Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 22, 2016)
SPORTS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2016 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS PENDLETON College Football T-Wolves fi nd their fi re BMCC rattles lineup, sweeps TVCC in home opener By MATT ENTRUP East Oregonian Facing their program’s worst start since 2008 following a three-set loss to North Idaho College on Monday night, Blue Mountain volleyball’s coaching staff knew some changes needed to be made before the Timberwolves’ next match. “We’ve noticed that (our performance) always correlated with our court energy, so (Tuesday) in practice that was a strong theme and we told the girls that we were going to play the six to eight players that brought the most energy,” said co-head coach Jessica Humphreys following Wednesday’s Mosby Court opener against NWAC East foe Treasure Valley. The Timberwolves were certainly peppy in their fi rst match in front of a friendly crowd this season, and cruised past the Chukars 25-10, 25-15, 25-15. “It was great,” said sophomore hitter Kailey Buckner. “I love home games, I love the atmosphere the crowd just gets everybody pumped. We were really excited to play tonight and it looked like it.” Due to a computer error, fi nal statistics from the match were not available at press time, but what they would have shown was a balanced effort from the home team and numerous hitting errors by the visitors to bring the match time in at a brisk one hour, 20 minutes. Another way Humphreys and co-head coach Dave Baty were looking to shake See T-WOLVES/2B No. 15 EOU looks to rebound at home against No. 10 Orediggers By MATT ENTRUP East Oregonian Staff photo by Kathy Aney Kailey Buckner (5), of BMCC, tips the ball over the net as Treasure Valley’s Abby Nonnenmach- er (11) defends Wednesday at the McCrea Activity Center. Prep Football Teams ready for fi nal non-league tuneups Stanfi eld, Umatilla aiming to stay unbeaten By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian With the prep football season creeping toward the halfway point, many teams are preparing for its fi nal non-league tuneups in Week 4. Most local teams are in that boat this week, putting fi nishing touches on schematics, effort, and success to try and ride towards the start of league schedules in Week 5 booming with confi dence. Meanwhile, Stan- fi eld and Umatilla made it the fi rst Ranked teams meet for Frontier battle three weeks unscathed, winning each game comfortably but Pilot Rock and Ione are still searching for their fi rst wins of the season. A closer look at the weekend’s games: PORTLAND CHRISTIAN (2-1) at UMATILLA (3-0), 7 p.m. — At Umatilla, the Vikings will look to keep riding momentum following their 21-7 victory last week at Enter- prise and host a Portland Christian team that won 46-20 over Horizon Christian. If the Vikings win, it will be just the fourth time in the past nine years the team has reached the four-win plateau and the second straight after going 5-4 one season ago. Umatilla will continue to ride the legs of running back Trent Durfey and quarterback Kaden Webb on Friday night as it has so far this season. Monkus with 649 yards. However this could be Stanfi eld’s biggest test this season as the Rams have allowed an average of just 14.5 points so far this year. REGIS (2-1) at STANFIELD (3-0), 6 p.m. — At Stanfi eld, the Tigers are happy to return home after a 41-20 win at Grant Union, where they will host the current No. 3 team in the OSAA Class 2A rank- ings Regis Rams who beat Knappa 48-0 last week. Stanfi eld’s offense has been nearly unstoppable this season, averaging 46 points and rushing for an average of 439 yards per game. As a team so far, Stanfi eld has ran for 1,317 yards, led by senior Thyler IMBLER (2-1) at HEPPNER (2-1), 7 p.m. — At Heppner, the Mustangs will look to bounce back from the team’s fi rst loss in more than a year after falling 14-6 to Cascade-Leavenworth (WA) on the road last week. Their fi nal non-league opponent is no slouch as the Imbler Panthers come to town fresh off a 34-23 victory over Riverside. Heppner was held under 200 See PREPS/3B Following wins over two ranked opponents to start the season, the Eastern Oregon football team was pushed from its cloud during a rain- soaked loss to College of Idaho last week at Commu- nity Stadium. The 20-7 defeat saw the No. 15 Mountaineers (2-1, 2-1 Frontier) get inside the Yotes’ 30-yard line twice late in the game before their drives were bogged down and ended in turnovers on downs. Mountaineers coach Tim Camp said there were plenty of things he and the team could have done differently to affect a better outcome, but second guessing them- selves isn’t going to be productive at this point in the season. “We went back to work instantly. I watched the game fi lm that night and it’s all about execution,” Camp said in his weekly interview with EOUsports.com. “We’re not going to change who we are, it’s all about executing. “I probably shouldn’t have went for it on fourth See EOU FOOTBALL/2B NAIA #10 Mont. Tech #15 EOU Orediggers Mountaineers (2-1, 2-1) (2-1, 2-1) • Saturday, 1 p.m. • at Community Stadium, La Grande • Radio: NewsTalk 103.1 FM • Live video: EOUsports.com ($7.95 per view) MLB Cano’s sac fl y lifts Mariners in extras Seattle now two games out of Wild Card spot By JIM HOEHN Associated Press AP Photo/Elaine Thompson Seattle Mariners’ Mike Zunino, left, holds Robinson Cano as other players douse Cano with water after his game-winning sacrifi ce fl y against the Toronto Blue Jays in Wednesday’s game in Seattle. SEATTLE — Robinson Cano delivered a sacrifi ce fl y in the 12th inning as the Seattle Mariners avoided a sweep with 2-1 victory over Toronto on Wednesday, preventing the Blue Jays from extending their wild card lead. Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (10-15), who pitched fi ve scoreless innings in his last start on Friday, came in on the 12th for his fi rst Toronto Seattle 1 2 relief appearance after 29 starts. Guillermo Heredia reached on a two-base throwing error by third baseman Josh Donaldson to open the 12th. Ben Gamel followed with an attempted sacrifi ce bunt, and fi rst baseman Ryan Goins appeared to have Heredia at third, but the ball popped out of Donaldson’s glove on the tag. Cano then followed with a run-scoring fl y to left, quieting the decidedly pro-Blue Jays crowd, bolstered for the third straight game by thousands of fans from western Canada. Nick Vincent (4-4) pitched two scoreless innings for the win. After being blanked on two hits for eight innings, the Blue Jays tied it in the ninth on Jose Bautista’s 19th home run, a one-out solo shot to left off closer Edwin Diaz. The Mariners threatened in the bottom half when Leonys Martin singled with one out and stole second and third, but Mike Zunino and pinch-hitter Dae-Ho Lee struck out to end the inning. Seattle shortstop Mike Freeman See MARINERS/2B Sports shorts Peterson to have knee surgery, future with Vikings in doubt EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) — Adrian Peterson will have surgery on his right knee to repair a torn meniscus, putting his season and perhaps his tenure with Minnesota in question. Peterson was hurt in Sunday night’s victory over Green Bay, needing assistance off the fi eld after his knee twisted while being tackled at the end of a run. Peterson told ESPN on Wednesday morning that the type Peterson of tear he was diagnosed with typically requires a minimum recovery time of three to four months. But Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said the timetable for Peterson’s return won’t be clear until after the procedure. The Vikings (2-0) signed running back Ronnie Hillman, who was on Denver’s Super Bowl-winning team last season. “The reason these guys are kneeling, the reason we’re locking arms is to bring people together, to make people aware that this is not right. It’s not right for people to get killed in the street.“ — Richard Sherman Seattle Seahawks cornerback speaking to the media at a team press conference on Wednes- day sharing his thoughts on the NFL players’ protests during the national anthem and the social issues in the United States that’s causing the protests. Yankees rookie smashes 86-year-old MLB record ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) Rookie Gary Sanchez hit two more homers and drove in fi ve runs, Masahiro Tanaka won despite allowing four home runs in the same inning and the New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 11-5 on Wednesday night. Sanchez hit a three-run shot in a four-run second off Alex Cobb (1-1) and added his 19th Sanchez homer in 43 games this season on a solo drive in the sixth against reliever Justin Marks. Including two games last season, Sanchez became the fi rst player in major league history to hit 19 homers in his fi rst 45 games. Wally Berger, with the Boston Braves in 1930, went deep 19 times in his fi rst 51 games. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1911 — Cy Young, 44, beats the Pittsburgh Pirates 1-0 for his 511th and fi nal major league victory. 1969 — San Francisco’s Willie Mays becomes the second major league player to hit 600 homers with a two-run shot off Mike Corkins, giving the Giants a 4-2 victory over the San Diego Padres. 2012 — Old Dominion quarterback Taylor Heinicke smashes NCAA Division I records by throwing for 730 yards. He completes 55 of 79 attempts and the Monarchs to a 64-61 victory against New Hampshire. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com
