Arizona baseball had won five of its last seven games, which included three road wins, entering Friday evening’s matchup with Kansas State.
Arizona
JD Vance, in Day 2 of Arizona swing, set to talk about border security at Phoenix stop
U.S. Sen. JD Vance will spend another day campaigning in Arizona on Thursday with an event planned for the Arizona Biltmore in central Phoenix.
Vance, R-Ohio, is set to deliver afternoon remarks at the time-honored resort where over the years every president from Herbert Hoover to George W. Bush has stayed.
Vance, tapped in July as the running mate of former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, is expected to focus on immigration and border security, as he did Wednesday at a rally at Generation Church in east Mesa.
A written statement from the Trump-Vance campaign announcing the Biltmore stop focused on border-related issues such as drug trafficking that it blamed on the policies of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee. The campaign again used the term “border czar” for Harris even though that was never an official title for her role in immigration policy during President Joe Biden’s administration.
“With immigration ranking among the top concerns for voters, it is time to secure the border and protect Arizonans from the dire consequences of Border Czar Harris’ failed policies,” the campaign said in the written statement. “President Donald J. Trump and Senator JD Vance are the only candidates willing to put Americans first, and Arizonans will send a clear message when they elect them in November.”
In an appearance Tuesday on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a Harris ally, defended her record and condemned Trump for torpedoing a bipartisan border-security bill that had been negotiated in the Senate. Trump didn’t want to give Biden an election-year legislative victory.
“I mean, when you look at what she stands for, the bipartisan border security bill that we negotiated with Republicans in the United States Senate, we could have gotten that passed and across the finish line if it wasn’t for Donald Trump,” Kelly said. “So Kamala Harris has stood for border security. She wants to get something done on this issue.”
Kelly noted that the right-leaning Border Patrol union was backing the bipartisan legislation.
“They did, and the reason they did is it was going to be more Border Patrol pay, money to hire more Border Patrol agents, more money to buy fentanyl detection machines,” he said.
Arizona is a crucial battleground state in the 2024 presidential election. Four years ago, Biden narrowly carried the state over Trump and became the first Democrat to do so since President Bill Clinton won Arizona in 1996. Before Clinton, no Democrat had carried Arizona since President Harry Truman in 1948.
Vance is on his second swing through Arizona since becoming the Republican vice presidential nominee. He previously headlined a rally in Glendale and visited the U.S.-Mexico border in Cochise County.
On that trip, Vance said Trump would finish building his signature border wall that began construction during his first administration, reimplement the Remain in Mexico policy and expand deportations.
“If people can come into this country and they know they’re never going to be deported, you effectively have an open border. That’s what Kamala Harris promised. That’s what Kamala Harris did, and Donald Trump and I promise to do exactly the opposite,” Vance said during his Aug. 1 border stop.
Here’s what the candidates say: Immigration is a top election issue in the Trump vs. Harris race
Dan Nowicki is The Arizona Republic’s national politics editor. Follow him on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, @dannowicki.
Stephanie Murray is a Republic national political reporter. Follow her on X @stephanie_murr.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: JD Vance in Phoenix: Trump running mate to speak at Arizona Biltmore
In these four-round projections, the Arizona Cardinals don’t get a tackle until the fourth round.
We are just days away from the 2026 NFL draft, and that means some final mock drafts. What direction will the draft take the Arizona Cardinals?
Draft Wire’s Curt Popejoy put together a four-round mock draft for the Cardinals. They go defense early but rebuild the offense for 2026 and moving forward, including landing their potential franchise quarterback.
Cardinals 4-round mock draft
Here are the players in the first four rounds Popejoy projects for Arizona.
- Round 1: Ohio State EDGE/LB Arvell Reese
- Round 2: Alabama QB Ty Simpson
- Round 3: Clemson WR Antonio Williams
- Round 4: Florida OT Austin Barber
What we think of the picks
The Cardinals want to trade out of the third pick and draft a tackle, so not getting a tackle until Round 4 seems unlikely, although they did meet with Barber. They do have options at right tackle for 2026 already on the roster.
Reese would be a great pick if they don’t trade back, as they badly need pass-rushing help off the edge.
Drafting Simpson seems inevitable at this point, so it has to be in a mock draft, although the feeling is they will need to go up into Round 1 again to get him.
Williams has speed and is almost six feet tall, but he does have short arms.
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
Due to significant injuries to the CB position last year which includes a shoulder surgery for Terrion Arnold, the Lions CB position scored a 6/10 need on my Lions Defensive Draft Need Rankings. Thus, an early-round selection of a young, healthy prospect like Keith Abney would not come as a surprise. He enters the draft with very low medical concern level.
Here is the excerpt from my medical report on Keith Abney:
(Ages in parentheses are at start of 2026 season and are factored into the concern level. Injury info and ages based on available public information are unverified and subject to update. Games played data courtesy of sports-reference.com.)
Keith Abney, CB (21) – Arizona State
Projected round 2-3. #43 on Jeff Risdon board Feb 19.
Concern level 0/10
There is an isolated report of a hand injury but no corroborating information. Even if the hand injury is true, that’s of minimal to no long-term concern.
His availability in his final two seasons has been perfect. Overall, Abney appears to be medically clean and is at an excellent age.
He finished college with 6 INT and 21 PBU.
For more Lions coverage, follow us on X, @TheLionsWire, and give our Facebook page a like. Follow Jimmy on X, @JimmyLiaoMD
In the first game of the series, Arizona (14-23, 5-11 Big 12) battled in a low-scoring affair but fell short in a 2-1 loss to Kansas State (24-12, 8-8 Big 12). The Wildcats from Tucson held the Wildcats from Manhattan at bay for a good majority of the night.
Given that Kansas State leads the Big 12 in conference play in batting, on-base percentage, and slugging, Arizona had a rather good performance, but it was not enough.
Owen Kramkowski pitched seven scoreless innings before allowing the first Kansas State run in the top of the eight. He finished with six strikeouts and kept the high octane Wildcats at bay.
“I thought the defense played well behind him too,” said head coach Chip Hale. “There’s a lot of ground balls, and we made plays where we were positioned in good places, and he was pitching in the eighth inning. That’s unbelievable.”
Garrett Hicks (3-1) came in to try and stop the bleeding for the Wildcats and did so by not allowing Kansas State to take the lead in the eighth. It was in the ninth when the lead was surrendered.
It took until the sixth inning but the first run was scored by Arizona. Andrew Cain singled to left field and after Maddox Mihalakis flew out, it was Beau Sylvester bringing Cain home with a triple through right center field.
Sylvester extended his hitting streak to eight games and it proved to be not enough to get Arizona to the finish line.
Kansas State tied the game at the top of the eight when back to back singles got runners on at first and third. Then a passed ball allowed the third base runner to come home.
Arizona had a chance to retake the lead in the bottom of the ninth after Cain singled to deep right field. With Sylvester back at the plate, it seemed like it was a perfect set up.
A wild pitch nearly got past Kansas State and Cain tried to take advantage of it and steal home. However, Kansas State was able to corral the pitch and get Cain out at home.
AJ Evasco started the ninth inning with a double for Kansas State and back to back fly outs eventually got him home to give Kansas State the lead and the win.
With eight players being left on base, Arizona will need to bring those runners in more often than not if they want to tie the series Saturday afternoon.
As a young team, the Wildcats have had to walk a very tight line between disappointment and dejection and will need to continue handling these losses with grace if it wants to turn a corner.
“It’s the way it goes, it’s baseball,” said Hale. “If we don’t handle it, we will come out tomorrow and won’t be ready to go, so hopefully they handle it.”
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