10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 2017
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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Heimlich
won’t join
Beavers
in Omaha
Twins top
Mariners
in 6-2 win
Gimenez homers
twice in victory
Pitcher bows out
from series
By DAVE CAMPBELL
Associated Press
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
Oregon State pitcher Luke
Heimlich, who as a teenager
pleaded guilty to molesting a
6-year-old girl, will not accom-
pany the Beavers to the College
World Series.
The 21-year-old left-hander
made the announcement in a state-
ment released Thursday through a
representative for his family. He
called going to the series some-
thing that he and his teammates
have worked toward all year.
“I’m sad to say I am not join-
ing them because doing so would
only create further distraction for
my teammates, more turmoil for
my family and given the high pro-
file of the national championship,
direct even more unwanted atten-
tion to an innocent young girl,”
the statement said.
Details about the molesta-
tion were revealed last week in
a story published by The Orego-
nian. In an editorial accompany-
ing the article, the newspaper said
it learned about Heimlich’s 2012
conviction in Washington state
after running a background check
that it routinely does for in-depth
profiles.
“I want to wish my teammates
the best. I hope they understand
this decision as my family and
I continue to work through this
together. My hope is to return to
OSU next year as a student-ath-
lete and continue to earn the trust
of my community,” Heimlich’s
statement said.
Heimlich was the top pitcher
during the regular season for the
Beavers, who have lost just four
games. He has compiled an 11-1
record with a 0.76 ERA.
He had been projected to be an
early round pick in Major League
Baseball’s draft, which ended
Wednesday without him being
selected.
The Beavers are the top
seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Heimlich pitched in the opening
round for the Beavers, before the
story broke. He asked that he be
removed from the rotation in the
super regional round.
The Beavers (54-4) are sched-
uled to play Cal State Fullerton
(39-22) on Saturday in the Col-
lege World Series opener for both
teams in Omaha.
Prosecutors in Washing-
ton state initially charged Heim-
lich with two counts of molesta-
tion for abuse that began when the
girl was 4, The Oregonian said.
He ultimately pleaded guilty to
one count of molestation between
February 2011 and December
2011, a period during which he
was 15. Prosecutors dismissed
the other charge as part of a plea
bargain.
He entered a diversion pro-
gram, received two years of pro-
bation and was ordered to attend
sex offender treatment for two
years, according to court records.
PBL basketball
camp next week
The Daily Astorian
Registrations
are
being
accepted for the Pacific Basketball
League’s annual summer camp,
Monday through Thursday next
week at Broadway Middle School.
The camp is divided into two
sessions:
Session 1: 9 to 11:30 a.m.,
for incoming first through fourth
graders;
Session 2: Noon to 3 p.m.,
for incoming fifth through eighth
graders.
Cost is $90 per child. Checks
can be made payable to Pacific
Basketball League (or PBL), P.O.
Box 1015, Seaside, 97138-1015.
For more information, call
(503) 717-4308.
AP Photo/Julio Cortez
Conor McGregor gestures toward fans while working out at Madison Square Garden in New York
in November. Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. said he will come out of retirement to face the UFC star
in a boxing match on Aug. 26.
McGregor backers:
Mayweather fight
is no sideshow
Associated Press
INGAPORE — Conor McGregor’s fight
against Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Aug. 26 has
been described by critics as a novelty and a
sideshow, among other things.
McGregor’s camp doesn’t care what it’s called,
promising only that it’ll be a contest.
“Keep doubting us. We love it,” McGregor’s
agent, Audie Attar, said in an interview Friday with
Sports News Television. “The human element of
sport is that anything can happen.”
Mayweather, who retired in 2015 after winning
all his 49 professional fights as a boxer, is back in
training at age 40 after accepting an offer he couldn’t
refuse from the mixed martial arts fighter who has
never had a pro boxing fight.
“These are two world-class combat sport ath-
letes,” Attar said. “Yes they come from different dis-
ciplines. Yes there are going to be different rules,
so it’s going to be confined within those set of rules
and we understand that. But I don’t think you can
take away from (McGregor’s) ability, his power, his
reach, his … all these different attributes that I think
he will bring to the table.”
Las Vegas oddsmakers immediately made May-
S
weather an 11-1 favorite when the fight — sched-
uled for 12 rounds in Las Vegas at 154 pounds in a
boxing ring and under boxing rules — was
announced.
McGregor, the wildly popular UFC star, is 21-3
in UFC fights, and is coming off a win in Novem-
ber against Eddie Alvarez. Although he hasn’t boxed
professionally, McGregor did box while growing up
and is known for his striking expertise.
“Floyd’s been an amazing tactician in term of his
quickness, his ability to get in there, his ability to
elude punches,” Attar said. “But I think on Aug. 26,
I’m bullish on the idea that that’s going to change
and he is going to meet someone that is going to have
the physical attributes that will potentially catch him
and be that one, 49-1.”
Attar said Mayweather was arguably the great-
est boxer of all time, “but there’s some things that
he hasn’t faced before and Conor brings those …
unique differentiation attributes and strategies.
“Both of their styles will cause them to engage
differently than Floyd’s other competitors before
Conor. And in my opinion, that’s going to yield a
different result.
“I’m more confident on the idea that we’re gonna
be that one. 49 and one.”
MINNEAPOLIS — After
going deep twice in a game for
the first time in his big league
career, Chris Gimenez still has
more mop-up relief appearances
this season than home runs.
Wait, maybe the Minnesota
Twins have this whole thing
backward with their backup
catcher.
“Hopefully I’m one of the bet-
ter hitting pitchers in the league,”
Gimenez said with a wide smile,
after his pair of drives on Thurs-
day spurred the Twins to a 6-2
victory over the Seattle Mariners.
Eduardo Escobar sparked a
five-run first inning with a two-
run shot, and Jose Berrios (6-1)
took over from there by pitching
a career-best eight innings to win
his third straight start. The first-
place Twins raised their home
record, the worst in the major
leagues, to 14-20 with the four-
game series split.
Gimenez hit a three-run homer
with two outs in the fateful first
for Ariel Miranda (6-3), who lost
for the first time in 10 starts for
the Mariners and lasted only four
innings with 10 hits and six runs
allowed. Gimenez then hit the
foul pole in left field with a solo
drive in the third inning, giving
the 34-year-old a total of 18 home
runs in 867 plate appearances.
“I had to talk to it a little bit as
I was running to first,” Gimenez
said.
His conversations with Ber-
rios throughout the afternoon
turned out well, too, driving a
strategy to mix in some change-
ups with a lively fastball that the
right-hander spotted well and that
devastating curveball.
“We had chances to kind of
get close but could never mount
the big rally against him,” Mar-
iners manager Scott Servais said.
Berrios struck out six and
yielded two runs and five hits.
After finishing six innings only
once in 14 starts as a rookie last
season on his way to an 8.02
ERA, Berrios has lasted that long
in five of seven turns this year.
“I was blessed to be able to
go as far as I did today,” he said
through the team’s interpreter.
Berrios silenced a lineup that
totaled 45 hits and 27 runs over
the first three games of the series,
handing the Mariners just their
sixth loss in the last 18 games.
“Sometimes it takes them
awhile to get comfortable and
trust what they can do up here,”
Twins manager Paul Molitor
said. “We all never really lost
hope that he was going to figure
it out.”
UP NEXT: MARINERS
• Seattle Mariners (33-35)
at Texas Rangers (32-33)
• Today, 5:05 p.m.
TV: RTNW, FSSW
Nike to slash 1,400 jobs, cut sneaker styles in shakeup
Beaverton-based
company to focus
on hottest-sellers
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Nike wants to be
more nimble on its feet.
The sneaker maker said Thurs-
day that it plans to focus on the hot-
test-selling sneakers, slash the num-
ber of styles it offers and sell more
shoes directly to customers online as
part of a restructuring in which it also
will cut about 1,400 jobs.
Nike said the moves will help it
offer products to customers faster as it
is facing increasing competition from
smaller brands and premium labels.
Another problem: The running and
basketball shoes Nike is famous for
may be outdated.
More people are choosing fash-
ion over function, with sales of clas-
sic sneakers industry-wide climb-
ing 26 percent last year, according
to research from The NPD Group.
Meanwhile, sales of running perfor-
mance sneakers were flat and sales
of basketball performance sneak-
ers dropped, according to the same
report.
“Nike missed the fashion shift
away from performance basketball
to retro,” said Matt Powell, the sports
industry analyst at NPD. “They still
have not caught up.”
Adidas, whose casual Stan Smith
shoes have become popular again,
has made a push to increase sales in
the U.S. The German company said
last month that first-quarter revenue
in North America jumped 31 percent
from a year before. And on the high
end, Neiman Marcus noted to inves-
tors last week that sneakers, with an
average retail price of $360 per pair,
have become a significant business
as shoppers focus on a more casual
lifestyle.
AP Photo/Michael Noble Jr.
People walk outside the Nike SoHo store Thursday in the SoHo neigh-
borhood of New York. Nike said Thursday that it plans to sell more
shoes directly to customers online as part of a restructuring in which
it plans to cut about 1,400 jobs.