10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2018
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
ghenley@dailyastorian.com
COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
Beavers’ late rally keys 11-6 win
Tar Heels ousted
UP NEXT: CWS
By ERIC OLSON
Associated Press
AP Photo/Nati Harnik
Oregon State players, including Steven Kwan (4), celebrate after Adley
Rutschman hit a double that scored Cadyn Grenier, right, Nick Madri-
gal and Jack Anderson during the eighth inning against North Caroli-
na in a College World Series elimination game in Omaha, Neb.
SPORTS
IN BRIEF
Yankees rally
past M’s, 7-5
NEW YORK — Expec-
tations have been sky
high for Giancarlo Stan-
ton since he was acquired
from Miami last offseason.
In front of a sellout crowd
Wednesday night at Yan-
kee Stadium, the 6-foot-6
slugger had his first huge
moment in pinstripes.
Stanton lined a two-run
homer with two outs in the
bottom of the ninth inning,
and the New York Yankees
erased a five-run deficit to
beat the Seattle Mariners
7-5.
Eyes on
Sacramento
at No. 2 in
NBA draft
NEW YORK — Mar-
vin Bagley III and Michael
Porter Jr. believe they are
the best players in this NBA
draft, though the best they
can hope for is probably the
No. 2 pick.
The Sacramento Kings
own it, and that’s where the
intrigue appears to begin
Thursday.
Arizona center Dean-
dre Ayton is expected to
be taken by the Phoenix
Suns to open the draft, and
then Bagley, Porter, Slo-
venian guard Luka Doncic
or Michigan State’s Jaren
Jackson Jr. could be consid-
ered by Sacramento.
The Kings have been one
of the league’s lowliest fran-
chises, not making the play-
offs since 2006. But Bag-
ley and Porter both said they
would be open to playing
in Sacramento, and getting
picked so early would be an
accomplishment for Porter
after a back injury sidelined
him for nearly all of his only
season at Missouri.
Bagley thrived in his one
season at Duke and doesn’t
expect that to change once
he’s a pro.
“I want to be the greatest
player to ever play the game
of basketball, and I mean
that in the most humble way
possible,” he said.
— Associated Press
SCOREBOARD
LOCAL SPORTS SCHEDULE
TODAY
Junior baseball — Knappa at
Tillamook (2), 4 p.m.
FRIDAY
Junior baseball — Astoria
Ford at Seaside (2), 4 p.m.; Ken-
nedy at Warrenton, 5:30 p.m.
SATURDAY
Junior baseball — At Warren-
ton HS: Kennedy vs. Clatskanie,
1 p.m.; Clatskanie at Warrenton,
3 p.m.
SUNDAY
Junior baseball — Kennedy
at Warrenton, 1 p.m.
• Mississippi State (2-0)
vs Oregon State Beavers (2-1)
• Friday, noon TV: ESPN
OMAHA, Neb. — Oregon State
was down three runs when a steady
mist moved in at TD Ameritrade Park
in the eighth inning Wednesday night.
Perfect conditions for a team from
the Pacific Northwest.
“Every time we’re playing and it
starts to rain, everyone looks around
and says, ‘OK, we’re going to come
back and do what we do at home,’”
OSU shortstop Cadyn Grenier said.
“When the rain comes, we know
there’s a possibility of a storm coming
— and that’s from us.”
The Beavers stormed back all right
and knocked North Carolina out of
the College World Series with an 11-6
win.
Brett Daniels walked in the
go-ahead run after Adley Rutschman
tied it with a three-run double. Tyler
Malone hit his second homer of the
CWS, and the Beavers’ third of the
game, as Oregon State (51-11-1) built
a five-run cushion and avenged Satur-
day’s 8-6 loss to the Tar Heels (44-20).
It was a stunning turnabout after
the Tar Heels wiped out a 3-0 deficit
to go up 6-3 in the sixth. North Caro-
lina had been 37-0 when leading after
seven innings and had won 50 straight
when scoring six runs, the longest
streak in Division I.
“Until that final out, we never feel
we’re out of the game,” OSU star sec-
ond baseman Nick Madrigal said.
“That’s the way Oregon State baseball
is. We’re going to fight to the end.”
North Carolina’s eighth-inning
meltdown saw three pitchers walk
four batters, one intentionally, and
allow three hits.
No. 9 batter Zak Taylor started
things off with a leadoff single. Mad-
rigal, the No. 4 overall draft pick by
the Chicago White Sox, followed with
a base hit and Grenier won a 12-pitch
duel with Joey Lancelotti to walk and
load the bases.
“Zak Taylor got us going,” Madri-
gal said. “Sometimes it takes one hit
to break it open. That’s the way base-
ball is.”
Rutschman followed with a drive
to the center-field wall off Daniels
(6-1) for his bases-clearing double.
“We were playing no doubles,”
Carolina coach Mike Fox said, “but
we would have had to be standing on
the warning track to catch that ball.”
From the Fishermen to the Mudcats,
Harber has lived a wild baseball ride
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
C
onor Harber has been on
both ends of the fishing
line, so to speak, when it
comes to his baseball career.
The former Astoria Fisher-
man (Class of 2012) is in his
second season as a pitcher with
the Carolina Mudcats, a Class
A advanced minor league team
(named after a catfish) of the
Milwaukee Brewers.
Harber was enjoying Day 3
of a three-day break Wednes-
day, as the Carolina League
held its annual All-Star game
Tuesday. It’s back to work
today, when the Mudcats begin
a two-game road trip to Buies
Creek, North Carolina.
From there, it’s two home
games vs. Buies Creek, fol-
lowed by a six-game road
swing. After that, the next open
date for the Mudcats is July 17.
That’s life in the minor
leagues.
The Mudcats, based in Zeb-
ulon, North Carolina, are just
the latest stop for Harber, who
has played for two colleges and
three different minor league
clubs since 2013.
He has worked his way up
the Brewers’ system since 2015,
pitching for the Helena Brewers
and Wisconsin Timber Rattlers
before joining the Mudcats.
At 24 years old, Harber is
getting to be an old hand at the
bus rides, promotional nights at
the ballpark and those rare days
off. Over the next month, Car-
olina has just two scheduled
open dates.
“I got a little taste of North
Carolina last year, and what the
league and travel was going to
be like,” Harber said. “The Car-
olina League is actually much
better than a lot of leagues. Our
longest trip was only six hours,
and we did that the first road trip
of the season, to Wilmington.
“When I was with Wiscon-
sin, the average trip was six to
eight hours, and one that was
14. There’s other leagues that
have it much worse than we
do.”
Oh, the humidity
The biggest adjustment for
Harber — the weather.
For an Oregon kid who was
born in Coos Bay and grew up
in Astoria, North Carolina was
a culture shock.
“Last year was the first time
I had experienced true humid-
ity,” Harber said. “That was a
big change. We had a two-week
stretch where it was 95 to 100,
with 100 percent humidity. It
really takes all the energy out
of you.
“The next month-and-a-half
is when it starts heating up.”
And then there’s the fun
side of minor league baseball
— the almost daily “promotion
nights” at the ball park.
This season — in addition to
The different hats and uniforms worn by Conor Harber in just the last five years.
THE CONOR HARBER TIMELINE
2012:
Graduated
from Astoria
High School.
Helped lead
the Fisher-
men to the
2011 state
title.
2013:
Selected
in the 38th
round by the
Baltimore
Orioles in the
amateur draft.
2014:
Selected
in the 40th
round by the
Tampa Bay
Rays in the
amateur draft.
Played two
years (2013-
14) at West-
ern Nevada
College in
Carson City,
Nevada, earn-
ing third-team
All-American
honors as a
sophomore.
Neal Hock/For The Daily Astorian
2015:
Selected
in the 16th
round by the
Milwaukee
Brewers in
the amateur
draft.
Played the
spring of
2015 for the
Oregon Ducks,
spent the
summer of
2015 with the
Helena Brew-
ers of the Pio-
neer (Rookie)
League.
“We were able to take four
of five games in Myrtle Beach
and ended it with a win. That
made the three-hour bus ride
home a little better.”
Harber has certainly accu-
mulated the frequent flyer miles
since graduating from high
school.
He played at Western
Nevada College in Carson City
in 2013 and ‘14. From there, he
spent the spring of 2015 with
the Oregon Ducks, and played
that summer with the Helena
(Montana) Brewers of the Pio-
2016:
Played for
Wisconsin
Timber
Rattlers of
the Midwest
(Single A)
League.
2017-18:
Carolina
Mudcats of
the Class A
Advanced
Carolina
League.
neer League.
Harber played the 2016 sea-
son with the Wisconsin Timber
Rattlers, before joining Caro-
lina in 2017.
“My goal is to hopefully fin-
ish this year off at Double A,”
he says, which could mean a
move to Biloxi, Mississippi. “I
can do it if I stay on the same
pace I’m at, and finish strong.”
Fans can follow the Mud-
cats (and listen to games
live) through the team’s web-
site:
https://www.milb.com/
carolina-mudcats.
Conor Harber in a recent appearance with the Carolina Mudcats.
Taco Tuesdays and Dollar Dog
Days, the Mudcats have sched-
uled ‘Bark in the Park,’ ‘Honky
Tonk night’ and ‘Star Wars
night’ at Five County Stadium.
“We had some pretty cool
jerseys for Memorial Day, but
that got rained out,” Harber
said. “Star Wars night was a
good one. And we had ‘Brew-
ers Weekend,’ when we wore
the old throwback blue.”
Harber is certainly doing
what he can to move up the
minor league ladder, as his
numbers on the mound keep
improving.
After going 4-9 in 2017,
Harber is currently 2-3, with a
2.59 earned run average (down
from 5.04 a year ago), with 46
strikeouts and 31 walks in 55.2
innings pitched. He’s made
seven starts, after coming out of
the bullpen earlier in the season.
“I would like to take down
the walks a little, but over time
I’m starting to get there,” Har-
ber said.
“My command is better and
I’m going after hitters, and not
nibbling the corners as much,”
he said. “I’m letting them get
themselves out, rather than
trying to strike everyone out.
That’s keeping my pitch count
low. Instead of throwing 50
pitches in three innings, I can
go four or five innings if they
need me to.”
Livestock feed & Supplies for home, farm & garden
Frequent flyer miles
Harber ended the first half
of the season on the best note
possible.
A day before the All-Star
break, Harber led the Mudcats
to a 3-2 win at Myrtle Beach,
pitching a full six innings to
earn the victory.
Patrick McKerren, Owner
42232 Kylester Ln Astoria, OR, 97103
tel. (503) 458 6470
twooldgoatsff@gmail.com
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