SPORTS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2016
1B
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS
PENDLETON
MLB
T-Wolves loaded in 2016
BMCC returns
seven players
from the 2015
title team
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
There are a lot of numbers
the Blue Mountain Commu-
nity College volleyball team
could concern itself with as the
2016 season nears.
Four and fi ve come to
mind right away — that’s the
number of consecutive and
overall NWAC championships
the teams has won.
Seven is another good one
— that’s how many sopho-
mores return to the roster.
Also high on the list could
be 42 (wins last season) or 50
(the record number of wins
collected by the 2014 squad).
Sixteen, which is how
many divisional games are
on their schedule, is certainly
deserving. And one would
have to think 2,340, which is
the miles they’ll travel by bus
to get to and from those games,
would at least be on the fringes
In this
Sept. 11,
2015 fi le
photo,
BMCC’s
Jordan
Mix tips
the ball
over
North
Idaho’s
Brooke
Bell
in the
Timber-
wolves’
3-2 win
against
the Car-
dinals in
Pendle-
ton.
of their consciousness.
Certainly the almighty No.
1 is on their mind, right?
Wrong.
The only number the
Timberwolves are thinking
about right now is a big fat
zero, as in 0-0.
That’s their record during
the third week of practices,
and that’s going to remain
their record for the rest of the
season. It’ll also remain the
score to every game and every
match, right up until a winner
is declared.
“We’re really big into 0-0,”
Staff photo
by E.J. Harris
See T-WOLVES/2B
HERMISTON
Hermis-
ton’s Tyler
Rohrman
(16) goes
up against
Tucker Sali-
nas during
a drill in
Wednes-
day’s
football
practice at
Kennison
Field. Rohr-
man, a ju-
nior, is one
of three
returning
starters
to the
Bulldogs
secondary.
When Hermiston senior Vaemu
Ena grew two inches between his
sophomore and junior seasons,
Bulldogs coaches took a look at
the 6-foot-2, 175-pound athlete and
By ABBEY MASTRACCO
Associated Press
ANAHEIM, Calif. —
Ketel Marte drove in the
tiebreaking run with a
sacrifi ce fl y, Leonys Martin
scored from second base on
a bunt, and the Seattle Mari-
ners held on for a 4-3 victory
over the Los Angeles Angels
on Wednesday night.
Robinson Cano had three
hits, Kyle
Seager
and Chris
Iannetta
Seattle
each
had
two
hits
and scored
a run as the
Mariners
won for the
Los Angeles 10th time
in 12 games
to
move
two games
behind Baltimore for the
second AL wild card.
Drew Storen (3-3) pitched
1 1/3 innings for the win.
Mariners closer Edwin Diaz
gave up a run and loaded
the bases with one out in the
ninth, but struck out Jefry
Marte and got Andrelton
Simmons to ground out
for his eighth save in eight
chances.
Yunel Escobar went 5 for
5 for Los Angeles, his fi fth
career fi ve-hit game. Since
2000, only Ichiro and Johnny
Damon have more with
seven each.
Tyler Skaggs (1-2) gave
up four runs and six hits in 3
1/3 innings.
With the score tied at 2-all,
Iannetta led off the fourth
with a single to center and
moved to third on Martin’s
single. After Martin stole
second, Ketel Marte’s sacri-
fi ce fl y drove in Iannetta with
the go-ahead run. Shawn
O’Malley then laid down a
bunt and reached base safely.
Jefry Marte thired tried to
throw Martin out at third but
he was already breaking for
home plate and scored easily
on the relay.
Mike Morin then came on
See MARINERS/2B
3
Dawgs secondary a primary strength
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
Seattle wins 10th
in 12 games
4
Staff photo by
Matt Entrup
Hermiston returns
three starters to
defensive backfi eld
M’s
hold off
Angels
fi gured a move up to the defensive
line was in order.
That’s where he was listed on the
team’s initial roster, but it wouldn’t
be where he fi nished.
With three senior returners
already on the line and another
junior in front of Ena, the athletic
former linebacker was moved to
safety, where he quickly made the
position his own. By the end of the
season he had earned honorable
mention all-state and fi rst-team
All-Columbia River Conference
honors and was one of the defense’s
Olympics
most productive players with 40
tackles, fi ve interceptions with a
whopping 158 return yards, and
three pass break-ups in just eight
games.
He’s one of, but not the only,
reason Hermiston coach David
Faaeteete is hoping the defensive
backfi eld can be one of the team’s
top units in 2016.
“I think our secondary is going to
be pretty tough this year,” he said.
“We’ve got a lot returners back
there. I think everybody’s back in
the secondary.”
Well, yes and no.
Junior
cornerback
Tyler
Rohrman, senior safety Joey
Gutierrez and junior cornerback
Dayshawn Neal round out the
starting unit. Rohrman was a
second-team All-CRC corner last
season and had 21 tackles and three
pass breakups in six games.
Gutierrez is a converted All-CRC
second-team linebacker who had 42
tackles, one interception, two pass
breakups and one fumble forced as
a junior, and Neal started at quarter-
See HERMISTON/2B
Americans make track and fi eld history
US women become just
seventh country to sweep
100M hurdle event
By EDDIE PELLS
Associated Press
AP Photo/Lee Jin-man
Gold medal winner Brianna Rollins, center, silver med-
al winner, Nia Ali, right, and bronze medal winner Kristi
Castlin, all from the United States celebrate after the
100-meter hurdles Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
RIO DE JANEIRO — It’s no easy
thing to push Usain Bolt, even in an
Olympic warm-up race.
Might be even tougher upstaging
him.
But that happened on a wild
Wednesday night in track. It began with
the Jamaican star exchanging smiles,
then wagging his fi nger at a brash
up-and-comer who dared challenge
him in the 200-meter semifi nals. It kept
going with another Jamaican, Elaine
Thompson, completing the fi rst 100-200
women’s double since 1988. And it
closed with an American sweep of the
hurdles to put the cherry on top of a
seven-medal day for the United States
on the track.
Brianna Rollins, Nia Ali and Kristi
Castlin fi nished 1-2-3 in the 100-meter
hurdles to give the United States its fi rst
sweep in the event, its seventh in the
history of Olympic track and the 23rd
for U.S. women, regardless of sport,
over the history of the Summer Games.
After they saw their names come
up on the scoreboard, they huddled
together, hugged and jumped up and
down before grabbing their U.S. fl ags
from the stands.
“I knew that I got the gold but I just
wanted to make sure that my other teammates
got their medals, as well,” Rollins said.
It was a not-all-unexpected result,
though this might be an eye-opener:
Both 2008 champion Dawn Harp-
See OLYMPICS/2B
Sports shorts
Graham could not be ready for
Seattle’s season opener
RENTON, Wash. (AP) — Seattle Seahawks
coach Pete Carroll tempered some of his
optimism regarding tight end Jimmy Graham’s
ability to be ready for the start of
season.
FACES the Carroll
said Wednesday that,
as expected, Graham will not play
against Minnesota on Thursday in
the Seahawks’ second preseason
game. Graham is recovering from
a torn patellar tendon in his right
knee suffered last November in a
Graham
game against Pittsburgh. Graham
was activated off the PUP list last
week and returned to limited practice.
“Really we’re shooting for where is he at
the start of the season?” Carroll said. “We’ll
evaluate then how much longer it may take. We
don’t know that yet. But he feels good and he’s
confi dent it’s going along well.”
“Every time I watch ‘em,
I wish I was out there. I
did not retire from Team
USA. I just did not play
this summer. So I still left
the door open.“
— LeBron James
Two-time gold medal winner in
Olympic basketball and
Cleveland Cavaliers forward on
his decision to sit out
the Rio Games.
US men’s basketball fi nally
shows potential in semifi nals
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — This was the
U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team that
everyone expected to see at the
Rio Games, now right where
it was expected to be — in the
semifi nals.
Emphatically ending a stretch
of three straight close games,
the Americans advanced by
sprinting past Argentina 105-78
on Wednesday night.
Turning a slow start into an early ending
with a 27-2 run in the fi rst half, the Americans
put away one old rival and set up a meeting
with another. They will play Spain on Friday
in a rematch of the last two gold-medal games.
Kevin Durant scored 27 points for the
Americans while DeMarcus Cousins, the
playing as a reserve, fi nished with 15 points.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1994 — South Africa
is introduced for the fi rst
time in 36 years during the
opening ceremonies of the
15th Commonwealth Games
held in Victoria, British
Columbia. South Africa had
been banned from the Games
since 1958 because of its
apartheid policies.
2008 — A day after
winning an Olympic gold
medal in Beijing, Rafael
Nadal offi cially unseats
Roger Federer to become the
world’s No. 1 tennis player
when the ATP rankings are
released. Federer had been
atop the rankings for 235
consecutive weeks.
Contact us at 541-966-0838 or
sports@eastoregonian.com