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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 2017)
Page 2B SPORTS East Oregonian Thursday, August 31, 2017 MLB Mariners swept by Orioles to end road trip By DAVID GINSBURG Associated Press BALTIMORE — During a seven-game winning streak that’s turned around their season, the Baltimore Orioles have found all sorts of ways to come out on top. Their latest victory featured an impressive comeback, four home runs and a very timely replay challenge. Welington Castillo went 4 for 4 with a homer and three RBIs, Jonathan Schoop singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and Seattle Baltimore 6 7 Baltimore beat the Seattle Mariners 8-7 on Wednesday for a three-game sweep. Less than 24 hours after subduing the Mariners behind a sensational pitching performance by Dylan Bundy, the Orioles called upon their power-laden lineup to offset a poor start by Ubaldo Jimenez. Schoop, Trey Mancini and Craig Gentry went deep for the Orioles, whose seven- game run is a season high. In this one, Baltimore fell behind 6-2 in the third inning before coming back. Mitch Haniger homered and hit two doubles for Seattle, which completed an arduous 12-game East Coast trip with five straight defeats. After winning two of three in Tampa Bay and Atlanta, the Mariners went 1-2 at Yankee Stadium and came up empty against the sizzling Orioles. While Baltimore has been finding ways to win, the Mariners are doing the exact opposite. “There’s been different reasons for the losses,” manager Scott Servais said. “Some of it’s been lack of offense. Today we had plenty of offense. It’s been different areas.” After Baltimore went up 7-6 in the sixth on a bases loaded sacrifice fly by Manny Machado, Seattle pulled even in the eighth when Haniger connected off Brad Brach (4-4). In the bottom half, Castillo singled off Christian Bergman (4-5) and went to second base on a sacrifice bunt before being replaced by pinch-runner Caleb Joseph. Tim Beckham then hit a liner to short, and Joseph was called out on the relay to second. But a replay over- turned the call, and Schoop followed an intentional walk to Machado with a single to center off Marc Rzepczynski. Zach Britton pitched the ninth for his 13th save. Mancini hit his 23rd home run and Castillo added an RBI double in the second for a 2-0 lead, but Seattle answered with a six-run third that included a two-run double by Haniger and two-run singles by Mike Zunino and Nelson Cruz, the latter of which ricocheted off second base. Jimenez was charged with all six runs, but Baltimore’s robust offense eventually took him off the hook. Castillo homered with a man on in the fourth and Gentry followed with a drive to right. Schoop tied it in the fifth with his 30th home run , and Seattle starter Ariel Miranda faced one more batter before being pulled. It was the fifth time this season that Miranda allowed at least six runs. HERMISTON: Game will be broadcast on 1360 KOHU BUCKS: Will Continued from 1B of Union this week, not play catch up like it did in previous matchups. “We want to play penalty free, move the ball — running and passing,” Faaeteete said. “Our defense wants to tackle well, but it’s game one and you expect mistakes. You hope they don’t happen, but they are going to happen so it’ll be how fast our guys rebound from that. I’m eager to see our work ethic and bind to the process.” As inevitable as mistakes are, especially with the pressures of the first week of school and first game jitters, Hermiston has the ability to start its season on the right note if the Bulldogs can contain some of Unions top players. All-league wide receivers Darien Chase (junior) and Braedon Ensley (senior) and defensive backs Darien Chase (junior) and Dustin Nettles (senior) return to the Titans, who ended last season 4-5. In 2015, Union was not only working with first-year head coach Rory Rosenbach but it was had to break in a new offensive unit. Hermiston will test whether or not Union’s learning curve has ended at McKenzie Stadium Friday evening. Kickoff is set for 4:30 p.m. and the game can be heard on 1360 KOHU or GoHermiston.com. ————— Contact Alexis at aman- sanarez@eastoregonian.com or 541-564-4542. Follow her on Twitter at @almansanarez. PENDLETON: Buckaroo Boosters paid for most of upgrades Continued from 1B can’t wait to play under the lights on their home field. “It’s awesome, it really is,” Bower said of the facility. “The field looks really great. We love the Round-Up Grounds, no doubt about it, but to have a place to call ours and play night games before the rodeo is a pretty good feeling for us. We’re all ready to go.” But perhaps the teams that are most affected by the upgrades are the boys and girls soccer teams, who will now get to play all of their home games on school grounds. Previously, Pendleton played up at the BMCC field or sometimes had to relegate to a Pendleton park if the BMCC field was taken. Jose Rodriguez, a senior boys soccer player, says the team is ecstatic to have a true home field now. “We used to play at BMCC and it just didn’t feel like our field,” he said. “Now we have a home field and home turf. This is really nice, and now we can play night games and that’s a fun environment.” The boys soccer team will officially break in the facility on Thursday night when it hosts Milwaukie for the home opener. Head boys soccer coach Jeremy Talbot called it an honor to be the first team to play there. Staff photo by E.J. Harris Spectators watch the Pendleton High School girls soccer team put on a demonstration during the Fall Sports Preview on Wednesday in Pendleton. “This is by far the nicest field we’ve played on in Pendleton,” he said. “And we give a lot of thanks to the booster club and the admin- istration here at PHS because it’s been many years in the works and it’s so nice to see it’s become a realization. This is awesome.” As Talbot mentioned, the Buck- aroo Boosters club are what made the upgrades possible. The club donated $250,000 to the school for the purchase and installation of the lights and the scoreboard, while the school used remaining funds from its new-school bond to purchase and install the new track surface. Booster president Kevin Porter said that the club’s goal is always to pick projects where as many kids as possible can be affected, rather than a select few, and the field covered all the necessary bases. “When you encompass not only high school sports but the utiliza- tion of this facility for youth sports and soccer, it made sense,” he said. “This was a project near and dear to our hearts as a group ... it was an entire collection of people going ‘this is where we want to spend our money’ and just look at this, it’s phenomenal. “I think this will help promote school pride and school unity and get people up here.” And while the track will wait to be utilized until the spring, assistant track coach and head cross country coach Nicole Stewart said that the new track will help the Buckaroos be more competitive this coming season. The new surface has much more cushion and give under the feet, which will help runners stay healthy and perform better. “It gives pride to the kids,” she said. “And for coaches, there’s less concern about injuries now and more focus on different workouts that we don’t have to modify anymore because of a facility that’s safe for the kids.” Porter and Pendleton athletic director Troy Jerome both acknowl- edged that next on the wish list is some permanent bleacher seating at the field, but they will all gladly enjoy the sparkling facility as-is. “Yeah we don’t have fancy amenities like bleachers and press boxes and stuff,” Porter said, “but we’re taking babysteps.” ———— Contact Eric at esinger@ eastoregonian.com or 541-966- 0839. HEPPNER: Volleyball, cross country teams also got new gear Continued from 1B played somewhere else and this puts it over the top.” The jerseys are part of Nike’s Vapor Untouchable template, which is being used on the field this fall by most NFL and college football teams as well. Grant recalled being blown away when told of this, because at the time only the Oregon Ducks and Clemson Tigers had worn the Vapor Untouchable template, and now the small rural school of Heppner would be in the same gear. “I was like ‘My team gets this?,” he recalled, being in awe. “And as a parent I knew this was something that gets kids excited and getting to watch the kids reacting would be special.” Along with the traditional royal blue and white jerseys with blue pants, the Mustangs will now have a gold jersey with blue numbers and a gray jersey with blue numbers as well as gray, white and gold pants. Nike is also supplying the team with the latest cleats and gloves that create an image of the updated Mustang logo when placed together. On the helmets, the Mustangs will also be sporting one of two updated logos: the letter ‘H’ inside a circle branding iron and an image of a Mustang wrapping from side-to-side on the helmets. The ‘H’ logo also appears on the chest of the jerseys. “We’re going to be the envy of Oregon and maybe the nation,” Grant joked. “Not many schools get to wear this nice of stuff and we’re so thankful for it.” The team will also wear a decal on the back of the helmets of a three-leafed clover the letters ‘BB’ inside it, honoring “Bad Bob” Kilkenny and his Irish roots. “The Heppner football uniform was a special project for the Nike design team to work on, meant to honor Bob, his contributions to the community and the Kilkenny family,” Nike Creative Director Todd Van Horne said in the release. “We look forward to the Mustangs taking to the field in Nike’s latest football innovation and wish them all the success during the upcoming season.” The Mustangs got their first look at the uniforms in person on Wednesday night, and senior Beau Wolters, whose favorite combination is the gray-on-blue, said he is so thankful to have grown up in a town that supports him and his friends as much as the town and people of Heppner do. “We are super fortunate to have sponsors like we do and to get brand-new Nike gear,” he said. “We had heard about them and didn’t really know how they were going to turn out. I honestly love the feel of the new jerseys, they are nice and snug and will fit very well on our pads. “I’m very excited to see what’s in store.” But as Grant pointed out on Wednesday, the Mustangs football team is not the only ones affected, as the other teams such as volleyball, girls basketball and cross country received new uniforms and equipment from Nike as well. And as a school administrator as well as a parent to athletes (Grant’s son, Kellen, plays football and his daughter, Sophie, is on the volleyball team), Grant feels blessed that the student-athletes were treated so well. “Being able to just also provide opportunities for all kids on all sports was special,” Grant said. “All kids in Heppner got a new pair of shoes; not one person had to buy cross country shoes, or volleyball shoes or football cleats and that’s really special.” The jerseys will be unveiled to the public at Heppner’s home opener on Friday when the Mustangs host St. Paul at Les Payne Field. The Kilkenny family will be on hand for the game, and then will join fellow supporters at Bucknum’s Tavern following the game. Grant said that Heppner will wear the familiar all-royal blue look for Friday’s game and will always wear white on the road, but after that they’ll “see how much fun we can have.” “We’ll live it up and enjoy the privilege we’ve been given,” Grant said, “and we’ll wear these with pride and dignity.” ———— Contact Eric at esinger@ eastoregonian.com or 541-966- 0839. Follow him on Twitter @ ByEricSinger. SCOREBOARD Local slate PREP FOOTBALL Friday Hermiston at Union (WA), 4:30 p.m. La Grande at Pendleton, 7 p.m. Mac-Hi at Dayton-Waitsburg (WA), 7 p.m. Umatilla at Union, 7 p.m. Irrigon vs. Amity (at Hood River), 7 p.m. Grant Union at Weston-McEwen, 7 p.m. Stanfield at Enterprise, 7 p.m. St. Paul at Heppner, 7 p.m. Elgin at Pilot Rock, 7 p.m. Echo vs. Arlington (at Condon), 7 p.m. PREP VOLLEYBALL Thursday Union at Weston-McEwen, 4 p.m. Stanfield at Helix, 4 p.m. Mac-Hi at Helix, 5:30 p.m. Hermiston (JV) at Irrigon, 7 p.m. Friday Pendleton, Hermiston at Mountain View Invite, 8 a.m. Imbler at Pilot Rock, 4 p.m. Stanfield at Echo, 4 p.m. Umatilla at Union, 5:30 p.m. Saturday Weston-McEwen, Pilot Rock at Hep- pner Tournament, 9 a.m. PREP BOYS SOCCER Thursday Milwaukie at Pendleton, 6:30 p.m. Friday La Grande at Hermiston, 4:30 p.m. Oregon Episcopal at Umatilla, 4:30 p.m. Saturday Oregon Episcopal at Riverside, 1 p.m. PREP GIRLS SOCCER Wednesday La Grande at Hermiston, 4:30 p.m. Thursday Pendleton at Milwaukie, 6 p.m. Friday Mac-Hi at Walla Walla (WA), 4 p.m. Saturday Umatilla at Pendleton, Noon Riverside at Stevenson (WA), 1 p.m. PREP CROSS COUNTRY Saturday Hermiston, Umatilla, Heppner at Ultimook Nike Invitational, 8 a.m. COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL Friday Eastern Oregon at Southern Oregon, 7 p.m. Saturday Eastern Oregon at Oregon Tech, 5 p.m. COLLEGE MEN’S SOCCER Friday Eastern Oregon at Whitman, 4 p.m. Baseball MLB AMERICAN LEAGUE Wednesday’s Games Cleveland 2, N.Y. Yankees 1, 1st game Baltimore 8, Seattle 7 Detroit 6, Colorado 2 Cleveland 9, N.Y. Yankees 4, 2nd game Boston 7, Toronto 1 Texas 8, Houston 1 Minnesota 11, Chicago White Sox 1 Tampa Bay 5, Kansas City 3 Oakland at L.A. Angels, 10:07 p.m. Thursday’s Games Chicago White Sox (Gonzalez 7-10) at Minnesota (Colon 6-10), 10:10 a.m. Texas (Hamels 9-2) vs Houston (McHugh 2-2) at St. Petersburg, Fla., 10:10 a.m. Boston (Rodriguez 4-4) at N.Y. Yankees (Sabathia 10-5), 4:05 p.m. Toronto (Estrada 6-8) at Baltimore (Hellickson 8-7), 4:05 p.m. NATIONAL LEAGUE Wednesday’s Games Atlanta 9, Philadelphia 1, 1st game Milwaukee 6, St. Louis 5 Detroit 6, Colorado 2 Atlanta 5, Philadelphia 2, 2nd game Washington 4, Miami 0 N.Y. Mets 2, Cincinnati 0 Chicago Cubs 17, Pittsburgh 3 San Diego 5, San Francisco 0 Arizona 6, L.A. Dodgers 4 Thursday’s Games N.Y. Mets (deGrom 14-7) at Cincinnati (Stephenson 2-4), 9:35 a.m. L.A. Dodgers (Maeda 12-5) at Arizona (Greinke 15-6), 12:40 p.m. Philadelphia (Lively 1-5) at Miami (Despaigne 0-1), 4:10 p.m. Atlanta (Newcomb 2-7) at Chicago Cubs (Hendricks 5-4), 5:05 p.m. Washington (Gonzalez 13-5) at Milwau- kee (Davies 15-7), 5:10 p.m. St. Louis (Wacha 9-7) at San Francisco (Bumgarner 3-6), 7:15 p.m. MiLB NORTHWEST LEAGUE Wednesday’s Games Vancouver 5, Boise 2 Spokane 10, Salem-Keizer 5 Eugene 12, Everett 0 Hillsboro 2, Tri-City 0 Thursday’s Games No games scheduled Basketball WNBA Wednesday’s Games Minnesota 80, Indiana 69 Dallas 99, Chicago 96 Friday’s Games Seattle at Washington, 4 p.m. (NBATV) San Antonio at New York, 4:30 p.m. Chicago at Minnesota, 5 p.m. Connecticut at Phoenix, 7 p.m. Atlanta at Los Angeles, 7:30 p.m. Football NFL Preseason Thursday Cincinnati at Indianapolis, 4 p.m. Philadelphia at N.Y. Jets, 4 p.m. Jacksonville at Atlanta, 4 p.m. Detroit at Bufalo, 4 p.m. L.A. Rams at Green Bay, 4 p.m. N.Y. Giants at New England, 4:30 p.m. Washington at Tampa Bay, 4:30 p.m. Pittsburgh at Carolina, 4:30 p.m. Cleveland at Chicago, 5 p.m. Dallas at Houston, 5 p.m. Miami at Minnesota, 5 p.m. Baltimore at New Orleans, 5 p.m. Tennessee at Kansas City, 5:30 p.m. Arizona at Denver, 6 p.m. L.A. Chargers at San Francisco, 7 p.m. Seattle at Oakland, 7 p.m. (NFL Net) rotate three new running backs Continued from 1B Week 1 in each of the last two years and in six of the past seven seasons. The Bucks are 6-0 in those previous meetings, most recently defeating the Tigers 48-28 last season in La Grande. “We don’t have any (new) film on them, they don’t have any film on us, so we’re just going to go play a fun Friday night football game,” Davis said. “We know who their guys are and have a pretty good idea of what their schemes may be.” Davis added that the main key and objective for the Buckaroos defense Friday is to contain La Grande’s standout QB Andrew Peasley, who committed to play football at Utah State over the summer. The 6-foot-2 QB is a two-time Greater Oregon League Offensive Player of the Year has more than 4,000 passing yards and 900 rushing yards with and 68 total touchdowns in two seasons as a starter. La Grande went 4-6 overall last season and tied for the GOL championship before getting beat by eventual state champion North Bend 69-13 in the 4A first round. The Tigers averaged 33.2 points per game and allowed 35.6 per game last year. “All we can control is what we do,” Davis said, “so we’re going to prepare right and put effort into it and hopefully that equals a win.” Here are some things to watch for in Week 1: BETTER BOWER: Nick Bower had a solid season in his first year as the starter at QB for Pend- leton in 2016, earning honorable mention all-league honors. And with that year under his belt as well as a summer of hard work, Davis says that Bower will be even better this year. “He’s matured almost leaps and bounds,” he said. “He was a great QB last year, but you also saw some growing pains you’d expect from a QB. He’s just taken control of the team now, a leader on and off the field. “What I’ve seen is he and the receivers are on the same page already, and that comes with expe- rience.” YOUNG BUCKS RUNNING WILD: For the past two seasons, running back was a rotation for the Buckaroos between the likes of Deven Page, Gabe Walker and Jamaal Vann. But after losing all three to graduation, three more Buckaroos will step in to carry the load. Juniors Aiden Patterson (5-11, 170), Shawn Yeager (5-10, 145) and Kirk Liscom (5-9, 160) will be the Buckaroo backs this season, trying to help take pressure off Bower and the passing game. “They’re all hard-nosed running kids,” Davis said. “They maybe lack overall footspeed, but what I’m asking them to do is go get 4-5 (yards) and each has the ability to do that.” HOME FIELD ADVAN- TAGE: Friday’s game will be the Bucks’ first under the brand-new lights at the Pendleton High athletic field. Pendleton has played at the field sparingly over the years, only when needed prior to the Round-Up, but always had to play the games in afternoon to avoid the darkness. Now Pendleton has a true home field and the Bucks are ready to defend it Friday. “There’s definitely a buzz,” Davis said of the field. “There’s a buzz around the program and the community and we’re just excited to have a place to play. It’s a little old-school seating, have to bring a lawn chair and blanket, but it’s still Friday night football no matter where you sit.” ———— Contact Eric at esinger@ eastoregonian.com or 541-966- 0839. Follow him on Twitter @ ByEricSinger.
