Blake Cripps

Three Hornet baseball players have earned All-Region honors from the American Baseball Coaches Association for 2026. Pitcher Colby Deaver and infielder Logan Myers were named to the first team while first baseman Noah Steele made the second team. Deaver has already been named the Central Region Pitcher of the Year by the D2CCA and picked up his second region pitcher of the year award from ABCA/Rawlings after being named the MIAA Pitcher of the Year in 2026 after going 11-2 with a 1.50 ERA. He compiled 106 strikeouts against just 12 walks and he didn’t suffer a defeat after March. Myers hit.408 for the Big Gold in 2026 with 21 doubles and a.548 OBP while spending the majority of the year in the leadoff spot for the Hornets. Steele hit.388 for the Hornets with 16 home runs and 67 RBIs and 46 walks and a.536 OBP.

Emporia State pitcher Colby Deaver has been named the NCAA Division II Pitcher of the Year by the D2CCA. He’s a First Team All-American for the Hornets while infielder Logan Myers was named a Third Team All-American. Deaver completed a historic year for the Hornets in his first season in the Black & Gold in 2026 after ranking in the top five in multiple categories including leading the country in ERA and WHIP while finishing second in strikeout to walk ratio with 8.5 K’s for every walk. Deaver finished 11-2 and posted ten quality starts this season. Deaver has already been honored as the Pitcher of the Year in the Central Region twice after being named the MIAA Pitcher of the Year. Myers was a Third Team All-American at third base for the Hornets after hitting.408 this season while flashing the leather to the tune of a 1.000 fielding percentage. Like Deaver, Myers was also a consensus First Team All-Region player.

10 Emporia State track & field athletes have earned All-American status from the USTFCCCA in 2026. Finishe...

Emporia State baseball players Colby Deaver and Logan Myers have picked up additional All-American honors from the American Baseball Coaches Association on Friday. Deaver, already the D2CCA and MIAA Pitcher of the Year, is now a two-time First Team All-American while Myers earned Second Team recognition. Deaver, who completed his first season at Emporia State in 2026, went 11-2 as a sophomore and was the national leader in WHIP and ERA while finishing third in walks allowed per nine innings at just 1.13 free passes per game. Myers earned All-American honors at second base and spent most of the season in the leadoff spot for the Black & Gold. Myers is in the top ten of several Hornet categories including sixth in career hits and doubles and fifth in career walks. Myers was also Third Team All-America by the D2CCA earlier this week. ABCA/Rawlings will release their Gold Gloves and national players of the year in June.

The 2026 State Track & Field Championships got underway at 7:45 a.m. Friday morning at Wichita State’s Cessna Stadium. KVOE will provide hourly reports on 1400 AM & 96.9 FM KVOE throughout the day starting in the 9:00 hour both mornings. This story will be updated with results throughout the day. All events will be listed in chronological order with the events starting earliest in the day at the top of the story. Scroll down to find events from later in the day. This story will also be updated with audio and pictures as we get them.

The 2026 State Track & Field Championships continued Saturday at Cessna Stadium on the campus of Wichita State University. KVOE will provide hourly reports on 1400 AM & 96.9 FM KVOE throughout the day starting in the 9:00 hour both mornings. This story will be updated with results throughout the day. All events will be listed in chronological order with the events starting earliest in the day at the top of the story. Scroll down to find events from later in the day. This story will also be updated with audio and pictures as we get them.

The Kansas Jayhawks baseball team knocked off Northeastern 6-3 in the first game of the Lawrence Regional on Friday at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence. With ‘The Backyard’ setup, the game set a new attendance record for Kansas as 3,571 fans watched the Jayhawks advance to play Arkansas Saturday afternoon at 5:00 p.m. Tyson LeBlanc cranked a three-run homer in the third inning to set a new single-season school record with 22 in the game. Dominic Voegele (6-3) picked up a quality start scattering seven hits and three runs through seven innings while Boede Rahe picked up a six-out save for his 10th save of the season.

The No. 1 seed Kansas baseball team used timely hitting to pick up a 5-3 victory over No. 2 seed Arkansas in a match up of 1-0 teams in the Lawrence regional. Down 3-1, Tyson LeBlanc, the KU single-season home run record holder launched a two-run shot to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth. Kansas loaded the bases thanks to shoddy Razorback pitching in the seventh and plated a run with a walk before Augusto Mungarrieta added an insurance run with a solo shot in the eighth. Boede Rahe picked up his second save of the regional to send the Jayhawks to Sunday. With a win their first game of the regional final, the Jayhawks will win the regional title. Kansas set a new attendance record for the second-straight game as 4,042 fans witnessed the Jayhawk victory.

The University of Kansas baseball team claimed its second ever Regional title with a 13-10 victory over No. 2 seed Arkansas at Hogland Ballpark on Sunday. Jayhawk slugger Tyson LeBlanc crushed a three-run homer in the fourth to put the ‘Hawks in front 6-5 after a six-run top of the fourth inning. Kansas added two in the fifth and three in the sixth to build the lead before holding on in the ninth. KU heads to its first Super Regional since its only College World Series appearance in 1993. Josh Dykhoff went 3-for-5 with three runs and three RBIs for the Jayhawks. Kansas will either return home to host Oklahoma in Supers or head to Atlanta to face No. 2 overall seed Georgia Tech. The Sooners beat the Yellow Jackets 15-8 on Sunday to force a winner-take-all ‘If Necessary’ game Monday.

Emporia State soccer coach Jane Grimley-Gunn has added Josue Rivas to her coaching staff as she begins her third season with the Lady Hornets. Rivas joins the Black & Gold after coaching at Sporting Nebraska where he coached multiple teams in their girls academy. He previously spent five years on the staff at Creighton and assisted at Omaha Westside High School. Rivas played in the El Salvador Youth Development League and played for Bellevue West High School. Emporia State went 9-6-5 in 2025 and will open the season Thursday, August 27 at Drury.