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Page 2B SPORTS East Oregonian Friday, August 25, 2017 MLB Basebrawl! Tempers flare between Tigers, Yankees Eight total ejections between three scuffles By NOAH TRISTER Associated Press DETROIT — Once slugger Miguel Cabrera wrestled Yankees catcher Austin Romine to the ground at home plate, an afternoon game at Comerica Park collapsed into total chaos. All the testiness that had been building between the Detroit Tigers and New York finally boiled over. The toll of Thursday’s fury — three bench-clearing altercations, eight ejections, one beaning and a lot of angry words. “I’m sure there are going to be suspensions on both sides,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said after a 10-6 loss. The winning and losing pitchers — Detroit’s Alex Wilson (2-4) and New York’s Dellin Betances (3-5) — were among those tossed. So were Girardi and Tigers manager Brad Ausmus. Perhaps the only positive thing: This was the final time the Yankees and Tigers were scheduled to play this season. Girardi contended an early warning would’ve cut off the BRIEFLY BMCC baseball player signs to play at four- year college PENDLETON — Blue Mountain Community College pitcher Briant Howell recently signed a National Letter of Intent to continue his baseball career at Morningside College, a NAIA school in Sioux City, Iowa. A native of Rathdrum, Idaho, Howell Howell pitched in each of the past two seasons for the Timberwolves. He compiled a 2-7 record with a 6.70 ERA in 23 games including 16 starts, striking out 49 batters in 86 innings. He becomes the ninth Timberwolf from the 2017 team to sign with a four-year program, joining Austin Florez (Oregon Tech), Tanner Heiman (Grand View University), Gunnar Johnson (Dakota Wesleyan), Chase Labbe (College of Idaho), Matt Palmer (Waldorf University), Nathan Pena (College of Idaho), Rodney Scarver (Briar Cliff University), Tate Spivey (College of Idaho). “Brian was a hard worker for the ‘Wolves the last two seasons, and improved his velocity 11 miles-per-hour while at BMCC,” BMCC head coach Brad Baker said in a press release. “I wish Briant the best of luck at Morningside.” Buckaroos holding fall preview and athletic field ribbon cutting PENDLETON — Pendleton High School is holding a fall preview event to showcase all five fall sports teams to the community next week. Things will get started on Aug. 30 at 6 p.m. at the PHS Athletic Field. Each team will be introduced to the public and then will get approximately 10 minutes to give a taste of what to expect from each in 2017. Then at 7 p.m. the school will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the upgrades to the field, including the new scoreboard, new track surface and permanent lighting. Drinks and cookies will be included, and the event is open to all Pendleton students, parents and the rest of the community. Tri-tip dinner at Pendleton football season opener PENDLETON — Pendleton football fans that attend the Buckaroos season opener against La Grande on Sept. 1 can also treat themselves to a yummy tri-tip dinner. Prior to the start from 5:30-6:30 p.m., $10 will get people a plate of tri-tip, potato salad, baked beans, a roll and a beverage. The meal will be served at the Pendleton Technology & Trades Center (formerly West Hills Elementary) north of the athletic field. Anyone not attending the dinner but still going to the game, admission will be $6 for adults and $4 for students grades 1-8, while PHS students are free. AP Photo/Duane Burleson Members of the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankee entagle in a bench-clearing scuffle during the sixth inning of Thursday’s game in Detroit. The Tigers defeated the Yankees 10-6. trouble before it escalated. He blamed the umps for letting things go wild, saying, “Just a very poor job on their part.” Much later, Betances was ejected after he hit McCann in the helmet. Betances seemed to be indicating he had thrown a breaking ball instead of a fastball, and wound up shouting at the Tigers and the umps. “I threw him out and that was to keep control of the game,” umpire crew chief Dana DeMuth said. “And the reason why it took a minute or so, was because I wanted to get the players apart. Once I got Detroit going to their dugout and New York going to their dugout, then I informed him that he was ran.” “It wasn’t necessarily of him intentionally beaning the batter, but to keep control of the situation, I deemed it necessary that he went,” he said. The problems between these teams began well before Tommy Kahnle threw behind Cabrera in the sixth inning. Last month, they had a game at Yankee Stadium in which four batters were hit. This time, Michael Fulmer hit Sanchez with a pitch in the fifth, an inning after Sanchez had homered for the fourth time in this three- game series. “If you can’t see that Fulmer clearly hit Sanchez on purpose, there’s something wrong,” Girardi said. Kahnle was ejected after his pitch behind Cabrera, and Girardi was tossed after he came out to argue. “When they throw at me, it was OK. ... I was cool with that,” Cabrera said. “When they started arguing with the umpire, I said to Romine, ‘Calm down.’” The game was finally about to resume when Cabrera stepped toward Romine, and the New York catcher took off his mask. Cabrera gave him a two-handed push to the chest. “He said, ‘You have a problem with me?’ And I said, ‘This isn’t about you,’” said Romine, whose brother Andrew plays for the Tigers. “And then he pushed me. It felt like he wanted a confrontation there and I just tried to defend myself the best I could.” Cabrera appeared to take a couple of swings at Romine, and the two ended up on the ground as players from both teams spilled onto the field. Sanchez later appeared to take a swing at someone at the bottom of the pile. Cabrera and Romine were ejected, and Romine was so incensed by his dismissal that he threw his mask when he entered the dugout. An inning later, Betances hit McCann in the helmet with a pitch, causing benches to empty again, and Betances and bench coach Rob Thompson were tossed. Betances said he didn’t hit McCann on purpose, and McCann seemed to agree afterward. “I don’t think it was intentional,” McCann said. “At that point in the game, Miggy was thrown at, Sanchez had been hit, and at least in my mind, the retaliation was over. I don’t think that he was trying to hit me on purpose.” Wilson and Ausmus were ejected in the eighth after Wilson hit Todd Frazier around the thigh with a pitch. The benches cleared for a third time. “With me hitting a guy in the leg, it’s what I have to do and that’s what I did,” Wilson said. “Fortunately for me I know where my pitches are going, and I hit a guy in the leg today to take care of my teammates and protect them.” Rangers beat Angels to inch closer in Wild Card Texas just one game out Associated Press ANAHEIM, Calif. — Martin Perez dodged a couple early jams en route to seven strong innings, Drew Robinson and Mike Napoli homered and the surging Texas Rangers beat the Los Angeles Angels 3-0 on Thursday night. Texas has won eight of 11 games, pulling situations and cruised within a game of the from there. He final AL wild card allowed seven hits, despite trading away Texas Los Angeles struck out three and ace Yu Darvish to didn’t walk a batter. the Dodgers at the Jason Grilli July 31 non-waiver pitched the eighth trading deadline. and rookie Ricardo Perez (9-10) won his fourth Rodriguez the ninth, earning his consecutive start. He had two first career save to complete the runners aboard in each of the second Rangers’ sixth shutout. Troy Scribner (2-1) gave up and third innings, but escaped both 3 0 three runs on three hits and two walks, striking out six. Robinson’s two-run homer came in the third. It was his fourth home run of the year. Napoli added his 26th shot in the fourth. The Rangers took three of the four games in the series. Despite the loss, the Angels remained a half-game behind Minnesota and Kansas City for that last wild card. BOYS SOCCER: Hermiston plays at Mac-Hi on Monday Continued from 1B credits that to the program he has been dedicated to building over the years. “We’re building a program here now so we can reload,” he said. “We’re not building singular teams so that when we have that team graduate we’re kind of stuck. We’re able to bring in guys that are ready to go at the varsity level and we don’t need a to take another year or two to get them ready.” While all cylinders were rolling for Hermiston, nothing went Umatilla’s way. The ball was kept in their third the entire night, and the few chances the Vikings (0-1) did have ended in shots wide of the goal and turnovers that gave the momentum back to Hermiston. Despite the impressive shutout performance, the Bulldogs’ cannot get comfortable now. It was a Staff photo by E.J. Harris Hermiston’s Rene Alarcon drives on the goal guarded by Umatil- la’s Christian Alaniz in the Bulldogs’ 8-0 win against the Vikings on Thursday in Hermiston. sentiment Harshberger expressed at the half, and the coaches reiter- ated at the end of the game. “This was an opportunity for us to get some practice at a competi- tive level, especially in the second half,” Harshberger said. “They’ve got to come out and they have got to push it because there are going to be teams that we are going to need to go a full 80 against.” With a focus on communica- tion, keeping up pace, and owning their own style of play, Hermiston will take to the road and will face the Mac-Hi Pioneers on Monday at 5 p.m. Umatilla will continue its road slate to begin the season next week when they, too, travel to Milton-Freewater to take on the Pioneers. The Vikings and Pioneers face off on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. ———— Contact Alexis at aman- sanarez@eastoregonian.com or 541-564-4542. Follow her on Twitter @almansanarez. GIRLS SOCCER: Umatilla goalkeeper kept Vikings in game Continued from 1B maintained control of the ball for nearly the entire game. This kept Umatilla’s senior goalkeeper and captain Maria Moreno busy. The Vikings (0-1) would have been in more trouble if it weren’t for Moreno’s performance, and they knew it. “It should have been a lot worse,” Vikings’ head coach Tim Lee admits. “But our girls did a great job keeping it in front of them.” There was no doubt that Moreno did that best of all. “I love having Maria back there,” Lee said. “For four years she has been a starter and her confidence level has increased over time. It’s always one of the biggest worries a coach could possibly have: being unsure of the keeper. But really there is no doubt when it comes to Maria. I know what’s going to happen.” Even impressing MacBride Staff photo by E.J. Harris Hermiston’s Hannah Thompson drives past Umatilla’s Julisa Bernal in the Bulldogs’ 1-0 win against the Vikings Thursday in Hermiston. with her performance, Moreno fended off six straight shots on goal within 10 minutes. At no point in the night did the Bulldogs stop their attack, but the young team still has plenty of room to grow. “You can’t really complain too much with a win but there are things here and there that we definitely need have to work on, but it’s just a matter of getting comfortable with each other,” MacBride said. “There’s a lot of new faces and a lot of our freshman are stepping up big for us. We had eight starters graduate last year, and we are young. We are starting three freshman so it’s just a matter of getting comfort- able with each other and learning the style of play. I think once that happens, we’ll be alright — good things will happen with this group.” Hermiston will continue its season at Kennison Field next week facing the Mac-Hi Pioneers on Monday at 3 p.m., and stay home two days later to host La Grande Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. Lee and the Vikings will return home to host the Pioneers on Tuesday at 6 p.m. for Umatilla’s home opener. ———— Contact Alexis at aman- sanarez@eastoregonian.com or 541-564-4542. Follow her on Twitter at @almansanarez. PREPS: Helix volleyball team wins big against Ione, Umatilla Continued from 1B set tonight, I think, and they did a good job playing through.” The TigerScots were very balanced in the stat book Thursday, with all 11 players contributing in some fashion. In the kill category, Hailey Weaver led the team with 20 total, while Alyssa Finifrock had 16 and Maddi Muilenburg had 14. Chelsea Quaempts led the team with 35 digs and Muilenburg followed with nine, and Bryce Thul had a team-high 45 assists and Ellie Scheibner had 15. Finifrock also dazzled on the serving line with 11 aces and both Thul and Quaempts had eight. “That’s going to be what you see out of this team every night,” White said of the balanced stat sheet. Weston-McEwen will next head to Grant Union to play in a tourna- ment on Saturday. GRIZZLIES WIN TWICE HELIX — The Helix Grizzlies got off to a great start in the 2017 season, as they hosted a dual with Ione and Umatilla on Thursday afternoon and earned two three-set victories. First up against Ione, Helix (2-0) started slower in the first set to win it 25-19 but then finished strong winning 25-15 and 25-12 to finish off the win. Kailey Mize led Helix with eight kills in the match and Sadie Wilson had seven, while Ari Krol was a perfect 12-12 on serves and Lynne Roberts also had a strong game. Then against Umatilla, Helix again began the match a little slug- gish with a 25-19 win in the first set before finishing off the Vikings 25-10 and 25-7 for the victory. Mize again led the team in kills, this time with 10, and Krol had eight while Charmayne Bennett and Roberts carried the team in serving. “It’s great to get that first win right away,” Helix coach Dianna Melton said. Helix will host Weston- McEwen and Enterprise on Tuesday for a dual match. Ione will head to Country Christian today to play in the 1A Season Preview, and Umatilla will play Irrigon and Condon/Wheeler today in Irrigon.
