Emeralds
continued from page 5
it all the way through and caught
it. Cooper did score on the sacri
fice fly to cut the lead to one, but
Peter Graham ended the rally, and
game, when he struck out.
Sheaffer, though, said he would
take that scenario any day.
“I’d like to have the tying run on
base every night in the ninth in
ning,” Sheaffer said. “We’d come
out on top.”
Perhaps the biggest positive out
of Monday’s loss was the pitching
of Frangil Cordero. The left hander
struck out three and walked one in
his five innings of work. Only one
of the three runs he gave up was
earned — a Kevin Covington blast
in the second inning that was
ruled a home run, but protested by
Sheaffer who believed it to have
bounced off the wall and over.
“It clearly hit the front fence and
I think the umpires should just let
the kids play and not make ques
tionable calls,” Sheaffer said. “But
Cordero did a tremendous job and
kept us in the game. ”
The Emeralds locker room was
full of solemn faces afterward, but
even in a losing effort the players
were acknowledged by the fans.
As the players were leaving the
stadium they were stopped by
adoring children and signed plen
ty of autographs.
A child was heard telling a play
er, “Last night you guys were awe
some and tomorrow you will be,
too. Tonight was just a bummer.”
Indeed the 5-4 loss did nothing
to diminish the jubilant feeling of
Sunday night’s 9-3 win in front of
a near sellout crowd of 5,991.
In the game, the Ems batted
around and got terrific pitching
from Wilton Chavez, who only
gave up one run, three hits and
recorded six strikeouts in six in
nings of solid work.
Chavez was named Northwest
League Pitcher of the Week as his
record stands at 2-0 and ERA at a
blistering 0.00. He shut down the
Spokane Indians in the season
opener on June 20.
“It makes my job easy as a man
ager when I got pitching like that,”
Sheaffer said. “He pitches on emo
tion and is fun to watch.”
In Sunday’s win Michael Mallo
ry, Sing, Kweon and Felker each
had two hits for the Ems. Sing and
Mallory had the most crowd
pleasing hits of the night as both
drove pitches over the left-field
fence.
“It felt nice to hear the crowd
cheer like that after my hit,” said
Mallory after Sunday’s win. “They
get behind the team real well here
and that picks us up.”
Azle Malinao-Alvarez Emerald
The Ems were unified on Sunday during its 9-3 home-opening win. Eugene knocked around 13 hits, including two home runs.
Felker, who has made some im
pressive defensive plays at first in
the last couple of nights, also was
singing the crowd’s praise.
“Oh, it’s great,” said Felker who
went 2-for-5 with a double and
single on Sunday. “This is a very
knowledgeable crowd and they
make for a great atmosphere for
Single-A baseball.”
Ems second basemen Blake
Blasi came down to earth a bit on
Monday night after getting off to a
sizzling start in the club’s first six
games. Blasi noted last year’s dis
appointing year for the Ems and
seems eager to turn things around
for the people of Eugene.
“I heard we didn’t have that
good a year last year and you’re
never sure how the crowd is going
to react to that,” said Blasi, who
before Monday’s game was batting
a league-leading .520. “So you
want to come out and play hard
and keep them all coming out and
watching.”
The Ems seem refreshed to fi
nally be home after playing the
first five games on the road — a pe
riod in which they went 2-3
against the Spokane Indians.
“It was good for us to get on the
road and play some games togeth
er,” Felker said.
“But it’s even better to have a
place to call our own and settle
into a-nice routine.”
In the course of the 76 game sea
son, Emerald players and fans
hope that routine turns out to be a
winning routine.
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Classic men
continued from page 5
much weight on that one competi
tion. People’s careers are made and
broken there.”
Which is why the Pre Classic
was so important to these athletes
so they could compete under the
national spotlight and against
competition worthy of the
Olympics themselves.
One man who seems more than
ready for the Games to begin is
sprinter Maurice Greene. Greene
pushed the pace in the men’s 200
meters, and won in a scintillating
time of 19.93. The time would
have given him the meet record,
established by Johnson, but the
wind reading of 2.1 was just barely
over the allowable limit to be
counted for record purposes.
Nonetheless, Greene was satis
fied and eager for the next step up
the Olympic ladder.
“I’m fairly pleased with the
200,” Greene said. “I wish I would
have run faster, but with the wind
conditions and this being my first
200 race of the season, I’m very
happy.”
Greene was quick to make a pre
diction about possibly winning
both the 100 and 200 meter dashes
at the Olympics in Sydney, Aus
tralia.
“I will double in Sydney,”
Greene said.
Greene’s win on Saturday was a
little anticlimactic for some be
cause it wasn’t against Johnson.
But the two are on track for a head
to-head showdown at the Trials,
and it should be a duel that lives
up to the hype.
Johnson, however, claims that
Greene never enters his mind.
“At this point in my career I
don’t really focus on my competi
tion,” said Johnson, who plans to
defend his 200 and 400 meter gold
medals that he won at the ‘96
Games. “All I can control is how
fast I run, so that’s all I need to fo
cus on.”
While most of the focus was de
servedly on the track for the better
part of the day, the hammer throw
attracted a huge audience with its
early 11:15 a.m. start time. Lance
Deal, the Eugene resident who was
a silver medalist in the ‘96
Olympics, performed for the last
Azle Malinao-Alvarez Emerald
Stsl
time in front of his hometown fans.
“This is sort of the beginning of
the end,” said the 38-year old Deal,
who plans to retire after competing
in Sydney in September.
Deal picked a great way to begin
his swan song as a hammer throw
er. With adoring fans cheering on
his every move, Deal unleashed six
throws that clearly pleased the
crowd. He clinched the win on his
last throw when he twirled around
and heaved the hammer 262 feet,
11 inches — more than 11 feet
ahead of second-place finisher
Stuart Rendell of Australia.
“I almost teared up on that last
throw,” Deal said. “I really wanted
to give something to the people
who stuck around to watch me.”
Fellow American Kevin McMa
hon was disappointed in his
fourth-place finish, but pleased for
Deal.
“It’s tough when you know how
far you can throw and it just does
n’t get out there,” McMahon said.
“So it’s frustrating. But I’m happy
for Lance. This is a great home
town farewell. It’s ideal — get the
pun?”
Other winners on the afternoon
included Khadevis Robinson, who
thrilled the onlookers with his 800
meter winning time of 1:45.90, and
Coby Miller, who captured the 100
meters with a clocking of 10.00.
Miller’s time established a new
meet record, breaking the old
record time of 10.08, set by none
other than Carl Lewis.
Nick Hysong captured the pole
vault with a leap of 18-10 1/4, and
C. J. Hunter — husband of Marion
Jones — took the shot put competi
tion with a distance of70-13/4,de
spite fouling on four of his six at
tempts.
Luke Kipkosgel edged out two
fellow Kenyans to take the men’s
5,000 meters (13:21.59), but it was
the men’s mile that stole the show.
The Bowerman Mile, named af
ter legendary Oregon coach Bill
Bowerman, again was a fan fa
vorite. Kenyan William Chirchir
(3:51.84) led eight runners who
broke the hallowed four-minute
barrier. Prep runner Donald Sage
(4:00.29) just barely missed be
coming the first prep athlete to
break the mark in 33 years.
“It was pretty overwhelming,”
Sage said. “But I think that helped
me.”
Just as Saturday’s Pre Classic
helped some of the world’s best get
ready to take on the rest of the
world later this year. .
“It’s an Olympic year,” Johnson
said. “That says it all.”
The countdown to gold has be
gun, and Eugene was lucky
enough to be a part of the journey.