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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
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a 104-90 victory over
the Houston Rockets on
Wednesday night.
After decades of wishing
and waiting for this moment,
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arrived. They shook off a
slow start and sweated out
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Myatt to tag second.
1997 — Ila Borders
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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
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triple-doubles in an NBA
playoff series, and the New
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Boston Celtics with a 96-88
victory in Game 6 of the
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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
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baseball into an early hole.
his third at-bat, sending it over the
Two composed swings brought
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them back.
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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
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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.
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14 hits and scored in all but
10
3
See PHS BASEBALL/3B
MILTON-
FREEWATER
Pioneers
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Cougars
STANFIELD
By SAM BARBEE
EO Media Group
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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
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to play from
behind from seven 3A Baseball:
innings.
First Round
That
didn’t
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exploded for ten
Stanfi eld
runs in the bottom
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tacked on seven
more in the next
six innings to
handle the ninth-
ranked Pleasant Pleasant Hill
Hill Billies 17-3
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of the 3A Oregon
state playoffs Wednesday in Stan-
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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
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(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
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redemption after last season, when
the Tigers blew a late lead at home
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home. “We were talking about it
all week,” Dylan Grogan said. “We
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round.”
Well, the Tigers did. In a huge
way.
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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
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double, triple and a whopping
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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.
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came by virtue of strikeouts, and
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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
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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
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run.
Robert allowed just one
See PIONEERS/3B
10
0