SPORTS
WEEKEND, AUGUST 19-20, 2017
1B
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MLB
HERMISTON
Dawgs hungry to leave their mark
Hermiston
senior
Dayshawn
Neal
tackles a
Bulldog
ball carrier
while se-
nior Tyler
Rohrman
lurks
closely
during
a drill at
practice
on Friday
at Kenni-
son Field
in Hermis-
ton.
Staff photo by
Eric Singer
M’s win
big in
Tampa
Cruz hits longest-
ever home run at
Tropicana Field
By DICK SCANLON
Associated Press
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.
— Nelson Cruz didn’t quite
know what to make of his
30th home run, which put a
charge into the ninth inning
of the Seattle Mariners’ 7-1
victory over
the Tampa
Bay Rays on
Friday night.
Seattle
T h e
distance
of the solo
blast
into
the
upper
deck
was
Tampa Bay
measured by
MLB Stat-
cast as 482
feet, which
makes it the longest ever
measured at Tropicana Field.
“Cool. Do they give a
prize for that?” asked Cruz,
who also had two doubles
and scored three runs for the
See MARINERS/3B
7
1
Hermiston football wants to make final season in OSAA memorable
By ERIC SINGER
East Oregonian
Staff photo by Eric Singer
Hermiston junior QB Andrew James
throws a pass during Friday’s practice
at Kennison Field in Hermiston.
The Hermiston Bulldogs
begin their fi nal athletic year as
members of the OSAA this fall,
and the football team is not shy in
letting know what their goals are
for the farewell season.
“We defi nitely want to leave
on a high note,” Hermiston
senior Joey Gutierrez said confi -
dently after practice on Friday
at Kennison Field. “We want
to leave our mark on the state
of Oregon and that’s what were
going for this year.”
The Bulldogs certainly have
the personnel to put together a
successful 2017 season, as the
team brings back numerous
big-time contributors including
QB Andrew James, star WR/DB
Dayshawn Neal, a solid DB/WR
in Gutierrez, RB/LB Jonathan
Hinkle and a host of solid offen-
sive and defensive linemen. With
that returning core plus a Special
District 1 that could be a little
more wide open this season with
teams like Summit, Redmond,
and Bend hit hard by graduation,
things on paper set up very well
for the Bulldogs here in mid-Au-
gust.
However, it is still only
mid-August and Hermiston
knows there is still a lot of work
left to do. The Bulldogs wrapped
up its fi rst week of practices
with full gear and full contact
on a warm Friday afternoon, and
while the players are thankful for
a two-day breather this weekend,
Gutierrez said he was ecstatic to
get back into the swing of things.
“It’s good to get a group of
guys together who have put in
the work in the summer and now
come out and chase a common
goal,” Gutierrez said. “Now we
have to pay attention to small
details in practices in order to get
these big goals ... when you’re
starting small and getting those
down, you can work toward those
big things.”
Third-year head coach David
Faaeteete said he’s pretty pleased
with the effort and results from
the team for the fi rst week, as
they continue to build on the
hard work put in throughout the
summer in the weight room, in
7-on-7, and other team workouts.
The Bulldogs changed up their
offseason goals to get a better
start on the season, after Herm-
iston went 1-3 out of the gates
in 2016 before fi nishing on a 4-1
stretch to make the playoffs.
“We wanted to get bigger,
faster stronger and develop
leadership,” he said. “That’s a
big focus for us, we have a good
group of seniors that want to be
See DAWGS/2B
AP Photo/Chris O’Meara
Seattle’s Nelson Cruz cel-
ebrates after his home
run off Tampa Bay relief
pitcher Brad Boxberger
during the ninth inning
of Friday’s game in St. Pe-
tersburg, Fla.
MLS
NFL
Valeri scores, Timbers beat Red Bulls
Seahawks’ preseason
win comes at a cost
Portland rebounds
after weekend loss
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
PORTLAND — Diego
Valeri scored his 14th goal of
the season and the Portland
Timbers beat the New York
Red Bulls 2-0 on Friday
night.
The Red Bulls, who had
won fi ve of their previous
six games, rested Bradley
Wright-Phillips after a short
turnaround because of a U.S.
Open Cup semifi nal earlier in
this week.
Valeri’s goal in the 66th
minute was his 51st with
the Timbers, tying him with
Fanendo Adi for the most in
franchise history across all
eras. He leads all Portland
Sean Meagher/The Oregonian via AP
Portland Timbers’ Zarek Valentin (16) clears the ball
during an MLS soccer match against the New York Red
Bulls in Portland on Friday evening.
scorers this season.
Second-half sub Darren
Mattocks added a goal for
the Timbers just as stoppage
time ran out at the end. It was
his second goal of the season.
The Timbers were 2-2-1
in their previous fi ve games,
including a 4-1 loss at
Toronto last weekend.
New York
Portland
0
2
New York was coming
off a 3-2 come-from-behind
U.S. Open Cup semifi nal
victory over FC Cincinnati
on Tuesday night.
The Red Bulls didn’t
bring in midfi elder Sacha
Kljestan until the second
half, and left Wright-Phillips
on the bench for the duration.
Midfi elder Daniel Royer
missed his second game with
a knee injury.
Kljestan leads the league
with 12 assists this season,
while Wright-Phillips is
ranked third with 14 goals,
tied with Valeri.
See TIMBERS/3B
Fant suffers signifi cant knee injury
By TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
SEATTLE — Russell Wilson looked just fi ne
throwing for 206 yards and two touchdowns in the fi rst
half, and the Seattle Seahawks suffered
a signifi cant injury loss to left tackle
George Fant in their 20-13 victory over
Minnesota the Minnesota Vikings on Friday night.
Wilson picked apart a Vikings
secondary that played without starting
cornerback Trey Waynes and safety
Andrew Sedenjo, completing 13 of 18
passes. He hit Kasen Williams on a 1-yard
Seattle
touchdown pass and found Mike Davis
on a 22-yard catch-and-run TD late in the
fi rst half.
But the Seahawks may have lost Fant
for an extended period to what appeared to be a signifi cant
right knee injury, throwing the offensive line into fl ux
See SEAHAWKS/3B
13
20
Sports shorts
Orioles’ Machado hits 3 home runs,
including walk-off grand slam
BALTIMORE (AP) — Manny Machado
capped a three-homer night with a grand slam
in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the
Baltimore Orioles rallied past the Los Angeles
Angels 9-7 on Friday night in a
game that featured 10 home runs.
Machado hit his seventh career
slam off Keynan Middleton
(4-1), who entered with two on
and one out in the ninth. After
Tim Beckham singled to load the
bases, Machado hit a drive far over
Machado
the center-fi eld wall to give the
Orioles their fi rst lead.
Machado also hit a two-run homer in the
third and a solo shot in the fi fth to fi nish with
seven RBIs.
Albert Pujols set the tone for the game in the
fi rst inning with a milestone homer off Jeremy
Hellickson, the 609th of his career.
“It’s just a regular NBA
problem, right? A lot of
teams have gone through
this before ... Both of those
guys won a championship
together. They love each
other. If Kyrie wants to do
something else, that’s on
him. I’m sure whatever
happens, it’ll work out for
the best for both of them.“
— Kevin Durant
Golden State Warriors foward
speaking on the supposed rift between
Cleveland’s Kyrie Irving and LeBron
James, prompting Irving to demand a
trade. But Durant believes the two will
work things out and Irving will remain
with the Cavaliers.
Walla Walla team shut out in
Little League WS opener
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — The Walla Walla
Valley little league team had an eye-opening
debut at the Little League World
Series on Friday afternoon,
dropping its opening game
9-0 to Ranch Santa Margarita,
California.
The California team opened
up the game with a grand slam
by Joey Gray in the fi rst inning,
and Gray’s twin brother Bobby no-hit Walla
Walla through 5 1/3 innings. Andrew Hall
picked up Walla Walla’s fi rst hit of the game in
the sixth inning.
The loss drops Walla Walla into the
elimination bracket, where they will next play
the Sioux Falls, South Dakota on Saturday at 5
p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN and
can also be streamed on WatchESPN.com
Attendance for the game was 8,153.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1909 — The fi rst race is
held at the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway. Twelve-thousand
spectators watch Austrian engi-
neer Louis Schwitzer win a
fi ve-mile race with an average
speed of 57.4 miles per hour.
2007 — Top-ranked
Roger
Federer
reaches
another measure of tennis
greatness, winning his 50th
tournament title by beating
James Blake 6-1, 6-4 in
the Western & Southern
Financial Group Masters.
The 26-year-old Swiss star
is the fi fth-youngest player in
history to reach 50, and only
the ninth overall since 1968
to win so many tournaments.
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