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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 19, 2017)
Page 2B SPORTS East Oregonian FLORES: Continued from 1B making him the player he is today. The first was his older brother C.J., a 2014 HHS graduate. “The biggest thing was my brother would always push me and at first it wasn’t me trying to be great. It was me trying to be better than my older brother,” he said. “We played basketball and then he was always better than me and he’d always push me, and then sooner or later it grew into ‘Wow I really like this.’ And now it’s something I really want to push for.” The second was his eighth grade coach Brian Moss. “He really changed basketball for me, he just completely turned me around,” he said. “I was an OK player and he really formed me into who I was coming into high school. He really helped me a lot. Always was there after a rough game to give me a talk up.” The Timberwolves listed 13 freshmen on their roster in 2016-17, but Flores said Burt told him there will be plenty of opportunity for him to get on the court early. “I’m hoping so, I was talking to Coach a little bit and he said there’s not a lot of returners left so that just definitely opens up a window, I’ve just got to keep working hard,” Flores said. He plans to work toward his associates degree in business with the intention of entering an electrician’s apprenticeship upon completion, but had to defer to Stefani again when considering his future. “I’d like to (play at a four- year school). I’ll play my two years there (at BMCC), or one year, and we’ll see where it goes,” he said. BULLDOGS: Continued from 1B stepped in with one out and sent a fly ball into left field that was deep enough to bring home Ramirez on a sacrifice fly and a 1-0 lead. And then in the fourth, Hermiston again loaded the bases with back-to-back singles by Ramirez and Noland followed by a hit-by- pitch for Tolan to bring Gritz to the plate with one out. And again, Gritz came through with a first-pitch double that rolled to the fence in left field to drive in three runs for a 4-0 Hermiston lead and further solidifying his spot as Hermiston’s ‘Mr. Clutch.’ “I’d want any of my guys up there but it seems like Slade is the one that gets there and always gets the big knock,” Hawkins said of the senior. “He’s just a confident kid and I’ll take that every minute of every game, a guy that comes up and takes a deep breath and just does it.” After Schwirse departed the game, Ramirez came on worked himself out of trouble. The first Eagle batter he faced reached on an error and then a two-out walk set up a first-and-third situation with two outs, with the run on first representing the tying run. But Ramirez escaped with an easy fly out to center- field to keep Hermiston on top. Ramirez finished off the game in the seventh with two easy groundouts and an easy fly ball to left field for the final out. Hawkins said that this win could be a launching point for his Bulldogs. “We know we can compete with teams like Hood River,” Hawkins said. “They’ve been very, very successful and it’s good to get this one and the kids will build on it. Now we’ll worry about getting the first one with The Dalles.” UP NEXT Hermiston will head on the road again for a double- header at The Dalles on Saturday at Noon. ——— R H E HRV 000 200 0 — 2 6 2 HHS 103 000 X — 4 5 2 (HRV) A. Cameron, I. Enriquez (4). (HHS) C. Schwirse, J. Ramirez (6) and S. Gritz. WP — C. Schwirse, LP — A. Cameron. 2B — I. Enriquez, C. Coerper (HRV); S. Gritz (HHS). ——— Contact Eric at esinger@ eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0839. Follow him on Twitter @ByEricSinger. Wednesday, April 19, 2017 MLB Miami pitchers near no-hitter in shutout of Seattle By TIM BOOTH Associated Press SEATTLE — For the second time in three days, the Miami Marlins’ bullpen let a no-hitter fall a few outs short of completion. Wei-Yin Chen and two relievers came within two outs of Miami’s first combined no-hitter and the Marlins one-hit the Seattle Mariners in a 5-0 victory Tuesday night. Chen had perhaps the best start of his career, working seven innings before being lifted with his pitch count at 100. Brad Ziegler got through the eighth inning with the no-hitter intact despite a pair of tricky grounders that nearly became hits. The Marlins were on the verge of the sixth no-hitter in franchise history when Mitch Haniger lined a one-out double into right-center field off Kyle Barraclough in the ninth. “I don’t know if I’m pitching with a one-run lead if he’s getting a 2-1 fastball there,” Barraclough said. “But tip my cap. I didn’t think it was that bad of a pitch and he did a good job. He stayed on it and went the other way with it.” Barraclough recovered to strike out Robinson Cano and get Nelson Cruz to line out to right. It was the second time in three days the Marlins’ pitching staff took a no-hitter into the eighth inning. Dan Straily and two relievers combined to no-hit the New York Mets through seven innings Sunday before Neil Walker broke it up in the eighth with a single off Ziegler with two outs. The Marlins also let a no-hit bid off the hook with an out in the ninth last April, when Adam Conley and Jose Urena combined to hold Milwaukee hitless until Jonathan Lucroy’s single. Chen (2-0) did the heavy lifting Tuesday, silencing the Mariners by AP Photo/Ted S. Warren Miami Marlins’ Wei-Yin Chen pitches to Seattle Mariners’ Robinson Cano during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, April 18, 2017, in Seattle. staying around the edge of the strike zone. He was pulled by manager Don Mattingly after reaching the century mark in pitches, and there was little argument about the deci- sion. “If given the choice any pitcher would like to go out there and keep pitching, but Don talked to me and gave me his reasoning and wanted to keep me healthy for the whole season, so under that situation I try not to think about it too much. It’s his decision to make,” Chen said through a translator. Chen entered with a 7.00 ERA and 14 hits allowed over his first two starts of the season, both coming against the New York Mets. But he lived on the corners Tuesday, and Seattle was willing to chase, making weak contact as 19 of the first 21 outs were recorded by the defense. The best contact Seattle made came in the fifth inning when Kyle Seager hit a one-hopper back up the middle that shortstop JT Riddle gloved and threw to first. Taylor Motter, the next batter, flew out to the warning track in center. Chen got 12 fly ball outs and just seven on the ground. He allowed three total baserunners, two coming in the seventh inning, on a walk to Haniger and when Nelson Cruz was hit by a pitch with one out. But Chen finished off the inning, striking out Seager and getting a pop up from Motter. “It’s a big deal we aren’t on the news tonight. We would be all over the place,” Cano said. EARLY RUNS Miami got the offense it needed early with an RBI infield single by Christian Yelich in the first inning and a two-run homer by Justin Bour in the third inning. Seattle starter Yovani Gallardo (0-2) allowed four runs and nine hits. While the Marlins had a number of broken-bat singles or slow rollers that found holes in the infield, Gallardo did leave a slider hanging that Bour hit for an opposite-field home run. The damage would have been worse if not for Guillermo Heredia robbing Marcell Ozuna of Miami Seattle 5 0 a three-run homer in the first inning with a leaping catch at the wall. CONNECTIONS It turned out to be an old team- mate that got the better of Barra- clough. Haniger and Barraclough played on the same summer travel baseball team during their high school days in the Bay Area. The double extended Haniger’s hitting streak to 12 games. “It’s still not a good feeling, getting shut out, but at least we didn’t get no-hit,” Haniger said. TRAINER’S ROOM Marlins: IF Adeiny Hechavarria (oblique) will likely join the Marlins in San Diego for their weekend series against the Padres. Mattingly said the hope is Hechavarria, currently on a rehab assignment, will be able to play early in the San Diego series. ... 3B Martin Prado was out of the lineup after leaving Monday’s game with a calf cramp. It’s not considered serious but Mattingly wasn’t sure if Prado would play in the series finale on Wednesday. Mariners: Shortstop Jean Segura (hamstring) is likely to go on a brief rehab assignment before rejoining the Mariners in Oakland this weekend. Manager Scott Servais said Segura will probably play one or two games possibly with Class A Modesto before rejoining the Mariners. UP NEXT Marlins: Edinson Volquez (0-1) makes his fourth start of the season still looking for his first victory. Mariners: Felix Hernandez (1-1) has 15 strikeouts and no walks in his first three starts. PREPS: Hermiston boys, girls tennis teams sweep Pendleton Continued from 1B WESTON-MCEWEN 14, ECHO 1 (6 innings) — At Echo, Bailey Hillmick pitched a one-hitter, Whitney Roggerio drove in three runs and Jordyn Lambert hit a home run to lead Weston-McEwen to a six-inning run-rule win on Tuesday in Special District 1 softball. Echo (5-8, 1-2 SD1) starter Alyssa Ray baffled Weston- McEwen (5-3, 2-0) its first time through the line-up, but the Tiger- Scots finally started to figure her out in the third inning and scored their first two runs on an error followed by a Courtney Cain single. Lambert’s home run was a solo shot to start the sixth inning and made the score 10-1. She finished 2 for 4 with two RBI. Also with multiple hits for the TigerScots were Hillmick (2 for 3), Roggerio (2 for 3, two runs), Amie Coffman (3 for 4, two runs) and Brittany McGill (2 for 4, three runs). Codi Hewlett had Echo’s only hit to score Sammy McQuown in the bottom of the fifth, and Hill- mick finished with seven strikeouts and two walks. UP NEXT Weston-McEwen plays at Pilot Rock on Thursday in the continu- ation of a game that was rained out on March 31. That game starts at 4 p.m. and will pick up in the bottom of the second inning with the Tiger- Scots at bat trailing 18-2. Echo hosts Umatilla on Friday for a doubleheader at 1 p.m. ——— (6 innings) R H E W-M 002 435 — 14 13 3 EHS 000 010 — 1 1 5 W — B. Hillmick. L — A. Ray. 2B — S. Peal, J. Lambert, B. Hillmick (W-M). HR — J. Lambert (W-M). IRRIGON 24, UMATILLA 4 (5 innings) — At Umatilla, May Chapman and Emma Combes each drove in three runs and Irrigon took advantage of 20 walks by Umatilla pitchers to win their Special District 1 softball game in five innings on Tuesday. Irrigon (11-5, 3-1 SD1) scored in each of the first four innings and plated 13 runs in the top of the third to go up 22-0. Jada Burns (3 for 3, five runs) and Chapman (3 for 3, four runs) led Irrigon on offense, and Bailey Botefuhr (2 for 4, three runs, two RBI) and Kayla Gilman (2 for 4, two runs, two RBI) also swung dangerous bats. Chapman got the start in the circle and the win. She allowed one hit over two full with one strikeout. Vikings starter Charlene Alvarez was 2 for 2 with a triple to lead Umatilla (1-10, 0-4) on offense. UP NEXT Umatilla plays at Echo in a doubleheader on Friday at 1 p.m. Irrigon plays at Echo for a single game on Saturday at 1 p.m. ——— (5 innings) IHS 45(13) 20 R — H E 24 14 4 UHS 000 31 — 4 3 1 W — M. Chapman. L — C. Alvarez. 2B — M. Chapman, B. Botefuhr, N. Phillips (IHS). 3B — J. Burns (IHS); C. Alvarez (UHS). BASEBALL THE DALLES 17, PEND- LETON 7 (6 innings) — At The Dalles, the Buckaroos needed three pitchers to get through six innings against the Riverhawks on Tuesday in Columbia River Conference play, but not because Pendleton’s hurlers weren’t throwing strikes. The Dalles (7-9, 1-2 CRC) simply hit the cover off the ball as the Riverhawks found gap after gap in the Pendleton defense for 14 hits. Six errors by Pendleton (6-10, 2-1) helped exacerbate matters on the mound. “Pitcher threw the ball well today, The Dalles was just on at the plate,” said Pendleton coach T.J. Haguewood. “They didn’t miss many fastballs.” The Dalles starting pitcher Jose Gonzalez hit a double and triple to help his own cause and went 3 for 3 with four runs and three RBI. He pitched 3 1/3 to get the win and finished with two strikeouts and five walks with three runs allowed on four hits. Henry Lee hit a two-run home run to initiate the 10-run rule in the bottom of the sixth inning. Wyatt Morris made his first start on the mound for Pendleton and went just 1 1/3 but threw 67 percent strikes while giving up six runs on seven hits. UP NEXT Pendleton hosts Hood River on Saturday for a doubleheader starting at noon. ——— (6 innings) R H E PHS 200 104 — 7 7 6 TD 060 416 — 17 14 1 W. Morris, N. Lani (2), H. Villers (5). J. Gonzalez, J. Wetmore (4), H. Lee (6). W — Gonzalez. L — Morris. 2B — W. Morris, D. Naughton, A. Zaugg (PHS); D. Hoffman, J. Gonzalez, T. Westin (TD). 3B — J. Gonza- lez (TD). HR — H. Lee (TD). DUFUR 14-12, WESTON- MCEWEN 0-6 — At Athena, Kolbe Bales pitched a no-hitter in the first half of Tuesday’s Special District 6 doubleheader and Dufur took advantage of Weston-McEwen errors in both games to get the sweep on Tuesday. Bales struck out 15 and walked two in a five-inning complete game to beat Weston-McEwen 14-0 in the opener. He also hit two doubles in the game as Dufur (13-0, 8-0 SD6) scattered 12 hits. The Rangers added 11 hits in support of Bailey Keever in Game 2, and Weston-McEwen (5-8, 3-5) had six errors in each game. The TigerScots were eventually able to get the bats going in the second game, though, and were led by Parker Munck (2 for 3) and Brendan Dearing (2 for 4, two runs, three RBI). UP NEXT Weston-McEwen has a week off and plays at Union in a double- header on Tuesday, April 25, at 2 p.m. ——— Game 1 (5 innings) R H E DHS 531 50 — 14 12 1 W-M 000 00 — 0 0 6 W — Bales. L — B. Speed. 2B — B. Keever, C. Uhalde, T. McLaughlin, K. Bales 2 (DHS). Game 2 R H E W-M 000 030 3 — 6 6 6 DHS 510 222 X — 12 11 3 W — B. Keever. L — T. Hendley. 2B — B. Dearing, G. Smith (W-M); B. Keever, C. Uhalde, T. McLaughlin (DHS). CULVER 5-7, HEPPNER 1-5 — At Culver, the Mustangs fell behind early and never caught the Bulldogs in a pair of Special District 6 baseball losses on Tuesday. Culver (7-2-1, 4-0 SD6) was up 6-1 after three in Game 1, then led 2-0 after two in Game 2, which was called after five innings for an unknown reason. Heppner (1-13, 0-8) had a few players with solid games, but weren’t consistent enough throughout the line-up to hang with Culver. Beau Wolters (2 for 3) and Lane Wilhelm (2 for 2) led them in Game 1 while Tim Jaca added a pair of RBI. Then Coby Dougherty (2 for 3) and Tyler Carter’s RBI provided the highlights in Game 2. UP NEXT Heppner hosts Pilot Rock on Saturday for a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m. ——— Game 1 R H HHS 010 301 0 — 5 CHS 213 100 X — 7 W — C. Gunes. L — W. Steagall. 2B — W. Basil, B. Aleyre (CHS). Game 2 (5 innings) CHS 020 03 — 5 HHS 000 10 — 1 W — C. Little. L — K. Smith. 2B — J. Bender (CHS). R 8 4 E 8 9 5 1 H 0 2 E COLLEGE PLACE 13, MAC-HI 3 (6 innings) — At College Place, Wash., Keaton Smith and Dareagan Stephens had Mac-Hi’s only hits in a non-league loss to College Place on Tuesday. Despite the lack of offense, the Pioneers (3-8) led 3-1 in the top of the third inning after Stephens scored from third on a ground-out and Smith drove in a run with a double. College Place struck back in the bottom of the frame to go up 5-3, though, and took the lead for good with four consecutive hits with two outs, two of them doubles. UP NEXT Mac-Hi plays a doubleheader at Baker on Thursday at 3 p.m. ——— R H E M-H 012 000 — 3 2 1 CP 014 062 — 13 14 0 W — Ko. Morris. L — D. Cothey. 2B — K. Smith (M-H); K. Filan, B. Harrison 2, Ko. Morris, Ky. Morris, T. Mink (CP). TENNIS (BOYS) HERMISTON 4, PENDLETON 1 — At Hermiston, the Bulldogs went for the jugular against the Buckaroos and won three of five matches in straight sets, and gave up just one set in another on Tuesday in Columbia River Conference play. Lincoln Johnson was Pendle- ton’s only winner at No. 1 singles with a 6-2, 5-7, 10-3 defeat of Hermiston’s Jose Mendoza. Bulldogs coach Shann West said Johnson was a frustrating opponent due to his consistent returns. “Jose was going against a brick wall,” West said. “Everything he hit was coming back.” That wasn’t really the case in any of the other matches, though, and West said he was happy to see his players keep their edge despite lopsided wins. “It’s easy to kind of let up,” he said. “Just having a lot of zero scores there is people competing and giving it their all.” UP NEXT Hermiston will host The Dalles on Thursday at 4 p.m. Pendleton plays at La Grande on Friday at 4 p.m. ————— Singles Lincoln Johnson (P) def. Jose Mendoza 6-2, 5-7, 10-3 Caleb Jorgensen (H) def. Silas Johnston 6-0, 6-1 Hayden Cissna (H) def. Easton Phelan 6-0, 6-0 Doubles Thomas McCullough/Patrick Wicks (H) def. Jeremy Sellers/Joey Savage 6-0, 6-0 Koby Grigg/Jason Morris (H) def. Santo Schmitz/ Elton Harrison 6-0, 6-0 (GIRLS) HERMISTON 5, PENDLETON 3 — At Pendleton, the Hermiston Bulldogs defeated the Pendleton Buckaroos 5-3 on Tuesday afternoon thanks to a strong day from its doubles teams. Hermiston and Pendleton split the singles matches 2-2, but Herm- iston won the No. 2 through No. 4 doubles matches to take advan- tage. No. 1 doubles team Jaycee Ternes and Katelyn Millard was the team’s only loss in three sets to Pendleton’s Jenna Senter and Abby Williams. Pendleton coach Rocky Dillenburg said he moved Senter and Williams, normally the Bucks’ top two singles players, to a doubles team to try and match up better against Hermiston’s strength in doubles. In the singles matches with Hermiston’s Mackenzie Hill and Adriann Stewart taking the No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches before Pendleton freshmen Bethany Flanagan and Becca Walker rallied for two three-set victories at No. 3 and No. 4. Flanagan outlasted Hermiston’s Breckyn Mecham through two tiebreakers in the first and second set with Flanagan winning the first 7-6 and Mecham the second 7-6 before Flanagan won 10-6 in the match tiebreak. UP NEXT Hermiston heads to The Dalles on Thursday at 4 p.m. and Pend- leton goes to La Grande on Friday. ———— Singles Mackenzie Hill (H) def. Brandy Brown 6-0, 2-6 Adriann Stewart (H) def. Danae Smith 6-0, 7-5 Bethany Flanagan (P) def. Breckyn Mecham 7-6, 6-7, 10-6 Becca Walker (P) def. Katie Bradshaw 6-4, 4-6, 10-5 Doubles Jenna Senter/Abby Williams (P) def. Jaycee Ternes/ Katelyn Millard 2-6, 6-2, 10-7 Reed Middleton/Breena Wadekamper (H) def. Mau- reen Davies/N/A 6-1, 6-3 Paola Sanchez/Emery Snyder (H) def. Kayla Walker/ Brooke Lapp 6-3, 3-6, 10-6 Alyssa Perkins/Olivia Thomas (H) def. Florence/ Scanlon 6-3, 6-2
