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Page 2B SPORTS East Oregonian Wednesday, August 3, 2016 College Football Oregon State ready for start of fall practices By NICK DASCHEL Associated Press CORVALLIS — Construction is moving at a feverish pace at the west end of Reser Stadium, where Oregon State is putting the ¿nishing touches on a 42 million remodel prior to the start of the football season. The school is attempting to continue its advancement of the football program. As for the Beavers? They’re trying to keep from returning to their past strug- gles, where they once had a streak of 28 consecutive losing seasons. Oregon State kicks off fall prac- tices Friday at Summit High School in Bend, trying to end a slide of two consecutive losing seasons. The most recent time the Beavers posted three straight losing seasons was 1996 to 98. Achieving a winning season in 2016 is expected to be a steep climb, as the Beavers are coming off a 2-10 season, their worst since 1995. Oregon State was picked to ¿nish last in the Pac-12 North in the preseason media poll. Oregon State returns 11 starters, including seven on offense. Among the newcomers looking to make an impact this season is quarterback Darrel Garretson, a junior transfer from Utah State who won the starting job during the spring. Because of the stadium construction, Oregon State is moving the start of fall practice off campus for the ¿rst time ever to Bend, located about 125 miles southeast of Corvallis in Central Oregon. The Beavers will hold practice for the ¿rst six days in Bend, before returning to OSU’s campus Aug. 11. Oregon State’s second-year coach Gary Andersen hopes to increase the team’s unity and chemistry during the week away from Corvallis. “I want them to get to know some different people. We’ll be doing some very different bonding 2016 Schedule 9/1 9/17 9/24 10/1 10/8 10/15 10/22 10/29 11/5 11/12 11/19 11/26 @Minnesota 6 p.m. vs. Idaho State 2 p.m. vs. Boise State TBD @ Colorado TBD vs. California TBD vs. Utah TBD @ Washington TBD vs. Wash. State TBD @ Stanford TBD @UCLA TBD vs. Arizona TBD vs. Oregon TBD situations in Bend that are a little bit different than what we’ve done in the past. Does it win you games? No. Do I believe it helps? Yes,” Andersen said. Sophomore receiver Seth Collins said players are looking forward to starting fall camp in Bend. “It’s going to be a fun thing, but I think it’s going to be physical. It just adds to the overall camara- Competition ¿gures to be intense during the four weeks of preseason practice. There are at least half the starting jobs up for grabs, and new coordinators to impress in defen- sive coordinator Kevin Clune and co-offensive coordinators Kevin McGiven and T.J. Woods. Andersen’s expectations are simple heading into fall camp. “My expectations of them is to be a much improved football team. Our goals should be that. Anything past there is Àapping your lips,” Andersen said. “I expect them to carry them- selves with belief and a little bit of swagger. It’s not deserved swagger at this point, but you have to feel good about your team and where you’re headed.” The Beavers open the season on the road, playing at Minnesota on Sept. 1. Oregon State has seven home games on its schedule, including the Civil War against Oregon on Nov. 26. derie,” Collins said. This season marks a change for Collins, as he was Oregon State’s starting quarterback coming out of fall camp last season. Collins started seven games, then after an injury, played at wide receiver during OSU’s season ¿nale against Oregon, scoring three rushing touchdowns. “I’m not really sure what my role will be, but when I touch the ball, I plan on making things happen,” Collins said. In Collins’ place at quarterback is Garretson, who passed for 2,586 yards and 18 touchdowns in two seasons at Utah State prior to transferring to Oregon State in June 2015. “The redshirt year was hard, but I got to work on a lot of stuff, got to work on certain things you normally wouldn’t be able to work on during the season. The year off was bene¿cial, for sure,” said the 6-foot, 210-pound Garretson, whose uncle Ron is an NBA referee. THOMPSON: Thankful for two years as coach at Irrigon Continued from 1B Thompson is a ‘great addi- tion’ to the staff and that they are excited to work with and mentor him for the next season. “Mitch has a great work ethic, is very energetic, and an extremely hard worker who will most de¿nitely give that extra effort it takes to help this program be successful,” Rupp told the East Oregonian on Monday. “Mitch brings invaluable experience gained from working for other outstanding programs and coaches plus having been a highly successful coach in Oregon High School basket- ball the past two seasons. “He is widely respected and known as a quality person and an excellent mentor and role model.” In his position, Thompson will be the Beavers’ full-time ¿lm coordinator, he’ll able to assist in day-to-day opera- tions and team practices, and he’ll be on the bench for each game the Beavers play for the upcoming season. It also gives him plenty of ¿nancial assistance, as Oregon State pays for his classes as he pursues a master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies. “I’m very lucky,” Thompson reiterates. ... The game of basketball has been Thompson’s passion for as long as he can remember, but it became his obsession in high school. He played for three out of his four years as a student at Hermiston High School before sitting out his senior season with a knee injury. That injury was a blessing in disguise for Thompson, as it opened the ¿rst door for his coaching career. With the help of then-Hermiston boys basket- ball coach Larry Usher, Thompson landed a coaching position at Sandstone Middle School as a high school senior in 2010 and then parlayed that into a freshman coach position during his time at Blue Mountain Community College. Being around Usher and that Hermiston staff only solidi¿ed Thompson’s desire to make a career in coaching basketball. “(Larry) Usher was a big inÀuence on me and he’s been instrumental for me on learning how to be a coach,” Thompson said. Following Thompson’s transfer to Oregon State University a few years later, he got involved with the Beavers’ men’s basketball SEAHAWKS: Britt learning third position in three seasons Continued from 1B of what could be Seattle’s starting offensive line. “The (offensive) line, there will always be a focus for us there,” Carroll said. For the ¿rst week of training camp, the Seahawks have gone with the same ¿ve linemen taking the ¿rst snap with the starting offense during team drills. If Seattle sticks with those ¿ve for the regular-season opener on Sept. 11 against Miami, it will go into the regular season with a unit playing in completely different positions than a season ago. Garry Gilliam was Seat- tle’s starting right tackle last year, but is being Àipped to the left and will be respon- sible for protecting Russell Wilson’s blindside. J’Marcus Webb is on his fourth team in ¿ve seasons and is being slated as Seattle’s right tackle. Justin Britt is on his third position in three seasons being moved to center, while second-year Mark Glowinski and rookie Germain Ifedi are the projected starting guards. It’s a unit that Seattle believes has potential to be really good. But they have no experience playing together to back up the Seahawks optimism that they can be a successful offense behind such an unproven unit. “I know coach (Tom Cable) will put the best ¿ve out there and I just want to be one of them,” Britt said. The questions about the offensive line followed Seattle for most of last season. It started with a training camp shufÀe where Britt was moved from right tackle to left guard and converted defensive lineman Drew Nowak was placed at center. That experiment lasted about half the season and often was the crux behind Seattle’s offensive struggles early in the season. By midseason, Nowak was out at center, replaced by Patrick Lewis, and the Seahawks offense took off. The offseason departures of guard J.R. Sweezy and tackle Russell Okung in free agency prompted the next waves of change. But the moves failed to bring comfort to fans who would like to see a more experienced group for protecting Wilson, who was sacked a career-high 45 times last season. As Schneider pointed out just before the start of training camp, it’s impossible to pay top dollar at every position in a salary cap system. And offensive line is where the Seahawks have sacri¿ced. “The issue then is once you’re able to reward what you view as the best football players on your team, then how do you get people to compete at different posi- tions,” Schneider said. Cable said the real assess- ment of the continuity of the projected starters shouldn’t be made until after the ¿rst couple of preseason games. The Seahawks would like to avoid making the major changes they did last year during training camp. “I think the fairness of that question is after you’ve played a couple of preseason games do they look like they are on the same page, partic- ularly communication wise,” Cable said. “Then you’ll ¿nd the answer to that.” Staff photo by E.J. Harris In this Mar. 25, 2015 file photo, Irrigon head coach Mitch Thompson leads a huddle during a timeout in the Knights’ 67-36 win against Heppner in Pendleton. program for the ¿rst time as a student manager under then- head coach Craig Robinson. After one year as a manager there, Robinson and his staff were ¿red and Thompson headed back home to Eastern Oregon to take over as head coach for the Irrigon Knights varsity boys basketball team while he took online classes towards his bachelor’s degree. “I knew some of the boys from the area and from coaching AAU out here and I thought it’d be a good opportunity to come back and coach some good kids,” Thompson said, “and it worked out.” That it did. In his two seasons as head coach of the Knights, Thompson compiled a 44-9 overall record and a 17-3 record in the Columbia Basin Conference, highlighted by a Class 2A state championship during the 2014-2015 season. Thompson best describes his two-year tenure as a tremen- dous learning opportunity. “It was fun being in the gym every day with those kids and that (coaching staff),” he said. “I think we did things the right way and if you know anybody who was close to us, we loved the kids and academics were a big part of what we were about and now we have guys playing in college, and it’s great to know we helped.” ... Thompson’s road back to Corvallis began its construction at the end of his tenure as a student manager at Oregon State. He had the opportunity to meet current Beavers coach Wayne Tinkle and some of his coaching staff following his hire in May of 2014. “I was kind of a part of (Tinkle) and his staff’s transition in from Montana and when I took the job at Irrigon and I kept in contact with Coach and the staff throughout the whole process,” Thompson said. “Then I was a regular at Corvallis over the past few years and a regular in the of¿ces just to talk and learn and we built a trust.” That trust continued to build until Tinkle and his staff offered Thompson the GA position over the winter, one that he accepted quickly. However, that didn’t make it easy for him to leave his Irrigon Knights behind. “I think the biggest thing was leaving the kids,” Thompson said. “I loved working with the type of kids they have in Irrigon, so that was tough. But in terms of my career, it was a no-brainer.” Thompson said his tran- sition onto Tinkle’s staff has been as smooth as he could have ever imagined. “It’s a blue-collar atmo- sphere, all about effort and attitude which is what we were about at Irrigon, too,” Thompson said. “Coach Tinkle does a great job of making us feel like family and he’s a great mentor.” As far as dreams go, Thompson doesn’t really know where he hopes to end up yet, but says he’s not too worried about that at this point. “Taking it one step at a time, I think that’s what I’ve always been about,” Thompson said, “but obviously you always have dreams and it’d be awesome to coach at a high level. But if not, coaching back in Morrow County will work for me. “A good mentor once told me it’s not where you coach it’s why you coach.” ———— Contact Eric Singer at esinger@eastoregonian. com or (541) 966-0839. Follow him on Twitter @ ByEricSinger. MARINERS: Roach piches two innings for win Continued from 1B hitter Seth Smith. Abad came in and tried to get a curveball past Cano, who hit it 394 feet for a one-run lead. Donn Roach (2-0) pitched two innings for the win. David Ortiz doubled and had two RBIs. The 40-year-old has the most doubles (36) in a season ever for a player 40 or older, eclipsing Sam Rice, who had 35 in 1930. He also has 62 extra-base hits, tying Dave Win¿eld (1992) for most in a season for a 40-or-older player. Hanley Ramirez crushed a 454-foot home run off Wade LeBlanc in the third. Aaron Hill had an RBI single in the same inning, scoring Jackie Bradley Jr. from second. ROTATION ADDI- TONS The Mariners will add two starters to the rotation this next turn. LHP Ariel Miranda, a Cuban defector acquired in a trade with Baltimore on Sunday, will make his debut Thursday against Boston. RHP Taijuan Walker, on the DL with a right ankle strain, will likely return this weekend. He threw 69 pitches over 4 1/3 innings Monday for Triple-A Tacoma in a rehab start. UP NEXT Red Sox: RHP Rick Porcello (14-2, 3.47) is riding a six-game winning streak and is 7-0 with a AP Photo/Ted S. Warren Seattle Mariners’ Robinson Cano hits a a three-run home run against the Boston Red Sox during the eighth inning of Tuesday’s game in Seattle. 2.73 ERA over his past nine starts. Mariners: RHP Hisashi Iwakuma (11-7, 4.21) is coming off his shortest outing of the season, just three innings, in a 12-1 loss to the Cubs last Friday. SCOREBOARD (McHugh 7-7), 5:10 p.m. Oakland (Graveman 7-7) at L.A. Angels (Weaver 8-8), 7:05 p.m. Boston (Porcello 14-2) at Seattle (Iwaku- ma 11-7), 7:10 p.m. Baseball MLB AMERICAN LEAGUE East Division W L Pct Baltimore 60 45 .571 Toronto 60 47 .561 Boston 58 47 .552 New York 53 53 .500 Tampa Bay 42 63 .400 Central Division W L Pct Cleveland 60 44 .577 Detroit 58 48 .547 Kansas City 51 55 .481 Chicago 51 55 .481 Minnesota 42 64 .396 West Division W L Pct Texas 62 45 .579 Houston 56 50 .528 Seattle 53 52 .505 Los Angeles 48 58 .453 Oakland 47 59 .443 ——— Tuesday’s Games Baltimore 5, Texas 1 Detroit 11, Chicago White Sox 5 Minnesota 10, Cleveland 6 Kansas City 3, Tampa Bay 2 N.Y. Mets 7, N.Y. Yankees 1 Toronto 2, Houston 1 L.A. Angels 5, Oakland 4 Seattle 5, Boston 4 GB — 1 2 7½ 18 GB — 3 10 10 19 GB — 5½ 8 13½ 14½ Wednesday’s Games N.Y. Mets (Matz 8-7) at N.Y. Yankees (Green 1-2), 4:05 p.m. Texas (Hamels 12-2) at Baltimore (Gaus- man 2-8), 4:05 p.m. Chicago White Sox (Sale 14-4) at Detroit (Fulmer 9-2), 4:10 p.m. Kansas City (Volquez 8-9) at Tampa Bay (Odorizzi 5-5), 4:10 p.m. Minnesota (Duffey 5-8) at Cleveland (Bauer 7-4), 4:10 p.m. Toronto (Estrada 6-4) at Houston NATIONAL LEAGUE East Division W L Pct GB Washington 63 44 .589 — Miami 57 50 .533 6 New York 55 51 .519 7½ Philadelphia 49 59 .454 14½ Atlanta 37 69 .349 25½ Central Division W L Pct GB Chicago 65 41 .613 — St. Louis 56 50 .528 9 Pittsburgh 53 51 .510 11 Milwaukee 47 57 .452 17 Cincinnati 43 62 .410 21½ West Division W L Pct GB San Francisco 61 45 .575 — Los Angeles 59 47 .557 2 Colorado 53 53 .500 8 San Diego 46 61 .430 15½ Arizona 43 64 .402 18½ ——— Tuesday’s Games Philadelphia 13, San Francisco 8 Cincinnati 7, St. Louis 5 N.Y. Mets 7, N.Y. Yankees 1 Pittsburgh 5, Atlanta 3 Chicago Cubs 3, Miami 2 Colorado 7, L.A. Dodgers 3 Washington 10, Arizona 4 Milwaukee 3, San Diego 2 Wednesday’s Games Miami (Koehler 8-8) at Chicago Cubs (Lackey 8-7), 11:20 a.m. Milwaukee (Guerra 7-2) at San Diego (Jackson 1-2), 12:40 p.m. Washington (Scherzer 11-6) at Arizona (Godley 3-1), 12:40 p.m. N.Y. Mets (Matz 8-7) at N.Y. Yankees (Green 1-2), 4:05 p.m. San Francisco (Cueto 13-3) at Philadel- phia (Nola 6-9), 4:05 p.m. Pittsburgh (Locke 8-6) at Atlanta (Wha- len 0-0), 4:10 p.m. St. Louis (Wacha 6-7) at Cincinnati (Reed 0-5), 4:10 p.m. L.A. Dodgers (Stewart 0-1) at Colorado (Anderson 3-3), 5:40 p.m. Soccer MLS EASTERN CONFERENCE W L T Pts NYC FC 10 7 6 36 New York 9 9 5 32 Toronto FC 8 7 6 30 Philadelphia 8 8 6 30 Montreal 7 5 9 30 New England 6 8 8 26 Orlando City 5 5 11 26 D.C. United 5 8 8 23 Columbus 3 8 10 19 Chicago 4 10 6 18 GF 40 38 28 36 36 28 35 20 26 19 GA 40 30 23 35 31 36 36 26 35 27 WESTERN CONFERENCE W L T Pts FC Dallas 13 6 5 44 Colorado 10 3 8 38 Los Angeles 9 3 9 36 Sporting K.C. 10 10 4 34 Real Salt Lake 9 6 7 34 Vancouver 8 9 6 30 Portland 7 8 8 29 San Jose 6 6 9 27 Seattle 6 12 3 21 Houston 4 9 8 20 GF 37 24 35 28 32 33 33 23 21 24 GA 31 19 20 25 32 37 34 24 28 27 NOTE: Three points for victory, one point for tie. ——— Today’s Game Real Salt Lake at Toronto FC, 4 p.m. Friday’s Game New York City FC at San Jose, 8 p.m. Motorsports NASCAR Sprint Cup Points Standings Through Aug. 1 1. Kevin Harvick 709 2. Brad Keselowski 687 3. Kurt Busch 658 4. Kyle Busch 634 5. Carl Edwards 626 6. Joey Logano 612 7. Jimmie Johnson 577 8. Martin Truex Jr 577 9. Denny Hamlin 576 10. Matt Kenseth 569 11. Austin Dillon 549 12. Ryan Newman 537 13. Chase Elliott 533 14. Jamie McMurray 517 15. Kyle Larson 508 Upcoming Schedule Sunday, Aug. 7 — Cheez-It 355 at The Glen, Watkins Glen, N.Y. (TV: USA, 11:30 a.m.) Basketball WNBA EASTERN CONFERENCE W L New York 18 8 Atlanta 13 12 Indiana 12 12 Chicago 11 13 Washington 9 15 Connecticut 8 16 Pct GB .692 — .520 4½ .500 5 .458 6 .375 8 .333 9 WESTERN CONFERENCE W L Pct GB x-Los Angeles 21 3 .875 — x-Minnesota 21 4 .840 ½ Phoenix 10 14 .417 11 Seattle 9 15 .375 12 Dallas 9 16 .360 12½ San Antonio 5 18 .217 15½ x-clinched a playoff spot ——— NOTE: OLYMPIC Break season resumes August 26
