Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (May 7, 2016)
Page 2B SPORTS East Oregonian Saturday, May 7, 2016 NBA Playoffs Trail Blazers at home Spurs go up 2-1 on Thunder for critical Game 3 The Associated Press By TIM REYNOLDS Associated Press Conference Semiinals MIAMI — Game 2 became a big missed opportunity for Portland, which now has minimal room for error. Going home could help ease their disappointment. Golden State will be aiming for a 3-0 lead over Portland, when the defending NBA champions visit the Trail Blazers in Game 3 Saturday night. “We’ll have bounce,” Portland coach Terry Stotts said. “We came back after 0-2 against the Clippers (in the irst round) and came with a lot of energy in Game 3. We know how important Game 3 is.” The Trail Blazers were up 11 going into the fourth quarter of Game 2 at Golden State, then got outscored 34-12 in the inal 12 minutes as their chance to steal home-court advantage vanished against the Warriors. The Warriors are making it easy for MVP Stephen Curry to not rush back from his knee injury. The sense out of Golden State is that Curry might not be available before Game 4 of the Portland series. If the Warriors take a 3-0 lead, it might buy the league’s scoring champion even • Saturday, 5:30 p.m. • TV: ABC • Warriors lead series 2-0 more time to get healthy. “He might be a little rusty,” said Shaun Livingston, who has replaced Curry in Golden State’s starting lineup. “But as far as coni- dence, that’s not going anywhere.” Even without their MVP, the champs are in control. Klay Thompson has averaged 32 points for the Warriors so far in the series, but what may be overlooked is that Golden State outrebounded Portland in Games 1 and 2 by a combined 103-79. “You’re talking about a cham- pionship team,” Portland guard Damian Lillard said. “They didn’t win a championship off luck. They do a lot of really good things offensively. They do a lot of really good things defensively. When you have letups and you have slipups, they take advantage of it. ... They see slippage and they go after it.” That all said, Portland locked down defensively in Game 3 to turn around its irst-round series against the Clippers. The chal- lenge only is bigger now. OKLAHOMA CITY — Kawhi Leonard had 31 points and 11 rebounds, and San Antonio beat Oklahoma City 100-96 on Firday to take a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference semiinal series. LaMarcus Aldridge had 24 points and eight rebounds, and Tony Parker added 19 points and eight rebounds for the Spurs, who regained the home-court advantage they had surrendered with a loss in Game 2. Russell Westbrook scored 31 points for the Thunder, but he made just 10 of 31 shots. He also had nine rebounds and eight assists. Kevin Durant scored 26 points, Serge Ibaka added 15 and Steven Adams had 11 rebounds for Oklahoma City. The Thunder shot just 41.5 percent from the ield. San Antonio led 47-42 at half- time after making 7 of 11 3-pointers. Westbrook made just 6 of 17 shots before the break. The Spurs opened the second half on a 7-2 run to force a Thunder timeout, but Oklahoma City, behind 10 points from Durant in the quarter, cut San Antonio’s lead to 72-69 heading into the fourth. The Thunder trimmed San Antonio’s lead to 98-96 on a loater by Dion Waiters with 4.5 seconds remaining, but Leonard made two free throws with 2.7 seconds left. Game 4 will be Sunday in Okla- AP Photo/Alonzo Adams San Antonio Spurs forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) shoots Okla- homa City Thunder center Steven Adams (12) defends during the second half of Game 3 of a second-round NBA basketball play- off series, Friday, May 6, 2016, in Oklahoma City. San Antonio won 100-96. homa City. CAVALIERS 121, HAWKS 108 — At Atlanta, Channing Frye scored a career playoff-high 27 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers kept up their 3-point barrage Friday night, pulling away in the closing minutes for a commanding 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semiinals. Two nights after setting an NBA record with 25 baskets beyond the arc, the Cavaliers were nearly as good in a 21-of-39 performance from long range that moved them within one victory of their second playoff sweep over the Hawks in two years. Atlanta turned in a much more respectable showing after getting blown out in Game 2. But in the end, it was the same result for a team that has lost 10 straight to the Cavaliers going back to last year’s conference inal. The Hawks led by as many as 11 but were dominated in the closing minutes. Game 4 is Sunday in Atlanta. SOFTBALL: Eagles rally for two runs in sixth Walker’s neck Ellie Richards, of Pend- leton, fo- cuses on the ball as Hood River’s Haylee Baker slides toward third base during Friday’s league game at Steve Cary Field. The run- ner was tagged out. Continued from 1B in the extra inning with a one-out single and moved into scoring position on a single by Kalan McGlothan. Hood River (10-13, 3-7) pitcher Hannah McNerney then got her third strikeout of the game for the second out before Lauren laced a single to center ield for her third hit of the game. “I’m pretty conident in all our hitters, everybody has the ability, and it was the right timing and it was awesome,” Ellie said. “We’re always ready for the tough games and they’re good for us. We came out looking for a win and we got it, so we’re happy.” Lauren Richards (3 for 4) also drove in the Bucks’ irst run of the game with a double in the fourth inning. McGlothan (2 for 4) started the at-bat with a single and then went to second on Rylee Gentner’s sacriice bunt. Richards brought her home with a drive to right ield, and then scored on a sacriice ly by Kiersten Murphy to make it a 2-0 ballgame. “Lately I haven’t been hitting my best, but you can’t let a slump get you down,” Richards said. “So I just came out and igured out what approach I wanted to have and just got after it.” Meanwhile, Richards was dealing from the circle and had given up just two hits with 11 strikeouts through ive innings. She fanned the side in the ifth, but the Eagles inally got to her in the sixth with two runs to tie the score. Laney Erikson led off Staff photo by Kathy Aney with a home run to center ield, and Lauren Decker and Haylee Baker followed with singles to give the Eagles runners on the corners with no outs. Decker scored from third when Pendleton couldn’t make a clean connection trying to pick off a stealing Baker at second. A groundout was followed by Richards’ second walk of the game, but she never lost her composure and struck out the next two batters to end the threat. “It’s softball, and I know that stuff’s going to happen,” she said. “I always go in and keep my cool, and do what I can do and what I know to do.” “Just a great competitor,” Cary said. “She doesn’t give in when the going gets tough, she doesn’t start pointing ingers, she doesn’t hang her head. She inds a way to get it done and that’s what real ballplayers do. “We thought about maybe getting a pitcher up in the bullpen, and I thought Lauren was maybe getting tired … but then again, as soon as you think she’s down she digs a little deeper and inds a way to shift it into overdrive and catch a second wind and get it done.” Richards became the ifth different Pendleton pitcher to throw a CRC-title-clinching game during their current streak, following the foot- steps of Murphy (2015), Hailey Kline (2014), Marissa Jones (2013) and Kristen Crawford (2012). The irst goal on their list checked off, Pendleton has three games left in its regular season, two of those in CRC play. Up next is a home game against The Dalles that will start at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday. “Winning the conference is always a goal, so it was nice to get that under our belts,” Ellie Richards said, “but now we have a bigger goal, so hopefully we stay strong, and hopefully we get there.” ——— R H E HRV 000 002 00 — 2 5 0 PHS 002 000 01 — 3 9 1 H. McNerney and Z. Munn. L. Richards and R. Gentner. W — Richards. L — McNerney. 2B — Z. Munn (HRV); L. Richards (PHS). HR — L. Erikson (HRV). ——— Contact Matt Entrup at mentrup@eastoregonian. com or 541-966-0838. Follow him on Twitter @ mattentrup. spasms doom M’s MLB By KRISTIE RIEKEN Associated Press HOUSTON — Seattle starter Taijuan Walker’s neck was stiff and he had trouble turning his head when he arrived at the ballpark. He hoped it would loosen up and he’d be OK by the time he got on the mound against the Houston Astros on Friday night. Instead he continued to struggle with the problem and was only able to last two innings in 6-3 loss. Carlos Correa homered and inished with three hits and two RBIs to lead the Astros to victory. Walker allowed two hits and three runs — one earned — before leaving the game with neck spasms. He thinks he slept on it wrong and hopes it isn’t something that will linger. “My neck was tight, I couldn’t really turn to inish the catcher, and as a result, I couldn’t really inish my pitches,” he said. “I was using all arms, so it was better not to push it and mess up my mechanics or anything.” Mariners manager Scott Servais said the training staff worked all afternoon to try and make it better, but it simply didn’t work. “It was very clear to me that he was not comfort- able,” Servais said. “The ball wasn’t coming out. At this point in the season, where we’re at, he’s too Seattle Houston 3 6 valuable. We’re not taking a chance. His velocity was down, all his stuff was down.” Houston manager A.J. Hinch knew right away that Walker wasn’t himself. “His velocity wasn’t as high in the irst inning as it had been in Seattle and he looked a little tentative,” Hinch said. “He looked uncomfortable but I didn’t really know what it was. He wasn’t getting down the hill. He wasn’t as energetic as he was (before).” Correa’s homer came off Walker (2-2) with two outs in the irst inning. It was his second home run in three games after not homering in the previous 24 games. Evan Gattis reached on an error by shortstop Ketel Marte with no outs in the second. The Astros made it 3-0 when Marwin Gonzalez sent one into the seats in right ield for the irst multi-run homer of his career. The irst 25 homers in his ive-year career were solo shots. Houston starter Doug Fister (3-3) allowed three hits and three runs with two walks in 6 1/3 innings for his second straight win. Luke Gregerson pitched a scoreless ninth for his seventh save. BASEBALL: Pendleton inconsistent at plate, strands tying run in seventh Continued from 1B easy inning as Quinn forced a soft two-out grounder up the middle, but as Morris moved to his left and waited on the ball to arrive, the ball took an awkward hop and Morris mishandled it, resulting in both runners being safe to extend the inning. And with the very next at-bat, Hood River’s Skylar Hunter drilled a two-run double into left center to push the Eagles in front 7-5. Pendleton coach T.J. Haguewood was disap- pointed with the overall outcome, but expressed his support of his shortstop. “Wyatt’s our guy, he’s a great shortstop and he makes a lot of great plays and a lot of routine plays and it’s just one of those things,” he said. “It kind of took a little late hop on him, but he’s going to get the next one.” Pendleton struggled against Hood River (19-4, 9-1) starting pitcher Connor Coerper and his sweeping curveball as the Bucks whiffed six times against the right hander and managed only four hits with three runs in his ive innings. Quinn Cockburn got the start at pitcher for Pendleton, and did not have a sharp outing, tossing four innings while allowing four hits, four runs and six walks. His struggles started right from the start as he walked Hood River’s leadoff hitter Skylar Hunter on ive pitches and then gave up a single to Dallas Buckley and a walk to Kellan Duffy to load the bases with only one out. The Eagles only managed one run out of the situation as Hunter scored on a wild pitch for an early 1-0 lead. Pendleton (11-12, 2-8 CRC) had an inconsistent afternoon hitting with runners on base hitting 5-17 (.294) with ive strikeouts and leaving seven runners stranded, including the tying run at third base in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Buckaroos had already plated one run in that inning to cut the deicit to one as Devon Roe scored on a wild pitch before Daniel Naughton watched strike three to end the game. “We worked pretty hard through the week to try and get these guys, but we just came up short,” Pend- leton’s Quinn Cockburn throws from the mound in the Bucks’ 7-6 loss to Hood River on Friday in Pendle- ton. Staff photo by E.J. Harris said Pendleton sophomore Shaw Jerome. “But we’ll be alright.” Pendleton battled back from the early deicit in the bottom of the second inning as a ielding error from Duffy at third base allowed Jack Peterson to come around and score from second base — barely evading a tag at home plate — followed by an blistering RBI single up the middle from Morris to give the Buckaroos a 2-1 lead. They tacked on to that lead in the second inning with a leadoff double to right ield from Naughton and a hard-hit single down the irst base line from Shaw Jerome to score Naughton for the 3-1 Pendleton lead. Jerome inished the game a perfect 3-3 at the plate with a double, an RBI and a run scored. “I was just trying to jump on some (pitches) early in the at-bats,” Jerome said. “It’s been a long few weeks working on my swing, and the coaching staff’s done a good job with me.” Pendleton’s bats fell then fell silent for the next three frames as Hood River began to re-take control. In the fourth, the Eagles sent nine men to the plate and racked up two hits and four walks which led to three runs to give them a 4-3 lead. They added on to that in the sixth inning with an RBI single from Buckley for a 5-3 Eagles lead. But Pendleton battled back once again in the sixth inning, as Ryan Russell and Jerome put together back- to-back hits which set up a two-run single from Nick Bower to tie the game at 5-5. Haguewood said that seeing the team battle back after they kept falling behind was a positive takeaway from the game. “When you’re trying to work out of slumps and stuff, it’s great to see the guys battling,” he said. “We competed against (Hood River) and all around we had a lot of guys do a lot of good things today and that’s good when we’re ighting. If we can get a break here and there things could go a little different.” The Buckaroos will now work toward a big Tuesday meeting with The Dalles Riverhawks as a postseason play-in spot will be on the line. The Riverhawks defeated Hermiston on Friday afternoon 5-1 to improve to 3-7 and move one game up on Pendleton in the CRC. The Buckaroos will need a win on Tuesday as well as a win over Herm- iston, or a Riverhawks loss to the Eagles to clinch the play-in spot. First-pitch is set for 4:30 p.m. at Bob White Park. ——— R H E HRV 100 301 2 — 7 8 1 PHS 210 002 1 — 6 8 1 Coerper, Harvey (6) and Cameron. Cock- burn, Quinn (5), and Russell. W — Harvey, L — Quinn. 2B — Hunter, Duffy (HRV). Naughton, Jerome (PHS).