10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JUNE 25, 2018
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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Warrenton
wins two
baseball
games
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — Three teams
converged on Warrenton’s Hud-
dleston Field for three days of
baseball over the weekend, as the
Warriors hosted Clatskanie and
Kennedy for a Junior State four-
game exhibition.
Kennedy and Warrenton opened
the action Friday, with the Trojans
topping the Warriors 2-1 in a defen-
sive pitcher’s duel.
Warrenton’s Austin Little gave
up seven hits with strikeouts and
two walks in six innings of work,
but he didn’t get much offensive
support as Kennedy scored the win.
The Warriors bounced back Sat-
urday against Clatskanie, which
had to borrow a few players from
Kennedy to field a team.
Warrenton pitcher Dalton
Knight earned the victory, allowing
10 hits but striking out 11 in a 9-7
Warrenton win.
And the Warriors wrapped up
the weekend Sunday afternoon
with a 14-8 win over Kennedy, with
Gabe Breitmeyer pitching five-and-
a-third innings, striking out eight.
“Austin really pitched well
enough to win Friday’s game,
we just didn’t have much behind
him offensively,” said Warren-
ton coach Lennie Wolfe. “And our
boys played Saturday’s game after
a couple basketball games in the
morning.”
For the weekend, Kale’o Kapua
moved into the leadoff spot and was
just 2-for-5 over the three games,
but scored four runs and was on
base nine out of 11 times at bat.
Little was 3-for-7 and scored
seven runs, Jacob Morrow went
5-for-8 with three doubles and a tri-
ple, Breitmeyer was 5-for-9, and
Alec Herrera was 4-for-10.
The Warriors were missing
Devin Jackson for Saturday’s game,
and Knight for Sunday’s contest.
Still, “It was just a fun week-
end,” Wolfe said. “It was great to
have two high-quality teams in
for a tournament-style weekend of
baseball. That’s what you want in
the summer. Kennedy is just a first-
class program. I’ve always been
a fan of (Kennedy coach) Kevin
Moffatt and his teams. Great fans,
they’re a quality program and they
do everything in a quality way.”
The Warriors host a double-
header Wednesday vs. Neah-Kah-
Nie, beginning at 4 p.m. Warren-
ton will also be hosting its annual
alumni game Saturday at noon.
Seaside sweeps
past Astoria Ford
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — Two solid pitch-
ing performances helped Seaside
score two solid wins Friday at
Broadway Field, where the Gulls
hosted Astoria Ford in a Junior
State baseball doubleheader.
Duncan Thompson went the
distance on the mound for Sea-
side in Game 1, a 4-3 win for the
Gulls, as Thompson got the best of
Astoria’s Dylan Rush in a pitch-
er’s duel.
In the nightcap, Seaside’s
Brayden Johnson pitched five
innings then gave way to Justin
Morris, who managed to hold off
the Fishermen for a 9-7 win.
Gressel ties it in
Atlanta United’s
1-1 draw with
Timbers
Associated Press
ATLANTA — Julian Gressel
tied it in the 56th minute and
Atlanta United held on for a 1-1
draw with the Portland Timbers
on Sunday.
A loose ball deflection
off defender Larrys Mabiala
bounced into Gressel’s path and
he pounced on it with a right-
footed volley. Atlanta (10-3-4)
stayed atop the MLS standings
and extended its unbeaten streak
to five games.
AP Photos/Nati Harnik
Oregon State first baseman Zak Taylor smiles after a double play against Mississippi State ended the sixth inning of Saturday’s
NCAA College World Series baseball elimination game in Omaha, Neb.
Oregon State Beavers out to finish
redemption tour against Arkansas
By ERIC OLSON
Associated Press
O
MAHA, Neb. — Oregon State has
won 109 of 127 baseball games over
two seasons with mostly the same
cast of players. The Beavers see winning a
national championship as the only way to val-
idate their body of work.
“Ultimately,” Beavers coach Pat Casey
said Sunday, “nobody cares how many games
you win unless you win the last one.”
Standing between Oregon State (53-11-1)
and the title is Arkansas (47-19) in the best-
of-three College World Series finals starting
Monday night.
The Beavers lost their CWS opener and
staved off elimination four times to reach the
finals for the first time since 2007, when they
won the second of two straight championships.
The Razorbacks swept through their
bracket in three games, knocking off defend-
ing champion and No. 1 overall seed Florida
to make the finals for the first time in the best-
of-three era. Arkansas was runner-up in 1979.
Oregon State showed up in Omaha last
year as the No. 1 seed and with a 54-4 record,
the highest winning percentage (.931) of any
team entering the CWS since Texas came in
57-4 (.934) in 1982. The Beavers won their
first two games, then lost two straight to LSU
in a shocking ending to the season.
The Beavers have been on a redemption
tour in 2018 with an everyday lineup including
all but one player from last year and a pitching
staff that returned two weekend starters.
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn is in
awe of what the Pac-12’s Beavers have
accomplished.
“To win that many ballgames, it’s almost
amazing to me, because I how hard it is to
win,” he said. “We talk about it all the time.
UP NEXT: CWS
• Arkansas Razorbacks (3-0)
vs Oregon State Beavers (3-1)
• Today, 4 p.m. TV: ESPN
‘NOBODY CARES
HOW MANY
GAMES YOU WIN
UNLESS YOU WIN
THE LAST ONE.’
Pat Casey | Oregon State Beavers coach
How are they doing it? It’s not like they’re
in Houston where they can just run down the
street and grab players. They’re going all over
the place and they’re doing it with kids from
their region.”
The Razorbacks, previously in Omaha in
2015, have been ascending since going 26-29
and failing to make the NCAA Tournament
in 2016. They lost in a regional final last year
and now are in position to play for the title.
Like Oregon State, Arkansas has many of
its key contributors back. The Razorbacks also
have two of the best freshmen in the country
in third baseman Casey Martin and left fielder
Heston Kjerstad, who have combined for 27
home runs.
Pitching plans
Arkansas’ Blaine Knight (13-0) will start
Monday, followed by Kacey Murphy (8-5) on
Tuesday and Isaiah Campbell (5-6) if a game
Oregon State coach Pat Casey talks to
reporters during Friday’s practice at TD
Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb.
is necessary Wednesday.
Casey didn’t name a Game 1 starter. Ace
Luke Heimlich (16-2) would be coming off
four days of rest after not getting out of the
third inning in either of his starts in Omaha.
Two-out tenacity
Oregon State is batting .449 (35 of 78)
with two outs, and 28 of its 47 RBIs have
come with two outs. “I would prefer that they
would start that a little sooner before we get
two outs,” Casey said. “Maybe we can score a
few more runs.”
‘Ducks at the Beach’ brings in ex-Oregon players
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — There was lots of green and
yellow attire on the golf course Friday afternoon at
the Astoria Golf & Country Club.
Hats, shirts, shorts, jackets … and most it was
Oregon Ducks-related. That’s because fans of the
University of Oregon — in addition to some real-
life Oregon Ducks — covered the course for the
annual “Ducks at the Beach” event.
The country club was the host course for the
ninth annual gathering, a yearly fundraiser for the
University of Oregon. For a fee, fans and follow-
ers of the Ducks get to play golf with former players
and an ex-coach.
Year after year, the event held at the Astoria
Country Club draws some pretty famous names to
Clatsop County. And those famous names enjoy the
trip to the North Coast. They must, because they
keep coming back.
“I think I’ve been here every single year,” said
former Oregon coach Mike Bellotti, making his
ninth trip to the North Coast. “Ducks at the Beach is
one of the annual things we do and have a lot of fun
at. And it’s actually nice weather today. They prom-
ise me good weather every year — it doesn’t always
happen, but this is pretty nice. Tim Regan (the event
organizer) and his crew do a nice job of putting up
this thing.”
In addition to the coach, Ducks at the Beach
Gary Henley/The Daily Astorian
Former Oregon coach Mike Bellotti, left, helps
wife Colleen line up a putt Friday at the Asto-
ria Golf & Country Club.
brings in a short list of ex-Oregon players.
This year’s group included former receivers Jeff
Maehl (2007-10) and Greg Moser (1979-82), along
with quarterbacks Jason Fife (2002-03) and Chris
Miller (1983-86), and more recent Ducks Brent
Haberly, Brandon McLemore, Kevin Mitchell and
Rasuli Webster.
After his college career, Miller starred for the
Atlanta Falcons and Los Angeles Rams in the NFL.
He’s also a pretty good golfer.
“We’re in Astoria, the sun’s out, it’s gorgeous,
it’s not too windy and not raining, I’m out with a
bunch of former Ducks … so I’m having a good
time and enjoying it,” Miller said.
Miller coaches football at West Linn High
School, and brought his team to Seaside for a sum-
mer scrimmage in 2016.
And the day would not have been complete with-
out a little Oregon football forecast for the 2018
season.
The Ducks have a new head coach, as Mario
Cristobal replaces Willie Taggert after one season,
and becomes Oregon’s third coach in three years.
The change brings “excitement, to a degree,”
said Bellotti, Oregon’s all-time leader in coaching
victories. “You have someone who has been on the
staff before, so he’s somewhat of a known commod-
ity, at least as a person and a coach. Maybe not as a
head coach, but I think Mario Cristobal is going to
do a great job. He’s taken up the mantle of recruit-
ing for Willie Taggart, and that was one of the things
that Taggart brought to the program.
“He’s got Justin Herbert coming back, (defen-
sive coach) Jim Leavitt and that defense … so I
see them having a really good year. Probably eight
to 10 games in the win column. I’m excited to see
what the Ducks are going to be under Mario
Cristobal.”