SPORTS
TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2017
1B
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PENDLETON
NBA Finals
Warriors win NBA championship
Game 6
Kevin Durant
named Finals MVP
By JANIE MCCAULEY
Associated Press
OAKLAND, Calif. — As
the gold confetti fell and a fresh
gray NBA champion cap sat a
tad off-kilter on his head, Kevin
Durant embraced mother Wanda.
Then he moved across the podium
and hugged Stephen Curry before
accepting his shiny MVP trophy
and hoisting it for everyone to see.
From the Bay all the way to
OKC.
Durant capped his spectacular
fi rst season with the Warriors by
bringing home that coveted NBA
championship he joined Golden
State last July so determined to
get, scoring 39 points in a fast-and-
Cleveland
Golden State
120
129
furious, Finals-clinching 129-120
victory over LeBron James and the
Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 5 on
Monday night.
“It’s just a great group of guys,
great community, great arena,
great fans,” Durant said. “I’m just
so happy to be a part of it.”
Stephen Curry added 34 points,
10 assists, six rebounds and three
steals as Golden State closed out
its second title in three years after
squandering a 3-1 lead a year ago
to the Cavs to miss a repeat. That
stung ever since, and even Durant
understood, because he gave up the
See NBA FINALS/3B
Chichester, Naughton
help late charge past
La Grande for title
East Oregonian
AP Photo/Ben Margot
Golden State Warriors players, coaches and owners hold up the
Larry O’Brien NBA Championship Trophy after Game 5 of basket-
ball’s NBA Finals between the Warriors and the Cleveland Cava-
liers in Oakland, Calif., Monday, June 12, 2017.
PENDLETON
‘He’s one of a kind’
Longtime
Pend-
leton
baseball
coach
Mike
Hodgen
holds up
a com-
mem-
orative
Pendle-
ton jersey
at Bob
White
Ball-
park on
Saturday.
Pend-
leton
honored
Hodgen
for his
40-plus
years in
coaching
with a
small
ceremony
prior to
a game
with San-
dy in the
Ashlee
Hodgen
Memorial
Tourna-
ment.
Pendleton
baseball honors
longtime coach
Mike Hodgen
By ERIC SINGER
East Oregonian
On Saturday evening, Pend-
leton/Hodgen Distributing was
getting set to take on Sandy during
Day 2 of the Ashlee Hodgen
Memorial Baseball Tournament at
Bob White Ballpark.
It was a cool, breezy evening,
resulting in more fans huddling in
their respective cars along the hill-
side than in the bleachers to take in
the ballgame. But prior to the game
around 6:15 p.m., everybody had a
good reason to get out of their cars.
Pendleton baseball had a
surprise ceremony on the fi eld
as it honored longtime coach
Mike Hodgen for his 43 years of
coaching high school baseball
and dedication to the town.
Hodgen’s family was on hand, as
were numerous former Pendleton
players spanning all four decades
of Hodgen’s tenure.
One of those former players was
2016 graduate and current Linfi eld
College player Devon Roe, who
called Hodgen “one of the best life
mentors I’ve ever had.”
“I think we all can agree
Mike Hodgen is one of the most
infl uential guys in our lives,” Roe
said. “He taught me the most about
baseball, but also taught me as
much about life in general ... about
being an adult, being a good guy,
being as classy a person as you can
be.
“I doubt I ever see a better
coach, honestly, he’s one-of-a-
kind.”
Hodgen, who started coaching
prep baseball in 1972, was
presented with a commemorative
plaque by current Pendleton head
coach T.J. Haguewood, as well as
a commemorative framed No. 2
Pendleton jersey by 2016 Pend-
leton alumnus Jack Peterson and
2017 alumnus Wyatt Morris.
“Something like this to me
and my family is pretty special,”
Pendleton
wins Ashlee
Hodgen
Tournament
Staff photo by
Eric Singer
The commemorative plaque
handed out to the champions of
the Ashlee Hodgen Memorial
Tournament did not have far to
travel to its fi nal resting place on
Sunday afternoon.
The home Pendleton/Hodgen
Distributing team put together a
come-from-behind 8-6 win over
La Grande to claim the champion-
ship in the second annual tourna-
ment at Bob White Ballpark.
La Grande scored all six of its
runs in the fi rst two innings and
held a 6-4 lead after three full. But
then Hodgen’s Gabe Umbarger
and Daniel Naughton teamed up
to throw fi ve hitless innings for
the remainder of the game to keep
Hodgen in the game. Naughton
was especially dominant, as he
struck out seven and allowed just
two baserunners in four innings of
relief.
In the bottom of the fourth,
Hodgen’s offense came through.
With one on and two out, Quinn
Doherty hit an RBI double into
See TOURNAMENT/2B
MLB
Mariners
thump Twins
Cruz drives in four,
Haniger gets four hits
By DAVE CAMPBELL
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS — Nelson
Cruz drove in four runs, Mitch
Haniger had four hits, and the
Seattle Mariners started a series
against Minnesota with a football
score for the
second time in a
week to beat the
Twins 14-3 on
Seattle
Monday night.
D a n n y
Valencia
and
Mike
Zunino
hit back-to-back
home runs in the
Minnesota
eighth inning, the
fi fth such feat for
the Mariners this
season. Yovani
Gallardo (3-6) sailed through six
innings with the excess support,
allowing three runs and seven hits.
Twins rookie Adalberto Mejia
(1-2) struggled from the start,
allowing nine hits and nine runs
and leaving with two outs in
the fourth inning. The fi rst two
batters in the lineup, Ben Gamel
and Haniger, reached base and
eventually scored all three times
they faced Mejia.
Cruz just missed a homer
for the seventh straight game at
Target Field, settling for an RBI
double off the wall against Twins
backup catcher Chris Gimenez in
the mop-up ninth inning following
See MARINERS/3B
14
3
Hodgen said on the fi eld, fi ghting
back emotions. “It goes a long way
and it will never be forgotten.”
For much of the ceremony,
Hodgen sat and leaned forward
in a red lawn chair just behind
home plate, surrounded by current
Hodgen players, family, past
players, as well as the players
from the Sandy team. He listened
intently and wiped away tears
from his eyes as a few people gave
speeches, including former Pend-
leton superintendent Jon Peterson,
and a few letters were read from
Hodgen’s former colleagues such
as current Oregon State University
See HODGEN/2B
Pendleton
baseball
coach
Mike
Hodgen
embraces
with 2017
Pendleton
alumnus
Nick Lani
at Bob
White
Ballpark
on Satur-
day.
Staff photo by
Eric Singer
Sports shorts
Twins make HS shortstop No. 1
overall pick in MLB Draft
SECAUCUS, N.J. (AP) — The Minnesota
Twins selected California high school shortstop
Royce Lewis with the No. 1 pick in the Major
League Baseball draft Monday night.
It was the third time the Twins
led off the draft, and fi rst since
they took hometown high school
catcher Joe Mauer in 2001.
The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Lewis
hit .377 with four homers and 25
stolen bases for JSerra Catholic
Lewis
High School, establishing himself
as a top prospect with excellent
speed and a solid bat. He played both shortstop
and outfi eld in high school, but the Twins
classifi ed him as a shortstop.
“My body just went numb,” Lewis said
during an interview with MLB Network. “It
was an unbelievable feeling.”
“I really can’t put into
words how much this
means to me and my
family ... I’m going to
have to pinch myself to
make sure I’m living this.
It’s a dream come true
and I’m very thankful for
the Mariners giving me
this opportunity.“
— Evan White
The University of Kentucky fi rst
baseman was selected by Seattle
with the 17th pick in the fi rst round
of the MLB Draft on Monday.
White hit .373 with 10 HR and 41
RBI in 53 games this season.
Oregon State will face Cal State
Fullerton to open CWS
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — No. 1 national seed
Oregon State will play Cal State Fullerton in
the College World Series opener on Saturday.
Oregon State (54-4) will
bring a 21-game win streak into
the Bracket 1 afternoon game
against Fullerton (39-22). The
night game pits No. 4 seed LSU
(48-17), a winner of 16 in a row,
against Florida State (45-21).
Bracket 2 games Sunday have No. 7
seed Louisville (52-10) playing Texas A&M
(41-21) in the afternoon and No. 6 seed TCU
(47-16) facing No. 3 seed Florida (47-18) at
night.
Five of the eight national seeds reached the
CWS: No. 1 Oregon State, No. 3 Florida, No.
4 LSU, No. 6 TCU and No. 7 Louisville. The
previous time so many national seeds made it
to Omaha was 2011, when six advanced.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1935 — Jim Braddock
scores a 15-round unanimous
decision over Max Baer in New
York to win the world heavy-
weight title.
1997 — Chicago wins its
fi fth NBA championship in the
last seven years when Steve
Kerr’s last-second shot sends
the Bulls past the Utah Jazz
90-86 in Game 6.
2012 — Matt Cain pitches
the 22nd perfect game in
major league history and fi rst
for San Francisco, striking
out a career-high 14 batters
and getting help from running
catches by outfi elders Melky
Cabrera and Gregor Blanco to
beat the Houston Astros 10-0.
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