10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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SPORTS
IN BRIEF
Seaside’s Jackson Januik scores MVP honors
The Daily Astorian
Pitchless
intentional
walks could
start this week
Associated Press
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —
Pitchless intentional walks could
start in spring training games this
week.
Baseball commissioner Rob
Manfred said the change, which the
players’ association has said it will
agree to for 2017, is among the rule
changes that have been distributed
to teams. Planned modifications to
video review rules for this season
include a 30-second time limit for
managers to request a review, and
a two-minute limit for the review
umpire in New York to make a
decision — unless a supervisor in
the replay room gives permission
for the umpire to take longer.
Under the change to the inten-
tional walk rule, a team can sig-
nal for an intentional walk with-
out pitches being thrown. Manfred
said Major League Baseball staff
has been going over the changes
with teams, and the new intentional
walk rule probably will go into
effect this week.
“As soon as we’re done with the
clubs, we’ll start implementing the
pitchless intentional walk,” Man-
fred said Tuesday before the open-
ing game of the new spring training
ballpark of Houston and Wash-
ington. “We need to give them a
chance to at least look at the rules
before we move ahead and imple-
ment it on the field.”
Wanting to speed the pace of
play, management also discussed
raising the lower edge of the strike
zone from just beneath the kneecap
to its pre-1996 level the top of the
kneecap, the installation of pitch
clocks and limits on trips to the
pitcher’s mound.
Daily Astorian/File Photo
Seaside senior Jackson Januik
was named the Most Valuable
Player in the Cowapa League,
and is a leading candidate for
state Player of the Year.
Last year’s Cowapa League
co-Player of the Year received this
year’s award all to himself, as Seaside
senior Jackson Januik was selected as
the boys basketball MVP for the 2016-
17 season.
Januik — also a leading candi-
date for the 4A state Player of the
Year award — was one of five Seaside
players on the all-league team, as the
league co-champion Gulls had all five
starters on the all-league squad, as did
Valley Catholic.
Seaside’s Bill Westerholm and Val-
ley Catholic’s Joel Sobotka shared the
annual co-Coach of the Year honor.
Januik was joined on the first-team
by senior teammates Attikin Babb
and Hunter Thompson, and sopho-
more Chase Januik. Sophomore Pay-
ton Westerholm was selected honor-
able mention.
Astoria senior Olaf Englund was
named to the first team, and Fisher-
man senior Ryan Palek was honorable
mention.
Daily Astorian/File Photo
Seaside’s head coach Bill Wester-
holm disagrees with a call during
the 4A State Championship at
Liberty High School in 2016.
Mariners ace
Hernandez
focuses on
his fastball
Associated Press
Korbut’s gold
medal nets $66K
Associated Press
How much is a 1972 gold medal
won by Soviet gymnast Olga Kor-
but worth? According to a recent
auction, $66,000.
Korbut let go of five of her med-
als, including the gold she won in
team competition in 1972. Heritage
Auctions said in a release Tuesday
her 1976 gold was auctioned for
more than $57,000 last weekend.
Korbut, nicknamed “The Spar-
row from Minsk,” sprang onto
the Olympic scene by performing
acrobatics no one had seen before.
She won three golds and a silver as
a 17-year-old at the 1972 Munich
Games, and added a gold and sil-
ver at Montreal in 1976.
Korbut, who lives in Arizona,
says she sold her medals to share her
Olympic experiences, not because
she is in any sort of financial crisis.
SCOREBOARD
PREP SCHEDULE
THURSDAY
Girls Basketball — Washington 2B
State Tournament: TBA vs. Ilwaco (at
Spokane), 3:45 p.m.
FRIDAY
Boys Basketball — 4A State Playoff:
Cascade at Seaside, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY
Girls Basketball — 4A State Playoff:
Seaside at Molalla, 7 p.m.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Cowapa All-League
Player of the Year: Jackson Januik,
Seaside
Defensive Player of the Year: Daniel
Hardy, Valley Catholic
Coaches of the Year: Bill Westerholm,
Seaside; Joel Sobotka, Valley Catholic
First Team
Jackson Januik, Sr., Seaside
Attikin Babb, Sr., Seaside
Jacob Berge, Sr., Tillamook
Ian Collett, Jr., Tillamook
Olaf Englund, Sr., Astoria
Blake Gobel, So., Banks
Colin Haggerty, Sr., Valley C.
Daniel Hardy, Sr., Valley C.
Chase Januik, So., Seaside
Andrew Plambeck, Jr., Valley C.
Dalton Renne, Jr., Banks
Hunter Thompson, Sr., Seaside
Joey Wagenknecht, Jr., Scappoose
Honorable Mention
Chris Bendle, Jr., Scappoose
Joey Braun, Sr., Valley Catholic
Jake Evans, Sr., Banks
Jack Grasberger, Jr., Valley C.
Tanner Kramer, Sr., Scappoose
Ryan Palek, Sr., Astoria
Payton Westerholm, So., Seaside
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Astoria’s Olaf Englund takes a
shot during practice in November
at Astoria High School.
AP Photo/Carlos Osorio
Detroit Pistons guard Reggie Jackson, left, makes a layup defended by Portland Trail Blazers
center Jusuf Nurkic (27) during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Auburn Hills, Mich.
Morris, Pistons outlast
Portland 120-113 in OT
By NOAH TRISTER
Associated Press
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — The Detroit Pistons
rallied for another win after trailing by double digits.
“That’s not a good formula,” coach Stan Van
Gundy said. “I applaud our resilience. ... To be good,
I’d like to play a more solid game from beginning
to end.”
Marcus Morris scored a career-high 37 points,
including Detroit’s first seven in overtime, and the
Pistons rallied from a 13-point, third-quarter deficit
to beat the Portland Trail Blazers 120-113 on Tues-
day night.
Ish Smith had 12 points, seven assists and seven
steals for the Pistons, who pulled within one game of
seventh place in the Eastern Conference.
Damian Lillard had 34 points and 11 rebounds
for Portland while falling an assist shy of his first tri-
ple-double. He had only one assist after the start of
the fourth, however, and the Trail Blazers were even-
tually done in by turnovers.
“We’ve always been a team that takes care of the
ball, but that’s not happening right now,” Lillard said.
“We can’t give the ball away all the time and expect
to win games, especially on the road.”
Smith was scoreless heading into the fourth quar-
ter but gave Detroit a huge lift down the stretch. The
Pistons came back from an 18-point deficit to beat
UP NEXT: TRAIL BLAZERS
• Oklahoma City Thunder (35-25)
at Portland Trail Blazers (24-35)
• Thursday, 7:30 p.m. TV: TNT
Charlotte on Thursday, and they rallied from 16
down to win at Toronto on Feb. 12.
“We’re playing with a lot of fight,” Detroit’s
Andre Drummond said. “We’re not out of the
game, ever. When things get tough, we really come
together.”
C.J. McCollum scored 25 points for Portland.
The Pistons trailed 75-62 in the third before clos-
ing that quarter on a 13-4 run. It was Portland that
had to rally late in the fourth, and Lillard’s driving
layup with 2.8 seconds left tied it at 109 and forced
overtime.
Morris opened the scoring in overtime with a
15-footer, and after Portland tied it on a layup by
Maurice Harkless, Morris answered with a three-
point play and an 18-footer to make it 116-111.
“He’s a great one-on-one player, especially
because of his high release, and it is tough to double
him in that offense because they can get him the ball
in so many different places,” Portland coach Terry
Stotts said. “When he’s hitting from the perimeter, it
is tough to stop him.”
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Felix Her-
nandez pitching in February is an
aberration.
But there was the Seattle ace on
Tuesday, making his spring debut as
the Mariners beat the Chicago White
Sox split squad 8-1.
Hernandez gave up one run and
three hits in two innings. He threw
33 pitches, walked one and struck out
none, and also got a pair of groundball
double plays.
The Mariners normally hold Her-
nandez out of early spring training
games. He did not make his initial
appearance last year until March 14. It
was March 10 in 2015.
But with the World Baseball Clas-
sic looming and Hernandez joining
the Venezuelan team Monday, there
is a sense of urgency to get him ready
sooner.
“I feel real strong,” Hernandez said
after his outing. “I feel real good. I feel
healthy and I’m happy.”
Hernandez is scheduled to make
one more start for the Mariners on
Sunday against Oakland.
“The next one is going to be differ-
ent,” Hernandez said. “I’ll probably
throw more pitches and just be ready
for my first start in Mexico.”
Venezuela’s first game is March 10
against Puerto Rico.
Hernandez focused on fastball
command against the White Sox.
“I’ve got to command my fastball a
little bit more,” he said. “I was throw-
ing a four-seamer and a two-seamer. I
was falling behind a couple of times in
the second inning and I got hit.”
“I threw a lot of fastballs today and
it looks pretty good. The results tell me
that it works fine. I was 100 percent.
I was throwing everything. The slider
was really good. It was sharp. The
curve was good, too. The changeup I
still have to work on it.”
Hernandez, who turns 31 in April,
missed six weeks last season with a
right calf strain, his first time on the
disabled list since 2008. His 25 starts
and 153 1/3 innings were career lows,
and he went 11-8 with a 3.82 ERA.
Most alarming is his diminishing
fastball velocity. His fastball average
was 90.54 last season. In his 2010
Cy Young season, it was 94.13 and in
2015 he averaged 92.1.
AP Photo/Charlie Riedel
Seattle Mariners pitcher Felix
Hernandez participates in a drill
during spring training base-
ball practice in Peoria, Ariz., last
month Hernandez is beginning
his climb back from one of his
toughest seasons, when he went
11-8 with a 3.82 ERA and his low-
est innings total since 2007.