Sports
A7
Tuesday, July 27, 2021
Th e Observer
Kings of the hill
Dominant pitching
staff leads
La Grande Legends
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The La
Grande Legacy Ford Legends
have themselves a staff full of
aces this summer.
The Legends are holding
opponents to just over three runs
per game and have compiled an
impressive 19-4 regular season
record heading into state compe-
tition, which starts next month.
“They throw fastballs for
strikes, off -speed for strikes, and
no one relies on one pitch,” La
Grande Legacy Ford Legends
head coach Parker McKinley
said. “They’re able to throw
strikes in tough counts. They do
a good job.”
Three rising juniors at La
Grande High School have car-
ried the largest workload on the
mound for the Legends this year.
Jace Schow has compiled a 2-1
record and struck out 19 batters
over 20.1 innings. Sam Tsiatsos
totaled a 2-1 record throughout
the regular season and struck
out 18 batters over 19.2 innings.
Logan Williams has taken
advantage of a major increase
in innings compared to his high
school season, compiling a 3-0
record and 28 strikeouts over
19.2 innings.
“I’m pretty comfortable
pitching around these guys,”
Schow said. “I feel like we’re
only going to get more comfort-
able as we get older.”
According to Schow, most
of the team has been playing
together since they were 8 years
old.
“We’ve come a long way
since we were little and have
really progressed and gotten
older and stronger,” Tsiatsos
said.
At the La Grande American
Legion wood bat tournament on
Friday, July 23, Schow pitched a
fi ve-inning shutout in a 10-0 vic-
tory over Hodgen Distributing.
He allowed only one hit and
struck out four opposing bat-
ters in a composed outing on the
mound.
Not to be outdone, Tsiatsos
earned a win on Saturday, July
24, against Baker in which he
struck out nine batters over fi ve
innings. He was dominant on the
mound, allowing only one run
on three hits as the Legends won
11-1.
The duo highlighted two of
the top individual performances
during the tournament to con-
clude La Grande Legacy Ford’s
regular season. The Legends
went 4-0 during the tournament
at Optimist Field at Pioneer Park
in La Grande.
“We pitched really well and
gave up only three runs on
the weekend,” McKinley said.
“We were throwing strikes and
playing defense, the pitching and
defense was huge.”
Williams has been domi-
nant all summer for La Grande,
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
The La Grande Legends get ready for the fourth inning against Baker City during the La Grande American Legion Tournament
at Optimist Field on Friday, July 23, 2021.
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Above left, Logan Williams (2) throws one of the fi nal pitches of the game against Baker City during the La Grande American
Legion Tournament held at Optimist Field on Friday, July 23, 2021. Above right, Riley Miller (28) throws a pitch against Baker
City during the tournament on Friday.
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Head Coach Parker McKinley looks on as a player from the La Grande Legends bats against Baker City during the La Grande
American Legion Tournament held at Optimist Field in Pioneer Park on Friday, July 23, 2021.
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Sam Tsiatsos (14) juggles baseballs in
the dugout during the La Grande Ameri-
can Legion Tournament held at Optimist
Field on Friday, July 23, 2021.
fi nishing the regular season
with a 1.83 ERA. In his soph-
omore high school season with
La Grande, he pitched only 10.1
innings and started one game.
This season with the Legends,
Williams has developed into a
go-to ace on the mound.
“Our guys are able to throw
diff erent pitches and diff erent
counts and not just rely on
having to try and get a fast ball
across all the time,” McKinley
said. “They’re keeping hitters off
balance and it pays off .”
The trio of pitchers are joined
by upperclassmen Nick Born-
stedt, Devin Bell and Riley
Miller as regular starters for La
Grande Legacy Ford.
Miller, a 2021 4A all-state
fi rst team pitcher, is committed
to play collegiate baseball next
fall at Clark College in Van-
couver, Washington. He is 3-0
with a 4.20 ERA this summer
with the Legends and has struck
out 23 batters over 15 innings.
Bornstedt is 2-0 with a 7.00
ERA over four starts and Bell
is 3-0 with a 5.06 ERA through
three starts.
“We’ve got a lot of guys
that can be on the mound and
we have confi dence in them,”
McKinley said. “I like where
we’re at as a team and there’s a
lot of trust between the guys.”
Looking forward, the Leg-
ends will have a brief pause
before traveling to the Oregon
Legion state tournament at
North Marion High School in
Aurora from Wednesday, Aug.
4, to Sunday, Aug. 8. La Grande
will look to lean on its domi-
nant pitching staff to lead the
team against the state’s top
competition.
“The mindset is to not
slack off and stay together as a
family,” Schow said. “We’re all
really close, on and off the fi eld,
so we’re pretty comfortable with
each other.”
SPORTS SHORT
Oregon State athletics reports
three NCAA Level III violations
By NICK DASCHEL
The Oregonian
Amanda Loman/The Associated Press, File
Oregon State pitcher Kevin Abel fi elds a ball during an NCAA baseball game
against California on Friday, April 16, 2021, in Corvallis.
CORVALLIS — Oregon State
committed three NCAA Level
III violations during the 2020-21
school year, a signifi cant drop
from recent years.
Level III infractions are
considered minor, are usually
self-reported and minimally
penalized.
Oregon State’s Level III
infractions came in baseball,
women’s track and fi eld, and
wrestling.
In 2019-20, Oregon State had
nine Level III infractions, 14 the
previous year and an average of
about 15 per year dating back to
2014-15.
The baseball violation actu-
ally occurred in May of 2020,
when an assistant coach gave
an impermissible endorse-
ment of a recruiting ser-
vice. Action came during the
summer of 2020, with the base-
ball coaching staff instructed to
undergo mandatory education
for recruiting and scouting ser-
vice regulations.
Oregon State did not reveal
the sport for the other two viola-
tions in a public records request
by The Oregonian/OregonLive,
though one was committed by
women’s track and fi eld, the
other wrestling.