Metro Sports Report

Buxton, Kernels wow Twins fans on TV

Byron Buxton sent a greeting card to all the Minnesota Twins fans who were watching the Cedar Rapids Kernels on Fox Sports North Monday afternoon.

So did 6-foot-3 lefty Mason Melotakis.

Buxton went 3-for-4, socked a three-run double and made a sensational diving catch as the Kernels topped Kane County, 6-2, before 3,559 fans at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Melotakis (6-2, 3.24 ERA) tossed seven shutout innings to give the Kernels' over-worked bullpen a good rest coming down the stretch in the first half of the regular season.

Local players in pro baseball

SCOTT SCHEBLER (Prairie, Rancho Cucamonga (Dodgers)) - Did not play Monday in the Quakes' 9-5 loss at Lake Elsinore. Season stats: G - 51, Avg. - .254, AB - 185, H - 47, HR - 6, RBI - 24, SB - 6.

KELLEN SWEENEY (Jefferson, Lansing (Blue Jays)) - Did not play Monday in the Lugnuts' 1-0 loss to West Michigan. Season stats: G - 50, Avg. - .193, AB - 166, H - 32, HR - 3, RBI - 14, SB - 0.

RYAN SWEENEY (Xavier, Chicago Cubs) - Pinch hit Monday and was 0-for-1 in the Cubs' 6-2 loss to the Reds. Season stats: G - 26, Avg. - .327, AB - 52, H - 17, HR - 1, RBI - 5, SB - 0.

IGHSAU, IHSAA merger in future?

Iowa is the only state in the country that has separate high school sports organizations for boys and girls.

Mark Schneider, the superintendent of the Mid-Prairie school district in Wellman, thinks it may be time to merge the two bodies together.

The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) and Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) have their own buildings, their own staffs, their own executive director and sometimes their own ways of doing business.

Schneider thinks there could be ways to coordinate the efforts to save money, work more efficiently and be more consistent in how things are done.

Kernels make migrant Twins fans happy

After tallying just one run in each of their past two games, the Cedar Rapids Kernels found their offense Sunday in topping the visiting Kane County Cougars, 8-4, before 1,677 fans at Veterans Memorial Stadium in a Midwest League ballgame.

That crowd brought the total attendance for the three-day weekend to 10,929 with another game against Kane County on tap for Monday at 12:05 p.m.

A sizable contingent of Twins fans have been making the trip south from across Minnesota to watch the future Twins in Cedar Rapids. Their presence was evident this weekend.