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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 28, 2017)
SPORTS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2017 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS PENDLETON Bucks head to Redmond for fi rst road test Pendleton hits the road after four straight home games By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian Staff photo by E.J. Harris Pendleton’s Nick Bower stares down Ridgeview’s Tanner Stephan as he runs the ball in the Bucks’ 48-13 win against the Ravens on Friday in Pendleton. PENDLETON — After having the luxury of four straight home games to begin the 2017 season, the Pendleton Buckaroos are fi nally hitting the road. Pendleton (2-2 overall, 1-1 5A Special District 1) will make the roughly eight-hour round-trip drive to Central Oregon on Friday to continue league play with a game against the Redmond Panthers (0-4, 0-2). The Football Pendleton Redmond Buckaroos Panthers (2-2, 1-1) (0-4, 0-2) • Friday, 7 p.m. • at Redmond High School Panthers were a senior-heavy playoff team last year that have played a very tough schedule so far, losing to Silverton (45-6), Bend (33-0) and Mountain View (56-16) who are all three top-10 ranked teams in Class 5A. And with that, Pendleton knows that the Panthers are better than their record and playing in their home environment will be a challenge. “They’re a good team, no doubt,” Pendleton quarterback Nick Bower said. “They’re 0-4 but losses to top teams in the state so the biggest thing for us is don’t undermine them and we have to play our absolute best.” “We expect them to be a good foot- ball team,” Pendleton head coach Erik Davis added. “They played a tremen- dously diffi cult preseason schedule, so they’re battle-tested. They beat us last year so we’re going to continue to play that underdog role each and every week and see if we can’t come out with another win.” It’s a crucial game for Pendleton in the Buckaroos’ journey to the playoffs. A win helps the Bucks keep pace with the top half of Special District 1 while See BUCKS/2B HERMISTON MLB Mariners fall to A’s on walk-off home run Bulldogs come back home Herm- iston’s Dayshawn Neal celebrates after intercept- ing a pass during a non-con- ference game against Lewiston (ID) on Sept. 8 at Kennison Field. After two straight road games, Hermiston returns home to host Hood River Valley on Friday night. By GIDEON RUBIN Associated Press OAKLAND, Calif. — Mark Canha hit a game-ending home run in the ninth inning to lead the Oakland Athletics past the Seattle Mariners 6-5 on Wednesday. Canha’s fi fth homer this season came on a 1-0 pitch from Shae Simmons (0-1). Oakland avoided a three-game sweep Seattle and snapped an eight- game losing streak against Seattle. The A’s improved to 15-10 in Oakland September, clinching their fi rst winning month since April of 2016. They won 15 games in a month for the fi rst time since June 2015. Matt Joyce tied an A’s record with three doubles. Blake Treinen (3-4) pitched a score- less ninth, working around a one-out double by rookie Mike Marjama. The A’s led 5-3 going into the top of the eighth, when Robinson Cano hit a two-run homer off Chris Hatcher. Cano’s 23rd homer was Seattle’s second game-tying home run on the day. The Mariners trailed 2-0 when Nelson Cruz hit his team-leading 38th homer, a two-run shot off Kendall Graveman in the top of the fourth. Graveman left the game with a 5-3 lead and was in line to win his fourth straight decision. Oakland’s ace struck out four and gave up three runs on seven hits and one walk in six innings. MARJAMA’S MILESTONE Marjama made his fi rst career start for Seattle. The 28-year-old was 2 for 4, collecting his fi rst major league hits. TRAINER’S ROOM Mariners: OF Guillermo Heredia left the team and is expected to have surgery to repair a right shoulder injury he’s been playing with all year. Heredia, who bats and throws left-handed, will get a second opinion before having the procedure performed by a specialist in Miami, manager Scott Servais said. UP NEXT Mariners: LHP Marco Gonzales (1-1, 5.51 ERA) will pitch Friday’s series opener against the Angels in Los Angeles. The 24-year-old rookie is 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA in his last four starts. 5 6 Hermiston hosts Hood River Valley after two weeks on road By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ East Oregonian HERMISTON — After dethroning Summit last Friday, the Hermiston Bulldogs are dialed in and focused on continuing their style of play this week back home at Kennison Field. Hermiston welcomes Hood River Valley, a team that was winless in 2016 but is now hungry for a playoff birth. The Bulldogs (2-2 overall, 1-1 Football Hermiston Hood River Bulldogs Valley Eagles (2-2, 1-1) (2-1, 1-1) • Friday, 7 p.m. • At Kennison Field Special District 1) have spent the last two weeks on the road, splitting the two games after falling to the No. 2 Mountain View Cougars on Sept. 15. As they prepare to face the Eagles (2-1, 1-1), that loss is well in the past and Hermiston has fresh tape to work off of that highlights a near-perfect performance from quarterback Andrew James. The junior fi nally showed what head coach David Faaeteete has seen week in and week out at practice. He fi nished 17-of-20 for 256 yards and three touchdowns against Summit. James didn’t throw a single interception and kept his feet moving, racking up 84 rushing yards on 13 carries. It was his best performance as play caller since Hermiston’s 54-0 win against Ridgeview last season. “You know it’s there, you see it at practice every day,” Faaeteete said. “The game plan worked, everything was there. We made the right reads, he made great reads on his feet, ran the ball well, threw it well — just a great execution.” See BULLDOGS/2B Sports shorts Louisville places Pitino on unpaid leave amid bribery investigation LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Louisville has placed coach Rick Pitino and athletic director Tom Jurich on administrative leave amid a federal bribery investigation. The coach’s attorney, Steve Spence, told the Courier-Journal Wednesday that Louisville has “effectively fi red” Pitino. Pitino’s exit comes after the school acknowledged on Tuesday that the men’s program is part of a Pitino federal investigation into alleged bribery of recruits. The 65-year-old coach was not named in the indictment that resulted in the arrest of 10 people including assis- tants at other schools and an Adidas executive. It is the latest black eye for the Cardinals program. Pitino and Louisville are in the middle of appealing NCAA sanctions following an embarrassing sex scandal. “I’ve been able to be lucky enough to be with the same organization. It means so much to me, and I can’t picture myself putting a different uniform on ... I know I am able to hang my hat at the end of the day and say I put everything I could into this and I’ve experienced it all and enjoyed every bit of it.” — Matt Cain The 33-year-old San Francisco Giants pitcher announced he will retire at the end of the season, making one more start at home on Saturday. Cain went 104-118 with a 3.69 ERA in 12 seasons. Twins clinch 2nd AL Wild Card, continue unexpected turnaround CLEVELAND (AP) — The Minnesota Twins became the fi rst team to make the playoffs after losing at least 100 games the previous season, clinching an AL wild-card berth on Wednesday night when the Los Angeles Angles lost 6-4 in 10 innings at Chicago. The Twins couldn’t secure their fi rst spot in the postseason by themselves, losing 4-2 to the Indians, but that hardly mattered for a team that has overcome adversity and defi ed expectations. They won only 59 games a year ago, and it seemed as if the young Twins would be lucky to be competitive when the season began. But they got hot in August and haven’t looked back in becoming the 13th team — and fi rst since the 2009 Seattle Mariners — to go from 100-plus losses to a winning record the following season. Minnesota will play at either Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park in the wild-card game Tuesday. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1976 — Muhammad Ali wins a unanimous 15-round decision over Ken Norton at Yankee Stadium in New York to retain his world heavyweight title. 1985 — Tight end Brian Foster of Rhode Island catches 18 passes for 327 yards to set an NCAA record in a 32-27 loss Brown. 1997 — Wendy Ward records the lowest total in relation to par in the 47-year history of the LPGA tour for her fi rst victory. Ward’s 23-under 265 gives her a two-shot victory in the Field- crest Cannon Classic. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com
