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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (May 28, 2015)
7+856'$<0$< Sports shorts Warriors end 40- year absence from 1%$¿QDOV OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Stephen Curry had 26 points and eight rebounds, Harrison Barnes added 24 points and the Golden State Warriors advanced to the NBA Finals for the ¿UVWWLPHLQ\HDUVZLWK a 104-90 victory over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night. After decades of wishing and waiting for this moment, WKH:DUULRUVKDYH¿QDOO\ arrived. They shook off a slow start and sweated out DVKDN\¿QLVKLQ*DPHWR close out the Rockets and set up a matchup with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers beginning June 4. SPORTS PENDLETON Buckaroos turn tables on Panthers Pendleton hits four home runs to beat Central, reach state quarterfinals By MATT ENTRUP East Oregonian Pendleton’s Tiah Grass unloads on an RBI dou- ble in the Bucks 14-3 win against Central on Wednesday in Pendle- ton. 5A Softball: First Round $WWKHSODWHDQGLQWKH¿HOG Central Pendleton the Central Panthers came at the Pendleton Buckaroos with a ferocity that caught the defending champions a little RIIJXDUG:HGQHVGD\LQWKH¿UVW the Bucks to adjust and use URXQG RI WKH $ VRIWEDOO VWDWH the Panthers’ aggressiveness, particularly that of pitcher Erin playoffs. But it didn’t take long for See PHS SOFTBALL/2B 14 3 Staff photo by E.J. Harris PILOT ROCK Rockets end drought Hernandez gets 8th win, Mariners beat Rays ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Felix Hernandez pitched a four-hitter to EHFRPHWKHPDMRU¶V¿UVW eight-game winner, Nelson Cruz hit his AL-best 18th homer to snap a FACES scoreless tie in the ninth inning and the Seattle Mariners completed a three-game sweep by beating the Hernandez Tampa Bay Rays 3-0 on Wednesday. Hernandez (8-1) got four double plays in his second shutout this season. It was KLV¿UVWZLQDW7URSLFDQD Field after going 0-2 in four previous starts. Brad Boxberger (2-3) relieved Chris Archer after he pitched two-hit ball for eighth innings, and Boxberger walked Seth Smith and Robinson Cano with two outs. Cruz then made it 3-0 on a long home run that landed LQDFHQWHU¿HOG JDOORQ¿VKWDQNWKDWLVKRPH to a group of cownose rays. — Mike Zimmer Minnesota Vikings head coach on RB Adrian Peterson, who is has not reported team activities and has hinted that he’d like to be traded after serving a season-long suspension last year. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1927 ² 'HWURLW ¿UVW baseman Johnny Neun records an unassisted triple play in the ninth inning to end the 1-0 win over the Cleveland Indians. Neun grabs a Homer Summa line drive, tags Charlie Jamieson DW ¿UVW DQG RXWUXQV *OHQQ Myatt to tag second. 1997 — Ila Borders EHFRPHV WKH ¿UVW ZRPDQ to pitch in a regular-season professional baseball game, in the sixth inning of the St. Paul Saints’ Northern League game against Sioux Falls. She struggles, giving up three earned runs without getting an out. 2002 — Jason Kidd EHFRPHV WKH ¿UVW SOD\HU LQ \HDUV WR UHFRUG WKUHH triple-doubles in an NBA playoff series, and the New -HUVH\ 1HWV ¿QLVK RII WKH Boston Celtics with a 96-88 victory in Game 6 of the (DVWHUQ&RQIHUHQFH¿QDOV Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com PENDLETON Bucks pull upset, earn one more East Oregonian Staff photo by E.J. Harris Pilot Rock’s Justin Willingham is congratulated at home plate by his teammates after hitting a three- run home run on Wednesday in the Rockets’ 7-4 win against Kennedy in Pilot Rock. Willingham’s bomb ceases playoff struggles (17-9) ahead for good in the fourth inning. After just missing on Trojan pitcher Noah Giberson’s previous two offerings, Willingham hit the A nervous start put Pilot Rock Kennedy Pilot Rock FRYHURIIRIWKH¿UVWSLWFKKHVDZRQ baseball into an early hole. his third at-bat, sending it over the Two composed swings brought OHIW¿HOGZDOOVFRULQJ&KULV:HLQNH them back. DQG 5\OH &DPSEHOO WR WDNH D Mike Hiatt and Justin Will- lead. ingham each homered to lead Pilot Rock High School. “I can’t believe that,” Will- “I just know where my money the eighth-seeded Rockets to the VFKRRO¶V ¿UVW SRVWVHDVRQ YLFWRU\ LQJKDP VDLG RI HQGLQJ WKH \HDU spot is,” Willingham said of his since 2000, a 7-4 Class 2A/1A drought. “We’ve had some good fourth homer of the season. “It was right there.” opening round triumph over ninth- teams since then. That’s amazing.” Willingham put the Rockets seeded Kennedy Wednesday at See ROCKETS/3B By ERIK SKOPIL East Oregonian 2A/1A Baseball: First Round 7 “He’s really got two choices. He can either play for us or he cannot play.“ 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS 4 CORVALLIS — Four- teenth-seeded Pendleton entered Wednesday’s opening-round tilt with third- seeded Corvallis as the heavy underdog. But, behind a slew of base hits, Pendleton outclassed the Spartans, 5A Baseball: d o w n i n g Corvallis First Round 10-3 in a &ODVV $ baseball Pendleton victory Wednesday. A three-run ¿UVW LQQLQJ set the tone Corvallis for the Buckaroos’ dominance. K y l e r Lunny, Alex O’Rourke and Caden Smith each scored runs to give the Buckaroos (13-14) an edge they never relented. 3HQGOHWRQ ¿QLVKHG ZLWK 14 hits and scored in all but 10 3 See PHS BASEBALL/3B MILTON- FREEWATER Pioneers 6WDQ¿HOGHDVHVSDVW3OHDVDQW+LOO FOXE Cougars STANFIELD By SAM BARBEE EO Media Group $IWHUWKHWRSRIWKH¿UVWLQQLQJ and inning that saw Pleasant Hill score a run and threaten to plate more, it felt like the Billies would take control early and force the HLJKWKUDQNHGKRVW6WDQ¿HOG7LJHUV to play from behind from seven 3A Baseball: innings. First Round That didn’t KDSSHQ 6WDQ¿HOG exploded for ten Stanfi eld runs in the bottom RI WKH ¿UVW DQG tacked on seven more in the next six innings to handle the ninth- ranked Pleasant Pleasant Hill Hill Billies 17-3 LQ WKH ¿UVW URXQG of the 3A Oregon state playoffs Wednesday in Stan- ¿HOG7KH7LJHUVWUDYHOWR0HGIRUG to take on the top-ranked Cascade Christian Challengers on Friday at SP “We just came out of the gates and Thyler (Monkus) got us going, set the tone,” head coach Bryan -RKQVRQ VDLG RI WKH ¿UVW LQQLQJ (explosion). “Tony (Flore), and Ryan (Bailey) rips one — every- thing was just going our way. We just came out crushing the ball.” Stanfi eld sophomore Ryan Bailey slides into third base as Pleasant Hill third base- man Sam Jones tries to apply the tag as the ball gets away from him. Bailey would score on the play and the Tigers would win the game 17-3. 17 3 Sam Barbee photo 7KH ZLQ JLYH 6WDQ¿HOG VRPH redemption after last season, when the Tigers blew a late lead at home WR +DUULVEXUJ LQ WKH ¿UVW URXQG DW home. “We were talking about it all week,” Dylan Grogan said. “We MXVWZDQWHGWRPDNHLWSDVWWKH¿UVW round.” Well, the Tigers did. In a huge way. 6WDQ¿HOG SODWHG WHQ UXQV LQ WKDW PDVVLYH¿UVWLQQLQJDQGVL[UXQVLQ the fourth. The Tigers batted around in those two innings, giving starting pitcher Tony Flores all the cushion he would need. Thyler Monkus was 4-for-4 with three RBIs, two doubles and four runs scored to pace the Tigers offensively, and 5\DQ %DLOH\ ZDV IRU ZLWK D double, triple and a whopping ¿YHUXQVGULYHQLQ)ORUHVKDGWZR RBIs to help himself, and Klay Jenson added a couple of hits and an RBI. On the mound, Flores was lights out for just over two innings. 7KH ¿UVW VHYHQ RXWV RI WKH JDPH came by virtue of strikeouts, and KH ¿QLVKHG ZLWK HLJKW RYHU innings, allowing four hits, two runs — one earned — and walked four. He was relived in the fourth when See TIGERS/3B Fortune, Robert go yard in win East Oregonian MILTON-FREEWATER — The opening leg of the Mac-Hi title defense proved a minor obstacle. The Pioneers dispatched of Cascade 10-0 LQ ¿YH LQQLQJV RI &ODVV 4A opening round play Wednesday. 4A Softball: M i k a First Round Fortune and Colette Robert each hit three-run Mac-Hi bombs in the win to ensure the run-rule came into effect. The Cascade third-inning h o m e r was the diminutive )RUWXQH¶V ¿UVW FDUHHU KRPH run. Robert allowed just one See PIONEERS/3B 10 0
