Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 18, 2016)
SPORTS FRIDAY, MARCH 18, 2016 STANFIELD Sports shorts Broncos swipe OL Okung from Seahawks DENVER (AP) — The Denver Broncos continued bolstering their offensive line on Thursday when they agreed to a ¿ ve-year contract with former Seattle Seahawks tackle Russell Okung. Selected by Seattle with the sixth pick in the 2010 draft out of Oklahoma State, Okung started 72 regular-season games and a dozen playoff contests for the Seahawks over the last six seasons. He was a Pro Bowler in 2012. Okung’s 20 sacks allowed in his career rank as the fewest in the league among tackles who have started at least half of their team’s games in each season since 2010. The Broncos also added guard Donald Stephenson in free agency. 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS Grogan tosses perfect game in 2016 debut Baseball Junior righty strikes out 12 in ¿ ve innings By SAM BARBEE East Oregonian Stan¿ eld baseball coach Bryan Johnson is depending on talented right-hander Dylan Grogan to be a foundational piece to the Tigers’ pitching staff in 2016 as they endeavor to win their third straight 3A Eastern Oregon League title. If Thursday’s performance was any indication, Johnson won’t have to fret much about the lanky junior. Grogan spun an abbreviated perfect game in his 2016 debut, tossing ¿ ve full Union Stanfi eld 0 16 innings allowing zero baserun- ners while striking out 12 Union Bobcats in just 57 pitches as the Tigers throttled the Bobcats 16-0. “You can’t ask for much more out of the gate,” Johnson said of the win. “The kids were focused and dialed it in.” Grogan was effective and ef¿ cient from the ¿ rst pitch. His mid-80s fastball was too much for Union hitters, and he deftly mixed in change-ups and breaking balls to keep the hitters off balance. He relied on the heater though, not wanting to speed up the Bobcat bats, which were consistently behind the hard fastball. In the top of the second inning, Grogan struck out the side using nothing but fastballs against the four, ¿ ve and six hitters in Union’s order. It was a demonstration of what Grogan can do if he throws strikes, something he struggled with as a sophomore. Of the 57 pitches, 46 were strikes. He threw three or more balls in an inning just twice. “Dylan’s biggest thing this year was just throwing strikes,” Johnson said, adding he threw Stanfi eld righty Dylan Grogan delivers a pitching Thursday during his perfect game and a 16-0 Tiger win over Union at Madigan Field. Staff photo by Sam Barbee See STANFIELD/2B PENDLETON Bucks, Dawgs shine in opener Delgado splits matches at NCAA Championships NEW YORK — Former Hermiston Bulldog and current Oregon State wrestler Joey Delgado is still alive in the consolation bracket after ¿ rst day FACES the of the NCAA Wrestling Championships at Madison Square Garden. Delgado (24-14) went Delgado into the tournament unseeded at 149 pounds, and dropped his ¿ rst round match-up against the No. 11 seed Anthony Collicka from Oklahoma State with an 11-8 decision. The redshirt junior then came back in the consolation bracket and defeated San Diego State’s Alex Kocer by a 9-7 decision to move on to competition on Friday. Delgado is scheduled to take on Boise State’s Geo Martinez (29-7) on Friday in the second round of the consolation bracket. Staff photo by E.J. Harris Pendleton senior Lukas Johnson clears 11 feet 6 inches in the pole vault Thursday during the Buck Track Classic in Pendleton. Area teams wrap up i rst competition with high expectations for season “I’ve had more Powerade than I’ve ever had in my life right now.“ — Tony Bennett Virginia Cavaliers men’s basketball coach follow- ing No. 1 seed Virginia’s 81-45 win over No.16 seed Hampton on Thursday. Bennett collapsed on the side- line during the waning seconds of the i rst half, but came back in the second half and missed no considerable time in the game. Bennett said afterwards that he had been sick earlier in the week and that he blamed the collapse on simple dehydration. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1993 — Santa Clara beats Arizona 64-61 to become the second 15th-seeded team to win a ¿ rst-round game in the NCAA tournament. 2001 — Indiana’s Reggie Miller becomes the ¿ rst player in NBA history to total 2,000 3-pointers after hitting four in a 101-95 win over Sacramento. 2013 — LeBron James and the Miami Heat escape Boston with their 23rd victory in a row, the second longest win streak in NBA history. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian On Thursday afternoon, more than 700 athletes from more than 15 schools from eastern Oregon descended on Pendleton High School for the 25th annual Buck Track Classic. It marked the ¿ rst opportunity for athletes to get a crack at compe- tition in the 2016 season, as well as the ¿ rst time for coaches to really see the progression and develop- ment of their runners, throwers, and jumpers after only a few weeks of practice. “It gives the kids a mark to work at the rest of the season,” Pendleton coach Dustin Breshears said. “It Staff photo by E.J. Harris Weston-McEwen freshman Keree Graves leads her heat in the also gives us coaches points on 400-meter dash Thursday during the Buck Track Classic in Pendleton. what to do and where to go with our workouts and practices moving forward.” After everything was completed, the Pendleton Buckaroos and Hermiston Bulldogs could only smile at their results as each team had very successful days. For Pendleton, the team did much better than the coaches had anticipated. “I was very pleased and surprised ... a lot of the kids did way better than we had expected,” Pendleton coach Dustin Breshears said. “We had kids hitting (personal records) and beating times from last year in just the ¿ rst meet, which is very exciting as a coach.” One of those surprises was junior sprinter Soren Wolf, who in his ¿ rst year as a member of the See TRACK/2B Prep Roundup Pioneers pick up walk-off win on TigerScots Softball Biggs plays hero in Pioneers’ season-opener East Oregonian MILTON-FREEWATER — Mac-Hi senior Abi Biggs stepped to the plate with her Pioneers team trailing the Weston-McEwen TigerScots 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh inning. The bases were loaded — after a single from Jenny Field and back- to-back walks by Shannon Carter and Mallory Copeland — and there were already two outs in the inning. But with a full count, Biggs took the pitch from TigerScot pitcher Jessica W-McEwen Mac-Hi 5 6 Lambert and smashed it into the out¿ eld and off the left ¿ eld fence which scored Field and Carter for a walk-off double to give the Pioneers the 6-5 win. “They walked Mallory inten- tionally to get to Abi. She knew why they did it and she was determined to come through and it’s huge for her,” Christian said. “Overall I’m just proud of the way that the girls played and started the year off with a win.” Copeland pitched all seven innings for the Pioneers (1-0) in her ¿ rst pitching action in more than two years, allowing six runs and seven hits while striking out ¿ ve batters and walking four. She also was a force at the plate, going 2-3 with two home runs and four RBIs. ——— R H E W-M (0-1) 002 000 3 — 5 7 0 MHS (1-0) 300 001 2 — 6 6 2 Copeland and Lesko. Lambert and Earl. W — Copeland. L — Lambert. HEPPNER 14, UMATILLA 1 — At Heppner, the Mustangs needed only ¿ ve innings to grab their ¿ rst win of the season, beating down the Umatilla Vikings on Thursday afternoon. Pitchers Meranda Lemmon and Dakota Durphy combined for allow just one hit and two walks on the mound for the Mustangs (1-0), while Cassidy McCullough picked up two hits to lead the offense. “The girls played pretty well for the ¿ rst time out this year,” Heppner coach Petra Payne said. “The game showed us some little things and situations we have to work on, but it was nice to get the win.” Umatilla (0-1) next plays at home against Walla Walla Academy on Mar. 29, while Heppner will host the Hermiston JV on Mar. 23. ——— UHS (0-1) 000 10 — 1 1 3 HHS (1-0) 1013 00 — 14 10 3 Lemmon, Durphy (3) and Hanby. Trajillo, Rodriguez (3), and Reyes. 2B — Correa, Orem (HHS).
