SPORTS BRIEFS
Six Emeralds selected to
Northwest All-Star game
Six Eugene Emeralds were chosen
by a league-wide committee to par
ticipate in the first ever Northwest
League All-Star Game on Aug. 3.
The game, which will be played in
Spokane's Avista Stadium, com
memorates the 50th anniversary for
the Class A short-season league.
The six Emeralds selected were
catcher Colt Morton, infielder Lach
lan Dale, center fielder Matt Thayer
and pitchers Vern Sterry, Mike Ek
strom and Brian Burks.
"This is a great opportunity for
the Northwest League to showcase
the excellent talent that has always
been present in this league," North
west League President Bob Rich
mond said. "We are excited to have
this game in Spokane because of
their tremendous fan support and
excellent facility."
Spokane leads the league in atten
dance with an average of 4,353 peo
ple per game in 21 games for a total
of 91,428 so far this season. Eugene
is second in attendance, averaging
3,300 per game.
"We are extremely excited about
the opportunity to host the North
west League 50th Anniversary All
Star Game," Spokane Indians Presi
dent Andrew Billig said. "This is a
great honor for our franchise and
for the Inland Northwest. It is also
appropriate that Spokane should
host this event, since Spokane was
one of the original Northwest
League cities when the league was
founded in 1955."
The All-Star Game will also fea
ture a Home Run Derby, in which
the winner will receive a $500
grand prize.
Through Sunday, Eugene has two
hitters leading the league in home
runs. Morton leads the league with 13
home runs and Dale is second with 11.
Thayer is 11th among the
league's top batting averages at .301
through Sunday.
Sterry is sixth among the league's
starting pitchers in ERA at 3.40 in
eight games. Ekstrom, a Gresham
native, is 3-0 with a 2.96 ERA this
season. Burks is the team leader in
saves with four and is 1-2 with a
2.65 ERA.
Preseason poll picks Oregon
football to finish third
Oregon is slated to finish third in
the Pacific-10 Conference, according
to the league's annual football pre
season media poll.
USC was selected to win next
year's Pac-10 Conference Champi
onship with a total of 240 points
and claimed all 24 first place votes.
The California Golden Bears were
second with 210 points and Oregon
took third with 192.
Ill is past season, USC captured its
10th national championship after
the Trojans went 12-1 and won their
last nine games. This is the second
year in a row that the Trojans were
picked in the media poll to win the
conference title.
Oregon finished third in the
2003-04 season with an overall
record of 8-5.
The Pac-10 media have correctly
selected the past four Pac-10 cham
pions, including Oregon in 2001.
They have also correctly picked
five of the past six champions. In
1999, the media members wrongly
predicted Arizona to win the confer
ence title; Stanford won the Pac-10
crown that year after being predict
ed eighth.
The media poll picked Oregon
State fourth (138 votes), then Wash
ington State (133 votes), Arizona
State (131 votes), Washington (100
votes), UCLA (98 votes), Stanford
(40 votes) and Arizona (38 votes).
In the ESPN/USA Today Coaches
Preseason Top 25 Poll released Sat
urday, Oregon slipped in at No. 25.
— Alex Tam
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Eugene pitcher Danny De la 0 has struggled to find consistency conning out of the bullpen and as a starting pitcher. De La 0 is 2-3 with a
6.51 ERA in 37.1 innings pitched through Sunday. He has struck out 26 batters and walked 17 this season.
EMS
continued from page 5
provided an offensive spark with five
hits, including two home runs in the
victory. Kazmar also scored four runs
and had three RBIs.
However, Kazmar said the last cou
ple of weeks have been frustrating with
his team's inconsistency on offense.
"It's all about timely hitting," Kaz
mar said. "If you go through all of the
box scores the past two weeks, we're
not out-hitting (our opponents).
We're matching them with hits. It's all
about timely hitting and we're not
coming through in the clutch."
Through Sunday, the Emeralds have
the league's worst batting average at .239
and are second to last in runs scored
with 219. However, Eugene is second in
the league in home runs with 43.
The inability to produce runs with
out relying on the home run has been
a problem thus far and has made for a
tough season, Kazmar said.
"It's definitely frustrating," said Kaz
mar, who is batting .284 with four
home mns and 20 RBIs. "I mean, we're
coming out here to win on a daily ba
sis. It's been a tough season and tough
schedule coming out here every day
and trying to give 100 percent. That's all
the coaches can ask for too."
Along with the problems on the
offensive side, defense and late-in
ning relief pitching has been a main
issue of concern.
This past Thursday's 7-5 loss to
Spokane was characteristic of how the
season has gone so far for the Emeralds.
After loading up the bases in the
first inning with just one out, Eugene
could produced only one run to take
a 1-0 lead.
In the fifth inning, the Emeralds
scored four runs to lead 5-3, including
a two-run home run by Matt Thayer
— his second of the season.
However, Eugene's bullpen could
not sustain the lead after starting pitch
er Vem Sterry left after going five strong
innings and giving up three runs.
Five Eugene relief pitchers later com
bined to give up four runs to surrender
the lead for good in the eighth inning.
The Emeralds had a chance to tie
the score in the bottom of the ninth
inning with runners on first and
third base with one out. But two
strikeouts by Jose Lobaton and Colt
Morton ended the game.
Eugene also had five errors in the
contest, while three of seven runs giv
en up were unearned.
"We had guys on base, but we did
n't drive those runs in," Morton said
after the game. "We had a lot of errors.
It's unfortunate, but it was a tough
game. Hopefully we can turn it
around and come out stronger."
Through the first 45 games of the
season, Morton said his team is still try
ing to figure out how to sustain consis
tency on offense; defense and pitching.
"We need clutch hitting and clutch
pitching," said Morton, who has 13
home runs this season. "We got to
come out and make things happen. If
we do that, we can start winning
more ball games."
Eugene continues action on Thurs
day when they travel to Everett to face
the first-place Aqua Sox at 7:05 p.m.
The Emeralds have an off day today
and tomorrow because of the 50th
Anniversary Northwest League All
Star Game in Spokane today.
NOTES
Eugene received pitcher Clayton
Hamilton from Peoria of the Arizona
League and outfielder Ernesto Garay
from Fort Wayne of the Midwest
League on Thursday. ... Outfielder
Ruben Mora and pitcher Matthew
Varner were promoted from Eugene to
Fort Wayne.... The Emeralds also sent
pitcher Henry Colbert to Peoria.... Eu
gene has a record of 0-22 when trailing
after seven innings.... When leading af
ter seven innings, Eugene has a record
of 12-3. ...The Emeralds were 11-19 in
the month of July, going 6-11 at home
and 5-8 on the road.
alextam@dailyemerald.com
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continued from page 5
someone, maybe permanently,
worth all of the squabbling to prove
that one athlete is more "manly"
than the other?
No.
The solution to this problem is ba
sically this: Just go out and prove it on
the field, on the court, on the track or
whichever sports venue that you are
competing in.
The very best athletes are made
and remembered by their perform
ances on the court or on the field —
not off it.
Sunday's skirmish at the Junior
Olympics was a disgrace and took the
much-deserved attention away from
the more than 5,600 junior track and
field athletes, who ranged from eight
to 18 years of age, and worked ex
tremely hard to reach this level.
Nearly 15 minutes after the brawl,
the Junior Olympics continued on
with the midget Girls 4x400 meter
relay final. At that moment, specta
tors cheered loudly to watch what
they had paid for — a track meet,
not a fight.
The incident that occurred just
minutes earlier should not have
happened at the forefront of one
of the nation's biggest track and
field stages.
But, unfortunately, it did.
aiextam@dailyemerald.com