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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TuESDAY, FEbRuARY 26, 2019
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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Seaside’s Nelson takes fifth at state
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
mpressive first-day results for
Clatsop County wrestlers led to
some big points for the locals at
the state meet Friday and Saturday
at Portland’s Memorial Coliseum.
Combined, wrestlers from Asto-
ria, Seaside, Warrenton and Knappa
had six wins (including one bye) and
two losses in first-round matches
Friday.
In Class 4A action, Astoria’s lone
wrestler was junior Skylar Smith at
285 pounds.
Smith won his first match, 5-2,
over freshman Chris Woods of Hid-
den Valley, then was pinned by
Gabe Shuckie of La Grande in 2:27.
Smith bounced back in conso-
lation with a 5-1 decision over La
Grande’s Joel Rogers, before losing
to Sweet Home’s David McMullen
9-2.
I
Seaside was 2-0 in the first round,
with wins by Andre Gastelum (3:04
pin against Mazama’s Brycen John-
son) and Luke Nelson (8-2 win vs.
Lincoln Clark of La Grande).
The two victories were the first
wins for the Gulls in state tourna-
ment competition since 2006.
Gastelum was pinned in the
quarterfinals and won his first match
in consolation (12-9 decision over
Mazama freshman Savien Burk),
before being pinned by Woodburn’s
Marcos Hernandez.
Nelson also lost by fall in the
quarterfinals, but then won three
in consolation, with a 2-1 win over
Matthew Horrillo of Siuslaw and a
major decision (11-3) against Kody
Zemke of Madras.
Nelson dropped a 4-2 decision
to Tyler Morris of Junction City,
but again came back strong, win-
ning the fifth-place match with
a 9-1 decision over Tillamook’s
Dawson McKibbin.
Tough going for Warrenton
At the Class 3A level, Warren-
ton’s Armin Rodriguez was pinned
by No. 2 seed Raul Ruiz of Nyssa in
his first match, but followed with a
21-11 major decision over Willam-
ina’s Elias Scholten in consolation.
Rodriguez’s tournament came to
an end when he lost by fall to Kevin
Peasley of Burns.
Warrenton sophomore Triston
Scott wrestled three times Friday.
He scored a first-round pin
(1:19) against Josiah Rodriquez of
Yamhill-Carlton.
From there, No. 2 seed Kaleb
Kendrick of Irrigon scored an 8-1
decision over Scott in a quarterfi-
nal match, and Scott was pinned
by Marlin Miles of Nyssa in
consolation.
Sophomore Nic Pior was the No.
4-seeded wrestler at 132, but after a
first-round bye, Pior lost a 5-0 deci-
sion to Pleasant Hill’s Jacob Pray,
then lost 4-0 to Riverside’s Ethan
Snyder in consolation.
Isaac Goozee reaches semis
In Class 2A action, Knappa
senior Luke Goozee was the No. 2
seed at 138 pounds, but he went 0-2
in Friday’s action, dropping a 9-8
decision to Trace Evans of Enter-
prise, followed by a consolation loss
by pin (2:10) to Landen Timeus of
Gold Beach.
Meanwhile, Isaac Goozee scored
a little redemption for his brother, as
he pinned the No. 2-seeded wres-
tler at 220, a fall in 3:56 over Jimmy
North of Central Linn.
From there, senior Cole Kenne-
dy-Gooch of Adrian posted a 9-7
decision over Goozee in the semifi-
nals. The loss sent Goozee to conso-
lation, where he lost a 5-3 decision
to Zach Vigil of Glide.
Seaside wrestling
Seaside wrestler Luke Nelson scores
another win in the state meet.
Naselle earns
all-league honors
The Daily Astorian
the second team, and soph-
omore Kolby Glenn earned
honorable mention.
The Naselle boys bas-
ketball team heads to the
WIAA state basket-
COLUMBIA VALLEY
LEAGUE
ball tournament in
Player of the Year: Jacob
Spokane, Washing-
Eaton, Naselle
ton this week with
Coach of the Year: Brian
Macy, Naselle
six players on their
First team
squad who have
Jacob Eaton, Sr., Naselle
Daniel Kogler, Sr., Firm
earned Columbia
Foundation
Valley all-league
Ethan Lindstrom, Jr.,
Jacob
recognition.
Naselle
Antonio Nolan, Sr., Naselle
Leading
the
Eaton
Ryan Ransom, Jr., Three
Comets will be
Rivers
league Coach of the
Wyatt Richards, Jr., Three
Rivers
Year Brian Macy,
Second team
and senior captain
Evan Baker, Sr., Firm
Foundation
Jacob Eaton, the
Cole Dorman, Sr., Naselle
league’s Player of
Corey Gregory, Jr., Naselle
the Year.
Jaden Moore, Sr., Three
Rivers
Naselle senior
Juan Ramirez, Jr., Washing-
Antonio Nolan and
Brian
ton School/Deaf
Macy
junior Ethan Lind-
Honorable mention
Kolby Glenn, So., Naselle
strom were named
Nick Heinrich, Sr., Concordia
first-team selections, along August Helmes, Sr., Firm Foundation
with Eaton. Senior Cole Jose Ramirez, Jr., Washington School/
Dorman and junior Corey Deaf
Simon Rommel, Fr., Firm Foundation
Gregory were selected to Casey Shearer, Sr., Concordia
AP Photo/Darron Cummings
Yusei Kikuchi throws against the Cincinnati Reds.
All eyes on Kikuchi during his
spring debut for the Mariners
By TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
P
Patrick Webb
Naselle sophomore Jimmy Strange drives to the basket for
the Comets.
Naselle falls to
No. 1 Sunnyside
The Daily Astorian
ELLENSBURG, Wash.
— The Naselle boys bas-
ketball team hit a tempo-
rary roadblock Saturday on
the road to the WIAA state
championships.
The Comets lost a 1B
regional playoff against
Sunnyside Christian 57-39.
The No. 1-ranked Knights
(22-1) earned a first-round
bye at state, which starts
Wednesday in Spokane.
Naselle, fresh from an
82-49 playoff win over
Taholah and an 80-40 win
over Mary M. Knight,
already had earned its
place at state. Coach Brian
Macy’s team travels to the
Hardwood Classic with a
17-6 record and will play
Garfield-Palouse
9 p.m.
Wednesday.
Naselle senior Anto-
nio Nolan went down with
a leg injury in the second
minute and took no fur-
ther part in the game. His
replacement, junior Corey
Gregory, came onto the
court and immediately
opened the scoring with
a three-pointer, but it was
the only time Naselle was
ahead.
Senior Jacob Eaton
scored nine points and
sophomore Jimmy Strange
had eight. The Knights had
four players score in dou-
ble figures.
EORIA, Ariz. — Yusei Kiku-
chi felt the nerves Monday that
would normally accompany tak-
ing the mound in front of tens of thou-
sands of fans in a major ballpark, not
the few thousand who showed up for a
spring training game in the desert.
“I’ve been pitching in Japan for the
last nine years and I wanted to test what
I was doing in Japan against major
league hitters and I wanted to see how
they reacted,” Kikuchi said through
an interpreter. “So I was really kind of
excited and also nervous about that.”
Kikuchi made his debut for the
Seattle Mariners throwing two innings
against the Cincinnati Reds in a start
that featured a little bit of everything,
from moments of dominance, to his
defense letting him down, to Kikuchi
working out of a jam.
It was a lot for a two-inning debut,
but the Mariners were pleased with
what they saw.
Kikuchi’s most notable at-bat was
his lone strikeout, when he tied up Joey
Votto on a deceptive 2-2 curveball that
left the veteran slugger waving unsuc-
cessfully. While Kikuchi has a fastball
in the mid-90s, his breaking pitches
and the ability to hide the ball in his
windup add to the challenges of facing
the lefty.
“It’s spring training and I’m sure
he’s tuning up his swing as well but to
strike out someone the caliber of Joey
Votto, a hitter of that caliber, I’m really
happy about the result of today,” Kiku-
chi said.
The rest of the outing forced Kiku-
chi to do a little bit of everything. He
had to scamper off the mound to cover
first base on a groundout by Yasiel
Puig. And he faced the challenge of
traffic on the bases after a rough sec-
ond inning that featured a leadoff walk,
two errors and giving up two runs —
although both were unearned.
Kikuchi threw 29 pitches with 19
strikes, the first step in a transitional
season.
“Obviously, when you’re up on the
mound you want to shut them down
one, two, three when you’re up there
but after I let some guys on today I
think I was able to keep my pitch count
low and get some double play balls so
I’m happy with what I did,” Kikuchi
said.
The first outing for Kikuchi was
documented from every angle by Asian
photographers following his every
move, from his warmup in the bullpen
to the scrum after his outing with doz-
ens of reporters.
Seattle wants to limit Kikuchi’s
innings during the regular season and
make the first-year transition from
pitching in Japan less arduous. But the
Mariners also need to build up Kikuchi
so he is ready to take on a starter’s load
when his innings won’t be limited.
SPORTS IN BRIEF
Blazers hold off Cavaliers’
rally for 123-110 win
CLEVELAND — CJ McCollum
scored 35 points and the Portland Trail
Blazers hung on after nearly squander-
ing a 23-point halftime lead to defeat
the Cleveland Cavaliers 123-110 on
Monday night.
The Blazers needed a 14-0 run late
in the fourth quarter to finally put away
a game that looked like a rout in the
first half.
Cleveland cut the lead to 88-84
going into the fourth and was behind
105-102 with 4:42 left, but Portland’s
backcourt duo of McCollum and
Damian Lillard took over from there.
McCollum scored 11 points in the
fourth quarter and finished the night
hitting 12 of 18 shots, including 7 of 8
3-pointers. Lillard scored eight of his
21 points in the final period.
Cedi Osman scored 27 points for
the Cavaliers, who were attempting to
win three straight for the first time this
season. Kevin Love, playing his fifth
game since returning from foot sur-
gery, had 18 points and 12 rebounds in
28 minutes.
The Blazers, coming off road wins
over playoff contenders Brooklyn and
Philadelphia, seemed to be on their
way to a comfortable win against the
Cavaliers, who have the league’s third-
worst record.
Portland scored the game’s first 14
points and continued to pour it on in the
second quarter, taking a 71-48 lead into
halftime.
Cleveland rallied in the third quarter,
and Matthew Dellavedova’s 3-pointer
with a second left cut the lead to 88-84.
Cleveland appeared to tie the game
early in the fourth, but Larry Nance
Jr.’s 3-pointer was waved off after the
Blazers were charged with a common
foul on a screen set by Dellavedova.
Zorn named head coach,
GM of Seattle XFL franchise
SEATTLE — Former NFL head
coach Jim Zorn will be the coach and
general manager of Seattle’s franchise
in the new XFL.
XFL Commissioner Oliver Luck
made the announcement Monday. Zorn
was head coach of the Washington
Redskins for two seasons, but has been
out of coaching since 2012.
He has strong Seattle ties as the quar-
terback for the Seahawks from 1976 to
1984. He also served as an assistant
coach for the Seahawks during two
stints, including quarterbacks coach
from 2001-07.
The current edition of the XFL plans
to begin play in 2020 with teams in
eight cities. The football league’s orig-
inal version folded after just one sea-
son in 2001.
— Associated Press