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SPORTS TUESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2016 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS MLB Prep Roundup Rangers reeling in Mariners ’Scots Texas Rangers Carlos Beltran, left, runs the bases as Seattle Mariners shortstop Ketel Mar- te (4) looks on after Beltran’s solo home run during the fi rst inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Monday, Aug. 29, 2016. Darvish, Beltran lead Texas to win By SCHUYLER DIXON Associated Press ARLINGTON, Texas — Yu Darvish did his part in the fi rst of six straight games at home for the Texas Rangers against the two teams chasing them in the AL West. Now it’s Cole Hamels’ turn. Darvish struck out nine in 6 2/3 innings and Carlos Beltran homered among three hits, helping the Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners 6-3 on Monday night. The American Seattle League-leading Rangers dropped the Mariners into third place, a game behind Houston and 9 1/2 back of Texas Texas. For the ninth straight time since the All-Star break, the lefty Hamels will follow Darvish in the rotation Tuesday night. The Rangers are 11-6 in those starts with fi ve straight wins. “I think it’s huge to have your one and two going back-to-back,” manager Jeff Banister said. “Yu set the table tonight with what he was capable of doing, really keeping their hitters off balance. It’s a big plus to have those two guys at the front of the rotation for us.” Darvish (5-3) easily outpitched fellow Japanese right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma for his third straight win, leaving to a standing ovation with a 6-1 lead in the seventh after throwing 110 pitches, the most since his return from Tommy John surgery. The Mariners tagged Darvish for two runs on Franklin Gutierrez’s double off reliever Jake Diekman before Keone Kela struck out Nelson Cruz as the potential tying run. Sam Dyson struck out two in a perfect ninth for his 30th save, giving Texas 13 strikeouts. Seattle has lost six of seven and been held to one or no runs by CC Sabathia and Masahiro Tanaka of the Yankees and Carlos Rodon of the White Sox. The lone win in that stretch — a 3-1 victory — came 3 AP Photo/LM Otero third at tourney East Oregonian JOHN DAY — The Weston-McEwen volleyball team placed third at the Grant Union Tournament on Saturday, and beat Crane in two sets, 25-17, 25-19, in the trophy round. After winning each of their games in pool play, the TigerScots emerged to face Pilot Rock in the fi rst round of bracket play and won 25-20, 25-15. See PREPS/2B College Roundup 6 T-Wolves netters split at showcase despite 14 strikeouts from Chicago ace Chris Sale, and thanks to Mari- ners ace Felix Hernandez. “It’s very good pitching. What are you going to say?” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “When you catch the guys how we’re catching the rotations right now, it’s just where we’re at. We’ve just got to continue to grind and hang in there.” Beltran had a solo homer in the fi rst and a double that was one of three straight run-scoring extra-base hits in a four-run third against Iwakuma (14-10), who lost his third straight start while matching his shortest outing of the season at three innings. Iwakuma allowed a season-high fi ve runs for the fourth time. Two days removed from ending a career-worst 0-for-32 skid, Beltran had at least three hits for the fi rst time since getting four against Oakland on Aug. 16, the day before the slump started. It was the third time Darvish and Iwakuma have faced each other in the majors, and Darvish has two wins. The Rangers have won his last fi ve starts after losing the previous fi ve straight. WHICH WAY’S UP? Adrian Beltre jokingly turned his helmet backward as he came to the plate to face ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte in the fi fth, drawing a big grin from the Seattle reliever, who said Beltre did the same thing when they faced each other for the fi rst time last year. It must work for Beltre. The 37-year-old doubled against Venditte, just as he did last year. “I think he’s just trying to get some laughs,” Venditte said. SHORT HOPS Seattle center fi elder Leonys Martin, playing in his old home park, took a home run away from Ian Desmond with a leaping catch above the wall in right-center in the seventh. ... Carlos Gomez struck out three times and is 0 for 18 with 10 strikeouts since homering in his fi rst at-bat for Texas. ... Mike Zunino had four strikeouts, three against Darvish. ... The Rangers released OF Drew Stubbs, who rejected an assignment to Triple-A Round Rock. UP NEXT Mariners: LHP James Paxton (4-5, 3.63 ERA) makes his second start since returning from a left elbow injury after getting struck by a line drive. Rangers: LHP Hamels (14-4, 2.67) is tied with Tampa Bay’s Jake Odorizzi for the lowest ERA among AL starters since the All-Star break at 1.59. BMCC volleyball and soccer open their seasons East Oregonian SPRINGFIELD — The Timberwolves’ volleyball season began with an even split at the Fall Showcase over the weekend in Spring- fi eld. Blue Mountain won its fi rst match of the season 2-1 (16-25, 26-24, 15-13) over Shoreline, but would fi nish out the weekend 3-3. Its other wins were over Tacoma, 2-0 (25-20, 25-22), and new league foe North Idaho, 2-1 See BMCC/2B College Football Yost excited to see what Prukop can do in Oregon debut Oregon opens against UC Davis on Saturday By RYAN THORBURN The Register Guard Andy Nelson/The Register-Guard via AP, File In this April 30, 2016, fi le photo, quarterback Dakota Prukop scram- bles with the football during the Oregon Spring Game in Eugene, Ore. Prukop has been named the starter for the team’s season opener against UC Davis at Autzen Stadium on Saturday. EUGENE — David Yost was asked a lot of questions about backups on Monday. But the Oregon quarterbacks coach can’t wait to see what starter Dakota Prukop does when the Ducks open the season against UC Davis on Saturday at Autzen Stadium. Prukop, the Montana State graduate transfer, comfortably beat out freshmen Justin Herbert, Terry Wilson and Travis Jonsen during fall camp. “It’s still Christmas a little bit on Saturday to want to open up presents and see what Dakota is in that atmosphere and all those type of things,” Yost said. “We want to get him in position where he’s not too excited and understands there’s still 10 other guys on offense that have to do their job, and all he has to do is his job.” If the game becomes lopsided as expected, Herbert will likely get some snaps against the Aggies. That doesn’t mean the true freshman from Sheldon High has completely arrived. “There’s still a reason No. 2 is No. 2, so we want to keep No. 1 on the fi eld as much as we can,” Yost said. “But Justin has done a great job, and we think he can defi nitely lead our team to victory if and when called upon.” Yost said Wilson, another true freshman, “performed kind of the way we wanted” throughout the competition. Jonsen, a redshirt freshmen who was expected to be Prukop’s primary challenger for the starting spot, is No. 4 on the depth chart and running the scout team. “It was disappointing I think for us and him,” Yost said of Jonsen’s performance. “But I think it’s part of competition and coming to work every day and getting the job done.” ALLEN BACK IN PADS: Devon Allen continues to make the transition from Olympian back to college football player. The junior wide receiver participated in Monday’s padded practice. Although Prukop didn’t spend much time throwing with Allen this offseason, he doesn’t expect on-fi eld chemistry to be an issue. “He was doing track like he should. I think maybe this summer I threw a couple nice, we call them easy-ups, which is basically like a basketball layup, to him,” Prukop said. “He has been back the past couple practices, and it seems like he hasn’t missed a beat.” Starting wide receiver Darren Carrington is making his way back from a shoulder injury, and true freshman Dillon Mitchell could miss the opener with a knee injury. Sports shorts Kaepernick’s decision scrutinized SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — From the White House to San Francisco police union headquar- ters, Colin Kaepernick’s name came up Monday as his decision to sit down during the national anthem reached far beyond football. And many aren’t thrilled with FACES the 49ers quarterback’s strong words about why he is doing it : To instigate change and challenge authority when it comes to race relations and what he considers police brutality. Kaepernick, who has sat through the anthem for all three Kaepernick 49ers preseason games so far, is prepared to keep fi ghting for what he believes in — even alone. “The fact that it has blown up like this, I think it’s a good thing. It brings awareness,” Kaepernick said Sunday. “Now, I think people are really talking about it.” “There is some depth and some truth to what he was doing. I think he could have picked a better platform and a better way to do it, but every day they say athletes are so robotic and do everything by the book and then when somebody takes a stand like that, he gets his head chopped off.“ — Richard Sherman Seattle Seahawks cornerback com- menting on Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand during the National Anthem. EOU volleyball named CCC Team of the Week LA GRANDE — The EOU volleyball team went a perfect 4-0 at the Big Sky Challenge over the weekend and received recognition as the Cascade Collegiate Conference announced the Mountaineers as the Adidas Team of the Week. At the Challenge, the Mountaineers (7-1) picked up wins against Carroll, MSU-Northern, No. 20 Concordia (Neb.) and No. 9 Vanguard, and did not lose a single set the entire weekend. EOU racked up a total of 175 kills in 372 attempts in the four matches and hit .452 in the win against Concordia — the ninth-best single-game percentage in program history. EOU returns to action on Thursday for its home opener against No. 11 College of Idaho, with the start set for 7 p.m. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1979 — Kathy Horvath, fi ve days past her 14th birthday, loses a fi rst round match to Diane Fromholtz, 7-6, 6-2, to become the youngest person to play a match at the U.S. Open. Later in the day, John McEnroe defeats Ilie Nastase, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, in a match that features Nastase being defaulted by chair umpire Frank Hammond. An 18-minute free-for-all ensues in which fans become uncon- trollable and Nastase is rein- stated by tournament referee Mike Blanchard. Blanchard replaces Hammond in the chair for the remainder of the match. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com