Sports
Could
minor
league
teams get
a boost?
Thursday, March 10, 2022
Beavers
climb in
multiple
polls
Oregon State
moves to No. 4 in
Collegiate Baseball
Top 30 poll
By KRISTIAN FODEN-VENCIL
Oregon Public Broadcasting
SALEM — While Major
League Baseball has can-
celed opening day and the
fi rst two regular-season
series over contract negotia-
tions, the minor leagues are
moving full-steam ahead.
The Eugene Emeralds
won the High-A West Coast
championship last year.
Assistant general manager
Matt Dompe said their 30
players are not in the MLB
union, so they’ll be starting
the season as usual in April.
He’s hoping the lockout
could give them a boost.
“We’re the only game in
town and without the option
to watch their big-league
games, there might be fans
from diff erent cities all over
the country,” he said. “We
might be the only thing
going on in April, it looks
like right now.”
The Emeralds are affi li-
ated with the San Francisco
Giants, who just opened a
multi-million-dollar training
facility in Arizona. Dompe
said he’s not happy about
the lockout, but his players
are now training in luxury.
The Hillsboro Hops,
who are affi liated with the
Arizona Diamondbacks,
are also hoping the lockout
might help.
Hops general manager
K.L. Wombacher said after
two years wrestling with
COVID-19, he’s especially
excited the mask mandate
will drop just before the
season starts,
“The timing is perfect
for us, starting in April,” he
said. “The news gets better
by the day, so we’re excited
for our fi rst normal season
in a while.”
Their full 132-game
season starts April 8 with a
home game against the Tri-
City Dust Devils. It’ll be the
fi rst time the minor leagues
in Oregon have played that
early in over a decade. The
league used to have a short
season that started in June.
A9
Ronald Osterloh/Contributed Photo, File
Imbler’s Garrett Burns celebrates his third
individual state championship, following
a 7-2 decision over Crane’s John Otley in
the fi nals of the 126-pound weight class
at the OSAA Class 2A/1A State Wrestling
Championship on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022.
HISTORY
ON THE MATS
Imbler wrestler Garrett Burns
makes history with third
consecutive state championship
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group, File
Imbler’s Garrett Burns, bottom, wrestles Hermiston’s Jaysen Rodriguez at
the Muilenburg tournament hosted at La Grande High School on Saturday,
Dec. 10, 2021. Burns won that match and in February achieved his third
consecutive individual state championship.
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
I
MBLER — Achieving an
individual state title is an
accomplishment that lives
forever in the history of
high school athletics.
In the case of Imbler wrestler Gar-
rett Burns, three straight individual
championships secured the local ath-
lete’s place near the top ranks of those
to ever wrestle in Oregon.
“I was just so glad and happy when
I got that three,” Burns said. “It was
just a rush of adrenaline. The whole
time I was just hoping and working. It
was all I wanted.”
Burns defeated Crane’s John
Otley in the 126-pound weight class
at the OSAA 2A/1A State Cham-
pionships last month, marking his
third consecutive individual title.
Burns joined La Grande’s Braden
Carson as the only two wrestlers
to ever win three individual state
championships in Union County.
See, Burns/Page A10
By JOE FREEMAN
The Oregonian
CORVALLIS — The
Oregon State Beavers suf-
fered their fi rst loss of the
season over the weekend,
but they didn’t lose any
momentum in the college
baseball national rankings.
The Beavers on Monday,
March 7, continued to surge
up college baseball ballots,
moving as high as No. 4 in
one poll while cementing
their status as one of the
best teams in the country
in all six major national
rankings.
Oregon State (9-1)
moved up to No. 6 in the
USA Today Coaches Poll
and the National Collegiate
Baseball Writers Asso-
ciation Top 30, No. 7 in
the D1Baseball.com Top
25, No. 8 in the Baseball
America Top 25 and No. 9
in the Perfect Game Top 25.
But the highest ranking
came from the Collegiate
Baseball Top 30 — col-
lege baseball’s oldest poll
that dates to 1959 — which
slotted the Beavers at No.
4. That was one spot higher
than Pac-12 Conference
rival Stanford, which is
ranked ahead of the Bea-
vers in every other poll,
including as high as No. 2
in Baseball America.
The Beavers con-
tinued their national rise
by earning a series victory
over UC Irvine, winning
two of three games from the
Anteaters at Goss Stadium.
After opening the season
with a nine-game winning
streak, the Beavers suff ered
their fi rst loss on March 6,
falling 3-2 in 10 innings
when Jacob Melton’s poten-
tial walk-off blast was
See, Rankings/Page A10
SPORTS SHORT
Baker City steer wrestler Jesse Brown wins $100,000 at rodeo
Baker City Herald
ARLINGTON, Texas — Baker City
steer wrestler Jesse Brown had the big-
gest payday of his professional career
on Sunday, March 6.
Brown won the steer wrestling event
at The American, a rodeo in Arlington,
Texas, earning a $100,000 check.
The American is a unique competi-
tion with a total payout of $3 million,
including $100,000 for the winners in
several events.
Brown, a 2011 Baker High School
graduate, has competed in the past
two National Finals Rodeo events. He
entered that biggest rodeo event as the
world’s second-ranked steer wrestler in
December 2021, and fi nished sixth for
the season with winnings of $165,061.
Brown, who competes for Resistol,
a maker of cowboy hats, brought
down his steer in 3.76 seconds at The
American.
“It’s the most money I’ve won
at one time,” Brown said in a press
release from Resistol. “It’s The Amer-
ican, in front of all those people in this
stadium ... it’s awesome. It’s Dallas
Cowboys stadium, it’s Jerry’s World.
It’s pretty electric, especially that
four-man (round). That four-man was
diff erent than maybe any steer I’ve
ever ran.”
The competition began with 10 con-
testants in each event, and the top
four times and scores advanced to
the championship round. In the sud-
den-death format, the top time and
score earned the $100,000 payday.
Rod Connor/PRCA/Contributed Photo, File
Jesse Brown of Baker City takes down his steer in 3.9 seconds in Round 9 of the National Finals Rodeo on
Friday, Dec. 10, 2021, in Las Vegas. Brown tied for fi rst in the round with three other steer wrestlers.
Find up-to-date scores and additional game coverage
for your local high school, available 24/7 at
www.lagrandeobserver.com.