SPORTS
TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2016
Sports shorts
MLB studying
raise of strike
zone’s bottom
NEW YORK (AP) —
Baseball’s strike zone could
be getting a
slight lift.
Major
League
Baseball is
studying
whether to raise the bottom
of the strike zone from the
hollow beneath the kneecap
back to the top of the
kneecap.
“I’m not in a position to
predict whether it’s going to
happen or not,” Rob Manfred
said during an interview
with The Associated Press
on Monday on his ¿ rst
anniversary as baseball
commissioner. “I think that
the interest in the topic is
really driven by the fact that
if you look over time there
has been a movement down
of the strike zone, largely as a
result of the way we evaluate
the strike zone with umpires.”
Davis has surgery,
hopes to play in
Super Bowl
CHARLOTTE, N.C.
(AP) — All-Pro linebacker
Thomas Davis had surgery
Monday morning on his
broken right forearm, but is
expected to play in the Super
Bowl on Feb. 7.
“My understanding is
if everything goes well it
is something
FACES he can mostly
certainly play
with,” Panthers
coach Ron
Rivera said
Monday. “So
we are excited
about that
Davis
possibility.”
Rivera did not know
which forearm bone Davis
broke.
He said the 11-year NFL
veteran may need to wear
a brace on his arm similar
to the one worn by New
England Patriots tight end
Rob Gronkowski.
Davis broke his arm
in the second quarter of
Carolina’s 49-15 win over
the Arizona Cardinals on
Sunday in the NFC cham-
pionship. Davis said after
the game he fully expected
to play in the Super Bowl in
about two weeks.
“I thank Oregon
State for a
great year. But
it is in my best
interest to pursue
my education
and football
somewhere else.“
— Seth Collins
Former Oregon State
quarterback. Collins
announced he would be
transferring from Ore-
gon State. The Beavers
were 2-10 last season
and Collins passed
for 936 yards and six
touchdowns with four
interceptions. He led the
Beavers in rushing with
380 yards and eight
touchdowns.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1913 — Jim Thorpe gives
up his track medals from the
1912 Olympics because he
played as a professional. He
had been paid $25 for playing
in a semipro baseball game.
1986 — The Chicago
Bears win their ¿ rst NFL
championship since 1963 by
setting a Super Bowl record
for points scored in defeating
the New England Patriots
46-10.
2008 — Maria Sharapova
wins the Australian Open,
beating Ana Ivanovic 7-5,
6-3 for her third Grand Slam
singles title.
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sports@eastoregonian.com
1B
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HERMISTON
Three Bulldogs win coveted titles
East Oregonian
HILLSBORO — The Hermiston
Bulldogs completed the Reser’s
Tournament of Champions on
Saturday evening, ¿ nishing in
second place with 177 points.
Hermiston ¿ nished the tour-
nament with three individual
champions, with Valen Wyse at
152 pounds, Bob Coleman at 182
pounds, and Sam Colbray at 195
pounds. The team ¿ nished 24 points
back of ¿ rst-place Crook County.
At 152 pounds, Wyse advanced
to the championship match as the
No. 6 seed and faced No. 8 seed
Cole Ovens from Crook County.
Wyse did not waste much time to
grab the victory, as he earned the
victory with a pin at the 1:26 mark
of the match.
Later at 182 pounds, the No. 2
seed Coleman faced off against the
No. 1 seed Tyler Self from Glencoe.
The match went the distance, and
Coleman earned his 27th win of the
season with a 4-3 decision over Self.
And ¿ nally at 195 pounds, the
No. 1 seed Colbray needed overtime
to earn his win, defeating Century’s
Jamarcus Grant by 3-1 decision to
move to 27-1 on the season.
Other placers for Hermiston
included Liam Tarvin taking ¿ fth
place at 120 pounds, Andy Wagner
taking fourth place at 126 pounds,
Brock McDonough taking third at
170 pounds, and Beau Blake taking
sixth at 285 pounds.
MILTON-FREEWATER
Pioneers see silver lining in loss
Mac-Hi’s
Hunter
Yensen
(22) goes
up for
a shot
during
Saturday’s
game
with the
Baker
Bulldogs
in Mil-
ton-Free-
water.
Mac-Hi basketball taking crucial steps
toward ending playoff droughts
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
Two games, one story.
Coming off wins in their
Greater
Oregon
League
openers, the Mac-Hi boys and
girls basketball teams hosted
Baker on Saturday in the
next big test for how far the
programs have come in a year.
And although both squads
were on the wrong end of the
¿ nal score, both walked away
knowing a state playoff berth
is well within their grasp this
season.
For a pair of teams that
combined to go 1-11 in league
play last season and haven’t
seen a state playoff game in
any of their players’ lifetimes,
that’s a very big deal.
The Mac-Hi boys, which
last made the state postseason
in 1995, were within a basket
of Baker and its 10 playoff
appearances in the last 11
seasons with less than three
minutes to play before the
Bulldogs pulled away at the
free throw line for a 57-51 win.
“We played well today
and I’m proud of the guys’
effort and their attitude,
they’re ¿ ghting and trying
with a never-going-to-lose
mentality,” said boys coach
Jordon Poynor. “Backs to the
wall, we’re going to ¿ ght until
the very end, and that’s all that
we ask for.
“That’s the goal, is being
competitive top to bottom …
and having a chance to make
something with the season,
and those are the games that
get you there.”
The girls, which are hoping
to end a playoff drought that
stretches back to 1987, came
See PIONEERS/2B
Staff photo by
Kathy Aney
Mac-Hi’s
Samantha
Tveidt
(33) races
down-
court
during
Satur-
day’s
game
with the
Baker
Bulldogs
in Mil-
ton-Free-
water.
Staff photo by
Kathy Aney
ECHO
Grizzlies rally to take down Cougars
Echo’s
Hannah
McCarty
(14) rises
for a layup
in front of
Griswold’s
Bethany
Newtson
(24) and Sa-
die Wilson
during the
Grizzlies’
33-30 win
Saturday in
Echo.
14-3 run in fourth
quarter lifts Helix
By SAM BARBEE
East Oregonian
For three quarters, the Helix
Grizzlies couldn’t ¿ gure out the
Echo Cougars.
The Cougars held a 27-19 lead
heading into the ¿ nal period, mostly
due to 19 Grizzly turnovers in the
¿ rst three periods. But, somehow,
Helix outscored Echo 14-3 fourth
quarter and downed the Cougars
33-30 on Saturday.
“(The players) played great
defense, and that’s what’s won us
a lot of ballgames all year long,”
Helix coach Kirk Flerchinger said
of the comeback. “We held ‘em to,
like, seven points, eight points in the
second half total. That’s our defense.
That’s how we win games.”
Echo (9-10, 2-5 OOL) led by
as many as 10 in the third quarter.
Kelsey Ranger, who missed the ¿ rst
match up between Echo and Helix
(a 45-29 Helix win) hit a 3-pointer
with 5:20 remaining in the third
quarter to put Echo up 27-17.
“Kelsey’s a big deal for them,”
Flerchinger said.
Echo built its lead with an
aggressive press and antsy ¿ rst-half
play from the Grizzlies (13-4, 6-1).
“Most of my timeouts were,
‘Hey, guys, settle down. to win
this game you gotta settled down
and play defense. And you gotta
score. Get the ball inside, and we’ll
score,’” Flerchinger said.
Staff photo by
Sam Barbee
But in the third quarter, the Griz-
zlies started to settle down. They
started to work the ball into the post
to Paden Flerchinger, Makenzie
Mize and Sadie Wilson, all of whom
are 5-foot-10 and all of whom are
bigger than any player for Echo.
Despite the effort, Helix still
trailed by eight heading into the
fourth quarter at 27-19. Helix’s
defense turned up, allowing just ¿ ve
third-quarter points, but its offense
was still lagging behind, netting
only two points.
“We try to go inside all the time,”
Flerchinger said. “We got big girls.
We can throw four of them at you all
night long. That’s what we do.”
That began to take effect in the
fourth quarter.
Helix started the period on a
10-0 run to take a 29-27 lead, and
Echo pulled back even on Hannah
McCarty’s runner with 2:55 on the
clock. The Cougars took a brief lead
when Lizzie Cox hit one of two free
throws to move the count to 30-29,
but Mize rebounded her own miss
and scored with 51 seconds left to
move Helix back in front at 31-30.
Echo’s chance to take a lead with
about 30 seconds left went begging,
and the Cougars had to foul to stop
the clock. Junior point guard Macey
Tullis made both free throws with
7.8 seconds left, and Echo couldn’t
get a good shot at the buzzer to tie.
With the win, Helix stays in sole
possession of second place in the
OOL, a game back of Nixyaawii for
¿ rst place. Flerchinger said he was
satis¿ ed with the win in Echo, as, in
his experience, it’s always a tough
gym to win in.
For Echo, meanwhile, Swanson
sees improvement, but Saturday’s
loss was “a heartbreaker.”
“This was a heartbreaker, for
everybody,” Swanson said. “We
were right on a two-game winning
streak and we were playing together
and playing tough. We gave them
everything we had and just fell
short.”
———
GHS (13-4, 6-1) 5
8
6 14 — 33
EHS (9-10, 2-5) 9 13
5 3 — 30
HELIX — M. Mize 9, P. Flerchinger 9, S. Wilson 9, E.
Fehrenbacker 4, M. Tullis 2, H. Christman, A. Krol, A.
Wood, C. Bennett, B. Newtson, M. Espy, K. Mize.
ECHO — H. McCarty 10, K. Ranger 8, T. Swaggert 5,
E. Parks 4, L. Cox 3, D. Tarvin, S. Stone, L. Wiggins,
B. Milbrodt.
3-pointers — GHS 0, EHS 3. Free throws — GHS
5-11, EHS 3-18. Fouls — GHS 16, EHS 15. Fouled out
— P. Flerchinger (GHS), H. McCarty (EHS). Technical
fouls — Helix bench.