first two batters in the second on a total of three pitchers before Pederson grounded a single to right and stole second. Langford hit a run-scoring double to left and Duran lined an RBI single to center to make it 5-0.
Woo gave up five runs on nine hits over five innings, with two walks and five strikeouts. The right-hander dropped to 1-7 in away games this season with a 6.52 ERA.
The Rangers added two runs in the seventh. Carter drew a two-out walk off Cole Wilcox, who was replaced by Nick Davila. Carter advanced to second on a balk and Lopez walked. Alejandro Osuna doubled to center, scoring both runners.
–Field Level Media
Alan Roden provides only runs in Twins' low-scoring defeat of A's
Hunter Brown in control, Astros down White Sox for 5th straight
