The NCAA certified three new bowls to push the total number of postseason games in major college football to new high of 42.

Debuting this season will be the Cure Bowl in Orlando, Florida, and as yet unnamed games in Tucson, Arizona, and Austin, Texas.

A game in Little Rock, Arkansas, was also up for certification, but Wright Waters, executive director of the Football Bowl Association, said organizers recently asked to be considered for the 2016-17 season.

ESPN first reported the new bowls had been certified.

The Austin and Orlando games will match teams from the American Athletic Conference and Sun Belt Conference. The Tucson game will feature the Mountain West and Conference USA.

The new bowls mean 82 of 128 FBS teams will play in the postseason next season.

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Eric Hosmer hit a three-run homer, Jason Vargas shut down the Indians for the second straight start, and the Kansas City Royals went on to beat Cleveland 5-3 on Tuesday night.

Hosmer also had an RBI triple in the eighth inning, and Alex Gordon drove in another run for the Royals, who bounced back nicely after losing two straight to Detroit over the weekend.

Vargas (3-1) only allowed two hits, one a two-run shot by Michael Brantley, over six stingy innings. He struck out five while walking two and was rarely in trouble.

Ryan Madson pitched a perfect seventh for Kansas City, but Kelvin Herrera served up a homer to Lonnie Chisenhall in the eighth, ending his streak of 105 1-3 innings without allowing one.

Herrera still handed over a lead to Wade Davis, who cruised through the ninth for his sixth save.

 

DENVER (AP) — The Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies were postponed by rain for a second straight night.

A regular doubleheader was set for Wednesday — weather permitting, of course. Rain is in the forecast all week.

It was the third straight home game washed away by soggy conditions for the Rockies.  Colorado had its game against San Francisco postponed on April 26 before a road swing.

The last time Colorado was rained out in three straight had been April 2005, according to information provided by the team from the Elias Sports Bureau.

Right-hander Josh Collmenter (2-3) will still start for the Diamondbacks. Colorado will stick with left-hander Tyler Matzek (2-0), who has not pitched since leaving his start last week with a cramp in his left hamstring.

The action was as fast as the wind was blowing during the opening night of the 2015 season at Dawson County Raceway in Lexington, Nebraska on Sunday evening.

Veteran wheelmen Mike Densberger, Josh Leonard, Chad Dolan, Mike Nichols and Kyle Bond all got their season started off on the right foot with trips to the winners circle on Sunday.

Leading from the drop of the green flag until the checkered flag flew, Mike Densberger of Lincoln put on his own Magic Show to win the IMCA Modified Feature in fine fashion. Densberger started his night by winning his heat race before starting on the outside of row one in the feature, which was all that he needed to roll to the victory. Coming from deep in the grid, fellow heat race winner Cozad’s Colton Osborn charged to the top five in the early going. Osborn tried to make a move on Densberger near the midway point of the race. Osborn was forced to settle with runner-up honors. Charly Brown of Maxwell was high up on the wheel to earn the third place accolades in the Feature.

No stranger to winning in late models at Lexington, Josh Leonard of Gibbon represented the family quite well in the Grand National division on Sunday evening. Leonard started on the front row and he never looked back once he got fresh air. Finishing second overall was Leonard Racing teammate Brandon Leonard of Gibbon as he took many chances to snare the lead from Josh. Kevin Safranek was able to post a rally in the final laps to earn the podium finish in third place on the evening. Cale Osborn of Cozad along with Josh Leonard won the opening night heat races.

Driving with gumption, Gibbon hotshoe Chad Dolan wasted no time in getting to the front and running away with the victory in the IMCA Northern Sport Modified Feature. Dolan led every lap and had big leads that were extinguished by yellow flags that allowed runner-up finisher Josh Leonard of Gibbon to threaten Dolan on late re-starts until the race was finished early as a result of reaching their time limit. Jamey Kennicutt of Gothenburg was able to weather the storm and miss the accidents to finish third overall. Dolan was joined by Craig Howard of Lexington and Shelton’s Steve Kempt in winning heat races in the division earlier in the night.

The duel between Mike Nichols and Casey Woken has been epic throughout the early portion of the 2015 season as they have clashed on the oval throughout the Midwest. Nichols of Harlan, Iowa was able to garner the lead on the third circuit and score the IMCA Stock Car Feature victory. Casey Woken of Ogallala led the first lap and then never dropped back any further than second overall, pulling up to the back bumper of Nichols many times through the feature. Up on the wheel in a very good way, Gothenburg’s Jeff Whiting showcased great consistency throughout the feature to earn a podium finish in third place. Earning heat race wins in the division were Whiting, Casey Werkmeister of Maywood and Wallace’s Kyle Clough.

The action packed IMCA Hobby Stock feature was a battle of survival with many wrecks that also included some tight-knit competition that kept a fan on the edge of their seats throughout the 15 lap thriller. The Gibbon Gambler Kyle Bond snared the led on the seventh lap and he never looked back from that point on to claim the checkered flag and victory. Leading the way from the onset, Grand Island’s Caleb Hetrick was the leader for the initial three laps and he was able to stay inside the top three throughout to finish second overall. Coming from deep in the field, Jacob Olmstead of Overton was able to finish third while avoiding major incidents throughout the contest. Kyle Bond and Travis Kernick of Kearney were the heat race winners in the division.

Unofficial Results:

–IMCA Modified Feature: 1. 81-Mike Densberger; 2. 50c-Colton Osborn; 3. 4c-

Charley Brown; 4. 14-Matthew Kiner; 5. 50-Scott Smith; 6. 34jw-Cole Hodges; 7. 19-

Chuck Stryker; 8. 71-Vince Leibert; 9. XII-Jay Steffen.

–Grand National Late Model Feature: 1. 85-Josh Leonard; 2. 88-Brandon

Leonard; 3. 28-Kevin Safranek; 4. 6c-Cale Osborn; 5. 90-Steve Kempt; 6. 55-Jake

Neighbors; 7. 51-Les Siebert; 8. 11-Dillon Thompson; 9. 13t-Tyler Andreasen; 10. 83d-

Denton Duncan; 11. 22-Chris Avery.

–IMCA Northern Sport Modified Feature: 1. 87d-Chad Dolan; 2. 85-Josh

Leonard; 3. 15k-Jamey Kennicutt; 4. 20b-Brandon Clough; 5. 41g-Justin Gibbens; 6. 1x-

Denny Egge; 7. 33-Chad Young; 8. 2c-JR Ewing; 9. 1c-Cole Egge; 10. 15j-Herb Slough.

–IMCA Stock Car Feature: 1. 63-Mike Nichols; 2. 35jw-Casey Woken; 3. 16w-

Jeff Whiting; 4. 42w-Kyle Werkmeister; 5. 24w-Casey Werkmeister; 6. 45-Mikey

Dancer; 7. 72h-Jim Hagan; 8. 09h-Bob Hoing; 9. 3z-Zach Canas; 10. 31-Darin Racek.

–IMCA Hobby Stock Feature: 1. 0-Kyle Bond; 2. 44-Caleb Hetrick; 3. 88j-Jacob

Olmstead; 4. 22w-Brady Weinman; 5. 29-Jeromy Wagner; 6. 01-Jacob Wolsleben; 7. 2c-

Tyson Canas; 8. R89-Nate Refior; 9. 30pk-Ethan Kenney; 10. 5-Chuck Ledbetter.

Heat Race Winners: 1. 81-Densberger; 50c-Osborn.

Heat Race Winners: 85-Josh Leonard; 6c-Cale Osborn.

Heat Race Winners: 87d-Dolan; 68-Craig Howard; 190-Steve Kempt.

Heat Race Winners: 16w-Whiting; 24w-Werkmeister; 11k-Kyle Clough.

Heat Race Winners: 0-Bond, 2x-Travis Kernick.

Curtis, Neb. – Winning performances in barrel racing and goat tying helped the Lady Aggies of the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture win a team title at a weekend rodeo in Hastings.

The NCTA Aggies were led by Lexus Kelsch of McLaughlin, South Dakota in barrel racing and Ashten Marchant of New Castle, Wyo., in goat tying. Kelsch won first in the long round on Friday with a time of 17.89, and again in the short round Saturday night with a time of 17.56.  “Lexus’s winning short round time was .26 seconds faster than second place, which in barrel racing is a remarkable distance of time between first and second considering second and third place were a mere .06 seconds apart,” noted Bridger Chytka, NCTA animal science professor and rodeo coach.  Marchant had two identical runs of 8.2 seconds which earned her a three-way tie for first, second, and third place on Friday, and fourth on Saturday for third in the average. Her efforts combined with Kelsch and the rest of the Lady Aggies gave them their first team title this season.

For the men’s team, team ropers Cy Barnes of Sumner, Neb., and Cort Baker of Custer, South Dakota, placed fifth in the long round on Friday, and returned for short-go action Saturday.  “After some bad luck and running the wrong steer (than what the pair had drawn before the event) in the short round which they made an excellent run on, that time had to be scratched,” Chytka said. The duo had to come back to the arena and run the correct steer. They did not get a time in the short round so were out of the average placings.  Kelsch is leading the Great Plains Region of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association in barrel racing while Marchant is sitting third in goat tying in the region.  With one rodeo left next weekend in North Dakota, Kelsch is also second in the nation just 105 points short of the number one spot. Chykta said, “The Aggies are ready to compete Friday and Saturday at Dickinson State University.”

For the 17th year, the National Collegiate rodeo finals will be June 14-20 at Casper, Wyoming.