10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 2018
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
ghenley@dailyastorian.com
Astoria Ford sweeps Neah-Kah-Nie
The Daily Astorian
Two pitchers combined to strike
out 18 Neah-Kah-Nie batters Tuesday
evening, helping Astoria Ford score
a 9-1, 9-2 doubleheader sweep over
the Pirates in junior baseball action at
Aiken Field.
Neah-Kah-Nie (Hixson Truck-
ing) had its fair share of hits — 17,
combined — but unfortunately for
the Pirates, they had troubles on the
mound, in the field and on the bases.
Seven pitchers combined to walk
15 Astoria batters, while the Pirates
committed seven errors defensively
and had numerous baserunners picked
off base or caught stealing.
Astoria pitchers Dylan Rush and
Will Reed were all the Fishermen
needed.
In Game 1 — which counted in the
league standings — Rush scattered six
hits with 10 strikeouts and no walks.
Offensively, five of Astoria Ford’s
nine hits went for extra bases, which
included a pair of doubles for Ebin
Hillard and a triple by Adam Feldman.
Rocky Rub added a single, double
and two RBIs, while Hillard also had
a single and drove in two runs.
After allowing a pair of hits in
the first inning, Rush settled down
and struck out six over the first three
innings.
Astoria Ford built a 4-0 lead, high-
lighted by back-to-back, run-scoring
doubles from Reed and Feldman in
the third.
The Fishermen tacked on five runs
in the fifth, which included an RBI
double by Rub, and a two-run triple
from Feldman.
Astoria wasted little time in Game
2, building a 5-1 lead after one inning.
Rush, Reed and Hillard all had
run-scoring doubles in the first, which
included a two-run double to center
by Hillard.
Neah-Kah-Nie had 11 hits in the
second game to Astoria’s six, but
Reed struck out eight batters, and the
Pirates had four runners thrown out on
stolen base attempts.
Meanwhile, five Neah-Kah-Nie
pitchers scattered six hits, but walked
10.
Astoria Ford hosts a three-team
gathering next Monday, with Knappa
and Warrenton.
SPORTS
IN BRIEF
Seager HR,
3 RBIs lift
Mariners past
Orioles 3-2
BALTIMORE — Nelson Cruz
wasn’t available, so Kyle Seager
assumed the role of big bopper
for the Seattle Mariners.
And what a job he did.
Seager homered and hit a
pivotal two-run single in the
eighth inning to back a fine pitch-
ing performance by James Paxton
and help Seattle beat the Baltimore
Orioles 3-2 Tuesday night.
Cruz, who leads the team with
20 home runs, was a late scratch
with lower back tightness. Sea-
ger took over at cleanup and
accounted for all
the Mariners runs.
“Couple
of
coaches felt going
into the game that
Seags was going to
be our guy,” man-
ager Scott Servais
said. “Sometimes
guys have to step
up. We had the right guy at the
right time.”
Though Seager came through
in a pinch, he knows his place in
the lineup isn’t cleanup.
“No, I don’t think that’s a
good idea,” Seager said. “I like
when Mr. Nelson is in there.”
Paxton (7-2) struck out 10
over seven innings, allowing two
runs and six hits. It was the sixth
time this season he’s reached
double figures in strikeouts.
The Mariners came to town
with six losses in seven games,
and now they’ve won two in a
row to open a four-game series
against the team with the worst
record in the majors.
“We’re supposed to come in
here and beat this team,” Paxton
said. “We’re doing a good job so
far.”
Moore leads Lynx
to 5th straight,
91-79 over Storm
MINNEAPOLIS — Maya
Moore scored 32 points, Sylvia
Fowles added 28 points and 17
rebounds, and the Minnesota Lynx
beat the Seattle Storm 91-79 for their
fifth straight win Tuesday night.
The Lynx (8-6) took the lead
for good with an 11-0 run early in
the first quarter and kept it in dou-
ble digits after a 15-3 run early in
the third. The Storm (10-5) had an
11-3 run to cut the deficit to 87-77
but were unable to get within sin-
gle digits in the final minutes.
Breanna Stewart entered the
game averaging a league-lead-
ing 21.9 points and finished with
27 for Seattle. She made 10 of 14
from the field, including all three
of her 3-point attempts, and 4 of 5
from the foul line.
Natasha Howard, who was
traded from the Lynx to the Storm
in the offseason, received her 2017
WNBA Championship ring before
the contest.
— Associated Press
AP Photos/Nati Harnik
Oregon State coach Pat Casey watches action during the fifth inning of Tuesday’s Game 1 of the NCAA College World Series base-
ball finals between Oregon State and Arkansas in Omaha, Neb.
Arkansas defeats Heimlich,
Beavers in CWS finals opener
By ERIC OLSON
Associated Press
O
MAHA, Neb. — Arkansas didn’t
hit much against Luke Heimlich and
Christian Chamberlain in Game 1 of
the College World Series finals. In fact, the
Razorbacks struck out 16 times.
Somehow, some way, they sit on the cusp
of their first national championship in baseball
after beating Oregon State 4-1 Tuesday night.
They capitalized against a faltering Heim-
lich in a four-run fifth inning, got a strong start
from Blaine Knight with shutdown relief pitch-
ing and mixed in a few big defensive plays.
That enabled the Razorbacks to win on a night
when they mustered just five hits.
“I feel fortunate to win the game,” Razor-
backs coach Dave Van Horn said. “Baseball is
a little different game sometimes, and you have
eight innings where you don’t do much and
you put together one inning. You pitch good
enough and play defense, you can win. That’s
kind of what went on tonight.”
The finals opener, delayed a day because of
rain, seemed to have a little bit of everything —
a fly ball lost in the sun that went for a ground-
rule double, a runner interference call against
Oregon State and an overturned foul call on a
ball hit down the right-field line.
Nothing turned the game more than the
UP NEXT: CWS FINALS GAME 2
• Oregon State Beavers (0-1)
vs Arkansas Razorbacks (1-0)
• Today, 4 p.m. TV: ESPN
sudden collapse of Heimlich.
“He started to lose it,” OSU coach Pat
Casey said. “He didn’t throw the ball where he
needed to. He’d been real good all year long,
and certainly really struggled in that inning.”
After failing to get out of the third inning in
both of his previous CWS starts, the Beavers’
ace was in full command while striking out five
and limiting the Razorbacks (48-19) to one hit
through four innings.
In the fifth, though, the senior left-hander
issued a walk and hit two batters.
“He lost command of his fastball a little bit
and was out of the zone, so as hitters we’re all
just trying to be patient, see him in the zone,
and he ended up also missing his spots a few
times,” Arkansas outfielder Heston Kjerstad
said. “That equaled a few more runs for us.”
Arkansas starter Blaine Knight (14-0) went
back to the mound with a 4-1 lead, pitched
another inning and left having allowed seven
hits with six strikeouts. Barrett Loseke and
Matt Cronin combined to pitch three scoreless
innings of relief.
Abused gymnast Raisman: ‘I’ve barely worked out’
Associated Press
SCOREBOARD
LOCAL SPORTS SCHEDULE
TODAY
Junior state baseball — Neah-Kah-
Nie at Warrenton (2), 4 p.m.
THURSDAY
Junior state baseball — Knappa at
Clatskanie, 5 p.m.
SATURDAY
Baseball — Warrenton Alumni day,
noon
Michael Gretler’s base hit in the second
put Oregon State (53-12-1) up 1-0. The Bea-
vers looked ready to add to the lead when Kjer-
stad lost Trevor Larnach’s fly in the sun and
it bounced over the fence for a ground-rule
double.
Adley Rutschman was on first and Lar-
nach on third when Tyler Malone grounded to
first and Jared Gates threw to second to start
a double-play attempt. Rutschman ducked as
he approached the bag — rather than sliding
or peeling off away from the play — and was
called for interfering with shortstop Jax Big-
gers. It was ruled a double play, Larnach was
ordered back to third base, and Knight struck
out Gretler to end the inning.
“It appeared Rutsch was doing everything
he could to get out of the way,” Casey said.
“The ball left the guy’s hand. They weren’t
near one another, so I don’t agree with the call.
We had that run taken off the board right there,
so that makes it tough.”
The play seemed to swing the momentum
Arkansas’ way.
Heimlich (16-3) issued a walk and gave up
back-to-back singles for the Razorbacks’ first
run in the fifth. Heimlich then hit two straight
batters to bring home another run. Arkansas
extended its lead to 3-1 after second baseman
Nick Madrigal’s bobble trying to throw to sec-
ond on a grounder.
AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey
Olympian Aly Raisman, center, poses with other yoga enthusiasts on
International Yoga Day on June 21 in Times Square in New York.
BOSTON — Olympic gymnast
Aly Raisman says she’s barely been
able to work out since going public
with allegations of sexual abuse at the
hands of a former sports doctor.
The six-time Olympic medalist
told The Improper Bostonian maga-
zine, for a cover story published this
week, that she’s still regrouping and
recovering after confronting former
USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry
Nassar.
“In the past few months I’ve
barely worked out, which for some-
one who loves working out, that’s
saying a lot,” the magazine quoted
Raisman as saying.
The 24-year-old Raisman, cap-
tain for both the gold-medal winning
2012 and 2016 U.S. women’s Olym-
pic gymnastics teams, says she was
abused by Nassar in multiple loca-
tions beginning in 2010, including at
the U.S. national team training facil-
ity in Texas and at the 2012 Games
in London. Hundreds of other women
and girls have said they, too, were
sexually assaulted by Nassar.
Nassar pleaded guilty to molest-
ing women and girls under the guise
that he was treating them for injuries.
He is serving sentences that likely
will keep him in prison for life.
Raisman, of Needham, Massa-
chusetts, said she initially felt she
was receiving medically necessary
treatment by Nassar before realizing
it was abuse. She has said she sub-
sequently battled shame, guilt and
depression.