SPORTS
THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2016
Sports shorts
Hernandez tosses
¿ nal tXneXS Ior
2SeninJ 'a\
PEORIA, Ariz. (AP) —
Seattle ace Felix Hernandez
pitched three
innings in the
Mariners’ 7-5
loss to the
San Diego
Padres on
Wednesday in
his ¿ nal start before opening
day.
Hernandez allowed four
runs — all in the ¿ rst inning
— and four hits. He struck
out one and walked one.
Tyson Ross, who is slated
to start for San Diego on
opening day on Monday
against the Dodgers, also
pitched three innings and
was charged with one run
and two hits. He also drove
in a run with a fourth-inning
single.
Derek Norris doubled in
two runs and Matt Kemp
had two hits for the Padres,
including an RBI double.
Mid-game sub Adam
Rosales hit a two-run homer
in the seventh inning.
1B
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PENDLETON
7imEerZolYes sSlit reJion oSener
Oldham grand
slam boosts
Blue Mountain
The
T-Wolves
said he ¿ gures there
Baseball
won their sixth game
could be a lot of
since the vernal
days like this in the
equinox to open
East Region, which
NWAC East play Wenatchee Blue Mtn
leads the NWAC
against Wenatchee
with a .610 winning
Valley in Pendleton
percentage.
on
Wednesday.
“That’s how this
Trevor Oldham hit a grand slam in region is. There’s no bad teams in
the third inning and BMCC held on the region and there’s no team that
for the 10-7 win in the ¿ rst half of we can’t beat either,” he said. “It’s
their doubleheader.
how we play, and one game we
But the T-Wolves couldn’t keep played well and then the other game
it going in the second game and fell we didn’t.”
13-3 in seven innings.
It was Blue Mountain’s ability
T-Wolves coach Brad Baker to one-up Wenatchee Valley that
7-13 10-3
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
Fragrant
blooms,
evening
sunlight and mailmen in short pants:
spring brings us many things.
For the Blue Mountain Timber-
wolves it has come bearing wins.
HERMISTON
Women’s College Basketball
Open tryouts to Final Four: 'aZJs
Oregon State’s dramatic rise Iall to
Falcons
La Salle scores
four in the ¿ fth
to grab the win
Former Seattle
Storm star retires
CANBERRA, Australia
(AP) — Lauren Jackson
announced her injury-forced
retirement on Thursday,
ending an illustrious
basketball career which saw
her star for the WNBA’s
Seattle Storm
lead
FACES and
Australia to
four Olympic
medals.
At a
Basketball
Australia media
conference, the
Jackson
34-year-old
Jackson, the
WNBA’s most valuable
player in 2010, said right
knee and left Achilles tendon
injuries forced her to end a
career that began in 1997.
She had been named on
Australia’s squad for the Rio
Games in August, but recent
¿ tness testing convinced
her she would not be able to
play in a ¿ fth Olympics.
The 6 foot, 5-inch
Jackson spent her entire
WNBA career with Seattle,
helping lead the Storm to
a pair of titles in 2004 and
2010.
“Might as well
put us in skirts
and back in the
kitchen.“
— Diana Taurasi
WNBA star for the
Phoenix Mercury to
ESPNW.com on the idea
of lowering the
baskets in women’s
basketball to eight feet
instead of the regular 10
feet. Reigning WNBA
MVP Elena Delle Don-
ne recently sparked the
debate when she told
USA Today that she was
in favor of lowering the
hoops, as it would bring
a new aspect to the
game and “show off the
athleticism of our
women.”
7H,S '$7( ,1 S3257S
1975 — UCLA beats
Kentucky 92-85 for its 10th
NCAA basketball title under
head coach John Wooden.
Wooden ¿ nishes with a
620-147 career record after
announcing his retirement
two days earlier.
2013 — In one of the
biggest upsets in the history
of the NCAA women’s
tournament,
sixth-seeded
Louisville stuns defending
champion Baylor in the
regional semi¿ nals, 82-81.
It’s the end of a remarkable
college career for Baylor’s
Brittney Griner.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com
allowed it to hold on for the win in
the opener.
When the Knights (3-11, 1-1
East) scored three in the top of
the third, the T-Wolves (7-9, 1-1)
answered with four in the bottom of
the inning.
The Knights picked up two outs
right away, but Jared Rogers, Logan
Cordiero and Ben Ross all drew
walks to load the bases for Oldham.
He swung at the ¿ rst pitch he
saw, pulling it foul. Two pitches
later he hit his second home run of
the season to give the T-Wolves a
See T-WOLVES/2B
By SAM BARBEE
East Oregonian
MILWAUKEE — The
Hermiston Bulldogs baseball
team allowed four runs to the
La Salle Prep Falcons in the
bottom of the ¿ fth inning on
Wednesday, letting the game
slip away
to earn the
Baseball
5-2 loss in
non-league
action.
Hermiston
Until
that point,
the
Bull-
dogs (4-3)
and Falcons
w e r e
La Salle
deadlocked
in a 0-0
tie as both
offenses
were struggling to get
anything going against each
teams’ pitchers. Tyler Sexton
got the start for Hermiston
and was solid through the
¿ rst four innings, but in the
¿ fth inning he left some
pitches up in the zone and the
Falcons capitalized for those
four runs.
Sexton ¿ nished his outing
with a respectable line,
tossing 4.2 innings while
allowing four earned runs
on ¿ ve hits, three strikeouts
and three walks. Slade Gritz
relieved Sexton in that ¿ fth
inning, and allowed one
unearned run on four hits
over the last 1.1 innings
while striking out one and
walking two. Gritz also had
two hits on offense, leading
the team.
“We hit some balls hard
and they caught them,”
Hermiston assistant coach
John Christy said of the
teams’ ¿ ve-hit offensive
performance. “There were
too many rollovers and four-,
¿ ve-hoppers right to guys.
We need to be more balanced
at the plate.”
Hermiston next hosts Rex
Putnam for a doubleheader
on Friday at 4 p.m.
———
2
AP Photo/Brandon Wade
Oregon State celebrates winning 60-57 over Baylor after a regional fi nal of the women’s NCAA basket-
ball tournament Monday, March 28, 2016, in Dallas.
Beavers turnaround complete with postseason run
By ANNE M. PETERSON
AP Sports Writer
CORVALLIS — When Oregon
State defeated mighty Stanford in
January for the ¿ rst time in 29 tries,
Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer
gave credit to Beavers coach Scott
Rueck.
In the six seasons since Rueck
took over, Oregon State had steadily
ticked off the milestones. Beating
Stanford was the latest.
There were more to come.
“He’s put them into the national
conversation, which is fabulous,”
VanDerveer said.
Oregon State’s most recent
accomplishment is the program’s
¿ rst-ever NCAA Final Four appear-
ance. The Beavers face undefeated
defending champion Connecticut in
Indianapolis on Sunday for a chance
to play for the national champion-
ship.
“Did I ever think we could be
here in six years?” Rueck said
Wednesday. “No way.”
To fully appreciate how far the
Beavers have come, consider that
when Oregon State hired Rueck, the
team was down to two players and
three recruits who were on the fence.
The Beavers were in disarray
amid reports of player mistreatment,
including verbal abuse, by the
former coach. Oregon State had lost
17 straight at one point during the
previous season.
Godofredo Fasquez/The Gazette-Times via AP
Oregon State forward Samantha Siegner (5) signs an autograph for
Ashton Van Velzer, 8, on Tuesday, March 29, 2016, in Corvallis, Ore.
Oregon State plays Connecticut on Sunday in the semifi nals in the
NCAA women’s college basketball tournament Final Four in India-
napolis.
Rueck had spent 14 seasons at
George Fox, a Division III Christian
college in Newberg, Oregon, leading
the Bruins to six overall D-III tourna-
ments and the national championship
in 2009.
Coaching at his alma mater
Oregon State was a dream.
Rueck was able to convince the
three recruits to stick with Oregon
State despite the uncertainty. But
then he was left to build a Division
I roster nearly from scratch. Taking
a bold step in holding an open
prospect camp for players, he could
only promise walk-on status with
a chance at earning a scholarship
somewhere down the road. Fifty-¿ ve
young women showed up.
At a rally on campus Tuesday,
Oregon State athletic director Todd
Stansbury marveled at how far the
See BEAVERS/2B
College Football
3rXNoS tKinNinJ EiJ tKinJs Ior 'XcNs in 201
Transfer 4B has ¿ rst
practices with team
By RYAN THORBURN
The Register-Guard
EUGENE
—
Marcus
Mariota let his game do most of
the talking at Oregon.
Moments after the Heisman
Trophy winner and current
Tennessee Titans star watched
the 2016 Ducks’ ¿ rst spring
practice on Tuesday, Dakota
Prukop made quite a statement
about why he decided to transfer
into the program.
It certainly wasn’t because
the former Montana State
quarterback wants to play in the
Alamo Bowl.
“I came here because this is
a team that expects to win the
national championship,” Prukop
said. “I’m not out here like,
‘Oh, we’re winning the national
championship’ This is my ¿ rst
practice here. But this is a team
that expects to be No. 1. Without
that expectation, you can’t be
No. 1. You can’t reach a goal
you don’t set for yourself.
“That’s one of the reasons I
came here, and I’m excited to
be here. I’m excited to be in a
program that expects success.
They know how to achieve
success, they’ve been there.
They’ve been in the national
See DUCKS/2B
5
R H E
HHS
000 002
0 — 2 5 3
LSP
000 041 X — 5 9 1
T. Sexton, S. Gritz (5) and K. Caldwell; O.
Arnston and J. Lynch.
W — O. Arnston. L — T. Sexton.
Oregon quar-
terback Da-
kota Prukop
speaks on
the opening
day of spring
football work-
outs, Tues-
day, March
29, 2016 in
Eugene, Ore.
Oregon will
open their
2016 season
on Sept. 30,
2016 against
UC Davis.
Andy Nelson/The Reg-
ister-Guard via AP