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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 29, 2016)
SPORTS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2016 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS MLB Mariners thump Astros, stay in playoff hunt Seattle Mariners’ Robinson Cano, right, cele- brates his three-run home run with Nel- son Cruz in the fi rst inning of a baseball game, Wednes- day, Sept. 28, 2016, in Hous- ton. Seattle still two games back with four games to play Associated Press HOUSTON — Robinson Cano hit a three-run homer in the fi rst inning, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Houston Astros 12-4 Wednesday to keep pressure on the other AL wild-card contenders. Kyle Seager added another three-run drive in the eighth, his 30th home run AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith Seattle Houston 12 4 this season, as Seattle pulled within 1½ games of Balti- more for the second AL wild card. Houston dropped three games back as its magic number for elimination was cut to two. The Orioles were at Toronto on Wednesday night. Cano’s career-best 36th home run, a drive off Doug Fister (12-13), landed in the fi rst row of the Crawford PENDLETON Prep Football Hawks shut out Timberwolves BMCC women’s soccer continues hunt for first win East Oregonian The Blue Mountain women’s soccer team remained on the defen- sive in Wednesday’s NWAC East meeting with Columbia Basin. For the second time in a row and the seventh time this season the Timberwolves were unable to fi nd the net and fell in a shutout loss, this time 4-0. Two of those goals came late in the game, though, with the fi nal one Women’s in the 78th minute Soccer by Madison Gatherum to fi nish off her hat trick off a feed from Columbia Basin Mikayla Reed. The T-Wolves (0-9, 0-6 East) were able to turn back the Hawks (3-7-1, 2-4) for Blue Mountain most of the fi rst half, but Gatherum scored off a pass from Starcia Deponte on a fast break in the 39th minute. “We really had high hopes that today was going to be a day where we were going to earn our fi rst win of the season,” said BMCC coach Art Mota. “Things got off to a good start, unfortunately the injuries came back to haunt us again.” For the fi rst time in several games, the T-Wolves started with 11 players on the fi eld. That wouldn’t last long, though, and midfi elder Karla Gonzalez left the game with a concussion midway through the fi rst half. East Oregonian 0 Staff photo by Kathy Aney Zaira Villaneuva (24), of Columbia Basin College, and BMCC’s Addilyn Buchanan (5) jostle for position Wednesday in Pendleton. PENDLETON East Oregonian 1 Walla Walla 3 WALLA WALLA, Wash. — The Blue Mountain volleyball team continued its up and down September with a four-game loss to Walla Walla on Wednesday that dropped them back to .500 on the season. The Timberwolves edged the Warriors 25-23 in the fi rst game, As the days grow shorter in Eastern Oregon, it means that the high school football schedules are getting shorter as well. Four weeks of the nine- week regular season have already expired, which means that each game becomes more and more meaningful. For many teams, Week 5 presents one of the most important games on the schedule as the 3A Eastern Oregon League and 2A Columbia Basin Conference kick off league play on Friday. A look at Friday’s Week 5 match-ups: BURNS (3-1) at UMATILLA (4-0), 7 p.m. — At Umatilla, the Vikings welcome in the Burns Hilanders for the EOL league opener and aim to keep their momentum from the 36-26 win over Portland Christian last week. Burns is coming off of a 38-12 victory at Grant Union. Last week Umatilla put up one of its more balanced offensive attacks against Portland Christian, passing See PREP FOOTBALL/2B College Football Walla Walla beats BMCC in four Blue Mountain Week 5 features crucial clashes EOL, CBC kick off league play in style 4 See T-WOLVES/2B Boxes in left fi eld. Cano has nine homers and 25 RBIs in 19 games against Houston this season. Seattle doubled its lead in the second on Nori Aoki’s RBI single and Seth Smith’s two-run single. Ketel Marte made it 7-0 with a run-scoring infi eld single in the third. James Paxton (6-7) allowed three runs and six hits in fi ve innings, striking out eight. Fister gave up fi ve runs and fi ve hits over 1 1/3 innings in the shortest start See MARINERS/2B EOU ranked No 17 headed into bye but fell 25-18, 25-20, 25-16 in the next three. It was a frustrating outcome in a season fi lled with unanswered questions for the team that returned seven sophomores from its NWAC title run a year ago. Blue Mountain co-head coach Dave Baty said he’s got to do a See BMCC/3B East Oregonian LA GRANDE — The Eastern Oregon football team retained its top-20 NAIA ranking heading into its bye week despite a setback against No. 10 Montana Tech. Coming off a 37-24 loss at Community Stadium, the Mountaineers fell two spots and were ranked No. 17 in the third edition of the NAIA Football Coaches Poll. A total of fi ve teams from the Frontier Conference earned recognition in the rankings. Southern Oregon and Montana Tech held steady at No. 9 and No. 10, respec- tively, and Montana Western entered the poll at No. 24. Eastern Oregon (2-2, 2-2 Frontier) returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 8 at MSU-Northern (1-3, 1-3) in Havre, Mont. Sitting in a tie for fourth place in the conference with Montana Western, here’s how EOU is stacking up against the rest of the Fron- tier heading into its bye: See EOU/2B Sports shorts Watt re-injures back, placed on IR HOUSTON (AP) The Houston Texans have placed star defensive end J.J. Watt on injured reserve and his return this season is in doubt. Coach Bill O’Brien announced Wednesday that Watt had re-injured his back and that putting him on IR was the best thing for his long-term health. The team was still exploring the injury and it’s unclear if it will require surgery. He is not expected back before December, if at all. Watt, who has won Defensive Watt Player of the Year for the past two seasons, missed training camp and Houston’s four preseason games after surgery in July to repair a herniated disk in his back. He started each of the team’s three regular-season games and got hurt again Thursday against the Patriots. The Texans signed veteran defensive end Antonio Smith to take his spot on the roster. “I just want them to release me from the contract. If they offer me millions, they can have it. I don’t want it. Sorry for the expression, but I’m not a whore to sell myself. I’m a man.“ — Jose Aldo Interim UFC featherweight cham- pion. Aldo, 30, publicly asked the UFC for his release on Tues- day — one day after the pro- motion announced a lightweight championship fi ght between Eddie Alvarez and Conor Mc- Gregor. Aldo had been lobbying for a rematch with McGregor. Seahawks to sign RB Spiller RENTON, Wash. (AP) The Seattle Seahawks are expected to sign veteran running back C.J. Spiller with the team running out of depth at running back. The team said Wednesday that Spiller’s signing likely would not be fi nalized until Thursday. Seattle coach Pete Carroll later confi rmed the intent to sign Spiller in a conference call with New York media. Spiller was released by New Orleans on Sept. 13 after being inactive in Week 1. Spiller Spiller rushed for only 112 yards in very limited opportunities with the Saints last season. Spiller’s best season came in 2012 with Buffalo when he rushed for 1,244 yards and six touchdowns for the Bills. Seattle has been thinned at running back because of injuries to Thomas Rawls (shin) and C.J. Prosise (hand). THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1954 — Willie Mays makes his famous over-the- shoulder catch of Vic Wertz’ long drive to center fi eld and pinch-hitter Dusty Rhodes homers off Bob Lemon in the 10th inning to lead the New York Giants to a 5-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians in Game 1 of the World Series. 2001 — Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki sets the major league rookie record for hits in a season but the Mariners lose to Oakland 8-4. Suzuki gets his 234th hit, breaking the previous rookie mark set by Shoeless Joe Jackson with Cleveland in 1911. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com
