SPORTS
FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 2017
1B
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HERMISTON
Prep Roundup
Rockets
beat
’Scots
Dawgs doubles team stays hot
Hermiston
boys edge
The Dalles in
league match
Teams fi nally
fi nish game on
hold from March
By MATT ENTRUP
East Oregonian
East Oregonian
Thomas McCullough and
Patrick Wicks kept their hot
streak going on a blustery
afternoon at Hermiston High
school, and the Bulldogs
boys tennis team pulled out
a narrow victory over The
Dalles on Thursday.
Each team won four
matches, and Hermiston
earned the win based on sets
10-9.
McCullough and Wicks
remained undefeated in
district matches at No. 1
doubles with their 6-0, 7-5
win over Alex Lopez and
Omar Rodriguez. The whip-
ping gusts encouraged teams
to keep shots low and rallies
were short, but Wicks said it
didn’t affect their game too
much.
“Not much difference,
just when someone lobs it
or serves it it’s hard to read,”
he said. “(The Dalles) were
pretty consistent with the ball
and they were good at the
net, and tall.”
The Bulldogs were fairly
steady with their serves, but
seemed to be their strongest
on defense and won several
points with well-placed
returns.
“My defense was really
good today, I got a lot of
shots back that I usually
don’t,” McCullough said.
ATHENA — When
the
Weston-McEwen
TigerScots and Pilot Rock
Rockets originally met on
the softball fi eld on Mar.
25, the Rockets appeared
to be on their way to a big
non-league win.
The Rockets held an
18-2 lead in the second
inning, but then a big
rain storm came through
Eastern Oregon halted
play and effectively put
the game on hold. The two
teams were able to pick
up where they left off on
Thursday and fi nish the
game on Thursday and
Pilot Rock prevailed with a
24-10 victory.
TigerScots (5-4) coach
Jeff Griggs said he knew
it was unlikely his team
could come back to get
a win on Thursday, but it
didn’t stop his girls from
giving 100 percent effort.
“We told the kids to just
win the day,” Griggs said,
“And they did not only that
we outhit them too. We
were able to refocus and
get some good things done
on the fi eld. There was a
lot of pride in our girls,
it would have been easy
just to forfeit but the girls
wanted to give (Pilot Rock)
See PREPS/2B
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston junior Patrick Wicks serves the ball as his partner junior Thomas McCullough stands ready at the
net during their match against The Dalles seniors Alex Lopez and Omar Rodriguez on Thursday in Hermiston.
Hermiston coach Shann
West said he thought it was
another quality win for the
duo.
“The other team really
picked it up to rise to their
level and they did a good job
to hold off that surge,” he
said.
After winning just one
match at districts last season,
McCullough and Wicks aim
to reach the state tournament
this year and improved to 6-1
on the season with the win.
A tournament in Madras
this weekend that will feature
some of the district’s top
players should give them
a better idea of where they
stand with three weeks left
until the district champion-
ships.
“It’s a big one,”
McCullough said. “We want
to be able to do good so we
can get seeded for districts.”
Hermiston No. 2 doubles
team Koby Grigg and Jason
Morris have had a bumpier
go in their fi rst season as a
pairing, but got a boost with
a three-set comeback win
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
over Brandon Bustamante
Hermiston
senior
Jose
Mendoza
returns
a volley
and Ethan Martin. After during a match with The Dalles freshman Quinn
Wil-
son on Thursday in Hermiston.
See DAWGS/2B
MLB
NFL
Mariners loses as Paxton struggles
NFL releases 2017 schedule
Lefty pitcher’s
scoreless inning
streak halted at 23
Season starts Sept. 7
as Patriots host Chiefs
By BARRY WILNER
Associated Press
By JANIE MCCAULEY
Associated Press
OAKLAND, Calif. — Cesar
Valdez pitched in the major
leagues for the fi rst time in nearly
seven years and the Oakland
Athletics beat the Seattle Mari-
ners 9-6 on Thursday night.
He allowed three runs and
fi ve hits in four
innings, struck
out four and
walked two.
Seattle
This marked
just the third
start of his
career at age
32 and 10th
appearance in
Oakland
all — and he
is
probably
headed right
back to the
minors soon.
A right-hander from the
Dominican Republic, he was
called up from Triple-A Nash-
ville to fi ll in for injured opening
day starter Kendall Graveman.
Valdez last pitched in the big
6
9
AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher James Paxton, center, is
pulled from the baseball game by manager Scott Servais
during the fi fth inning against the Oakland Athletics, Thurs-
day, April 20, 2017, in Oakland, Calif.
leagues on June 10, 2010, with
Arizona just more than a month
after his previous start on May
8.
“What a great story. It’s been
a while since he’s been in the
big leagues,” A’s manager Bob
Melvin said. “You really feel
good about guys that have perse-
vered and hang around with the
aspirations to get back to the big
leagues. He performed well for
us this spring, he’s done well
early in the season in Triple-A
so we’re rewarding him with a
start and it’s great to see because
very competitive guys like that
don’t take no for an answer and
end up coming back to the big
leagues again you know they
have some moxie.”
Trevor Plouffe hit a three-run
homer in the seventh and Ryan
Dull (1-1) pitched 1 1-3 score-
less innings for the victory in
Oakland’s third straight win.
Reliever Evan Scribner (0-2)
took the loss against his former
club.
Taylor Motter hit a two-run
See MARINERS/2B
One of the spoils of being cham-
pion: The New England Patriots will
kick off the NFL season on Sept. 7 by
hosting the Kansas City Chiefs.
New England earned that honor
with its record comeback to beat
Atlanta in the Super Bowl. Its opening
opponent in a Thursday night game
won the AFC West last season.
The Falcons visit Chicago in their
fi rst game.
The rest of the opening weekend
will feature what seems like a yearly
occurrence, with Dallas hosting the
New York Giants on Sunday night.
They fi nished 1-2 in the NFC East in
2016.
On Monday night, New Orleans is
at Minnesota, followed by the Char-
gers, in their fi rst game representing
Los Angeles since 1960, at Denver.
Five games will be held abroad,
beginning with Baltimore vs. Jackson-
ville in London on Sept. 24. The next
week, Miami hosts New Orleans. In
Week 7, the Rams host the Cardinals,
followed the next week by Minnesota
vs. Cleveland.
New England is the visitor against
Oakland at Mexico City on Nov. 19.
Seahawks Schedule
Sept. 10
Sept. 17
Sept. 24
Oct. 1
Oct. 8
Oct. 15
Oct. 22
Oct. 29
Nov. 5
Nov. 9
Nov. 20
Nov. 26
Dec. 3
Dec. 10
Dec. 17
Dec. 24
Dec. 31
at Green Bay
vs. San Francisco
at Tennessee
vs. Indianapolis
at L.A. Rams
BYE
at NY Giants
vs. Houston
vs. Washington
at Arizona
vs. Atlanta
at San Francisco
vs. Philadelphia
at Jacksonville
vs. L.A. Rams
at Dallas
vs. Arizona
4:25 p.m.
4:25 p.m.
4:05 p.m.
8:30 p.m.
4:05 p.m.
4:25 p.m.
4:05 p.m.
4:05 p.m.
8:25 p.m.
8:30 p.m.
4:05 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
1 p.m.
4:05 p.m.
4:25 p.m.
4:25 p.m.
Thanksgiving’s traditional games
will have Minnesota at Detroit and the
Chargers at Dallas. In prime time, the
Redskins will be home for the Giants.
Christmas weekend will be busy.
Two Saturday matches have India-
napolis at Baltimore in late afternoon,
Minnesota at Green Bay at night
on Dec. 23. Most of the rest of the
schedule will be played on Dec. 24,
with no night game. On Christmas
Day, Pittsburgh will go to Houston in
a late-afternoon matchup, followed by
Oakland at Philadelphia.
The season ends when 2017 does,
on Dec. 31.
The Falcons are scheduled to open
See NFL/2B
Sports shorts
Woods undergoes 4th back surgery
(AP) — Two days after Tiger Woods said
his back was progressing, he announces on his
website he has had a fourth back surgery to
alleviate pain.
The surgery was performed at the Texas
Back Institute.
Typical recovery is six months,
meaning Woods is likely to go
another full year without playing
a major.
Woods fi rst had surgery a week
before the 2014 Masters. He had
two more back operations after
Woods
the 2015 PGA Tour season and
did not play again for 15 months.
His last competition was Feb. 3 in the Dubai
Desert Classic, where he shot 77 and withdrew
because of back spasms.
He has started just 19 events worldwide
since that fi rst back surgery, and he has
completed 72 holes in just nine of them.
“We have one more
extra day before the
game starts, we’ll see
how I feel. But I’m
getting better every day.
Hopefully I can be out
there with my teammates
grinding it out, trying to
move forward and get a
W in Game 3.“
— Kevin Durant
The Golden State Warriors
forward said he hopes to play in
Saturday’s game against Port-
land after suffering a calf injury
during Game 1, which caused
him to miss Game 2.
Raiders may get free rent in Vegas
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Oakland Raiders
wouldn’t pay rent at a proposed tax-funded
stadium they want to call home in Las Vegas
under the most recent version of a lease
agreement unveiled Thursday
during a meeting of the public
entity overseeing plans for the
$1.9 billion project.
The stadium authority board
justifi ed the lack of rent for the
Raiders with the up to $1.15
billion investment that the team is making on
the 65,000-seat domed stadium to which guests
of hotels and other lodging facilities in the
Las Vegas area are contributing $750 million
through a room tax increase.
The previous draft of the agreement that
was made public called for a $1 annual rent.
The Raiders paid $3.5 million to play at
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in 2016,
up from $925,000 for the 2015 season.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1951 — The Toronto
Maple Leafs win the Stanley
Cup for the fourth time in fi ve
years by beating the Montreal
Canadiens 3-2 in the fi fth
game.
1996 — The Chicago
Bulls wrap up the most
successful regular season in
NBA history with their 72nd
victory, getting 26 points
from Michael Jordan in a
103-93 win over Washington.
2012 — Phil Humber
throws the fi rst perfect game
in the majors in almost two
years, leading the Chicago
White Sox to a 4-0 victory
over the Seattle Mariners.
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