SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2017
1B
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WORLD SERIES
Dodgers win, force Game 7
By RONALD BLUM
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Joc
Pederson sliced a drive over
the left-fi eld wall, pounded
his chest and danced around
the bases, taking as many
twists and turns as this World
Series itself. Of course, the
Los Angeles Dodgers forced
the Houston Astros to Game
7.
Chris Taylor hit a tying
double off Justin Verlander
during a two-run rally in the
sixth inning, Corey Seager
followed with a go-ahead
sacrifi ce fl y and the Dodgers
beat the Astros 3-1 on
Game 6
Houston
Los Angeles
1
3
Tuesday night to push this
dramatic Fall Classic to the
ultimate game.
Pederson homered in
the seventh against Joe
Musgrove, connecting off
the right-hander for the
second time in three games
to make it a record 24 long
balls hit in this Series.
Pederson pranced all the
way to the plate, pointing
at the Dodgers’ dugout and
rubbing his thumbs and
index fi ngers together to
indicate what a money shot
it was.
Mired in a major slump
earlier this season, Pederson
was demoted to the minors
— and teammates began
offering to pay him for
opposite-fi eld home runs in
an effort to get him to hit the
ball the other way.
“I kind of black out in
a situation like that,” said
Pederson, who has three
homers in the Series. “I’m
going to have to re-watch it
to see what I did.”
Yu
Darvish
starts
Wednesday for the Dodgers,
trying to win their fi rst title
since 1988, and Dodgers
ace Clayton Kershaw will
be ready in the bullpen.
Lance McCullers Jr. goes
for the Astros in the fi rst
World Series Game 7 ever at
Dodger Stadium.
“It’s
only
fi tting,”
Dodgers manager Dave
Roberts said.
Darvish was chased in
the second inning of Game
2, when McCullers pitched
Houston to a 5-3 victory.
“Two incredible teams,
trying to get to the fi nish
line,” Astros manager A.J.
Hinch said.
Two nights after a 13-12,
See WORLD SERIES/3B
AP Photo/Alex Gallardo
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Austin Barnes (15) celebrates at the
dugout after scoring on a double by Chris Taylor during
the sixth inning of Game 6 of the World Series against the
Houston Astros Tuesday in Los Angeles.
HEPPNER
NFL
Nichols’ put Mustangs on the map
Family helps cross
country running
emerge in Heppner
By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ
East Oregonian
A few years ago you
wouldn’t be able to fi nd
any runners from Heppner
competing in the cross
country state championships.
It wasn’t due to a lack of
talent. It was simply because
there was no cross country
team to begin with.
That changed three years
ago when Russ and Toni
Nichols saw a hole that
needed to be fi lled. The
couple had been contem-
plating it for years. After
fi nding time away from the
many other obligations they
had along with getting the
OK from the administration,
Heppner had its fi rst ever
boys and girls cross country
team.
“Without having that
program — and not just our
own kids — but there were
kids ahead of them that really
wanted it and talked about
it, so we thought about it
for a while,” Toni Nichols
said. “But Russ was really
involved with baseball
at the time, and we had a
lot of things we already
volunteered for and we were
coaching track at that time.
“So, it took us a couple
years of talking about it,”
she added, “and talking with
administration to get them
on board. It’s just one those
(things) where there was a
need.”
Coaching cross country
at the high school level
would be a new endeavor
for the already talented duo.
Russ, an experienced runner
himself, had been coaching
a running club in town. Toni,
aside from coaching track,
traded in the soccer jersey she
once sported for a clipboard
instead and started coaching
youth soccer in Heppner.
Soon, their experience would
come together to form what
is now a 25-person team.
“The more we heard of
interest the more we wanted
See NICHOLS/3B
Trade
deadline
features
action for
a change
Several big-name
players change teams
By ARNIE STAPLETON
Associated Press
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Heppner’s Hunter Nichols competes in the Kyle Burnside Memorial Invite recently at Wildhorse Resort
golf course in Mission.
The NFL trade deadline
fi nally featured some big-name
buzz.
The winless San Fran-
cisco 49ers acquired New
England backup quarterback
Jimmy Garoppolo , and the
NFL-leading
Philadelphia
Eagles bolstered their running
attack Tuesday by adding Jay
Ajayi from Miami.
The Buffalo Bills, who at
5-2 are off to their best start
since 1993, upgraded their
receiving group by acquiring
Kelvin Benjamin from the
Panthers for their third- and
seventh-round picks in next
year’s draft.
The trades came a day after
the Seattle Seahawks agreed to
send cornerback Jeremy Lane
and two draft picks to Houston
for left tackle Duane Brown .
Midseason trades rarely
bring much excitement or
shake up the playoff races.
Most years the NFL trade
deadline comes and goes
without much happening.
In each of the past two years,
the biggest name bandied
about was 10-time Pro Bowler
Joe Thomas, but he never left
Cleveland for a contender. It
wasn’t even a possibility this
season after the star left tackle
tore his left triceps Oct. 16, an
injury that required season-
ending surgery and ended his
consecutive plays streak at
10,363.
The Niners agreed to send a
2018 second-round pick to the
Patriots in the deal that will be
offi cial once Garoppolo passes
a physical.
San Francisco (0-8) had
been expected to either draft
a quarterback high in the
See TRADES/3B
Sports shorts
Seahawks could be without Earl
Thomas for Sunday’s game
RENTON, Wash. (AP) — The Seattle
Seahawks are unsure of the status of safety Earl
Thomas after he suffered a strained hamstring
late in their win over the Houston
Texans.
Seattle coach Pete Carroll said
Monday the team won’t know until
late in the week whether Thomas
will be able to play against Wash-
ington. Thomas was injured in the
Thomas
fourth quarter of Seattle’s 41-38 win
over Houston as he tried to chase
down DeAndre Hopkins on a 72-yard touchdown
catch-and-run.
Thomas pulled up holding his right hamstring
and was unable to go back in later in the fourth
quarter. He was replaced by Bradley McDougald.
“He’s a little sore. We’ve looked at him, he has
a strain that we have to fi gure out,” Carroll said.
“Off the court we’ve
got great chemistry,
great bond. Just, on
the court we just got
to be better. Like,
talking, communicating,
enjoying the game
together. Having fun. ...
Right now guys are not
having fun.“
— Tyronn Lue
Cleveland Cavaliers head coach
on his team’s slow start. Cleveland
is off to a 3-4 start and rank as
one of the worst defensive teams
in the NBA with recent losses to
Brooklyn, New York and Orlando.
Georgia No. 1 in initial College
Football Playoff rankings
NEW YORK (AP) — Georgia, Alabama,
Notre Dame and Clemson are the top four
teams in the fi rst College Football
Playoff rankings of the season.
Oklahoma and Ohio State
were the next two in the selection
committee’s initial top 25. The
fi nal rankings that will determine
the participants in the College
Football Playoff semifi nals come
out Dec. 3.
Over the fi rst three seasons of the playoff,
a total of fi ve teams have been ranked in the
top four of the initial ranking and gone on to
reach the semifi nals: Florida State (which was
second) in 2014; Clemson (fi rst) and Alabama
(fourth) in 2015; and Alabama (fi rst) and
Clemson (second) in 2016.
Washington is the highest-ranked Pac-12
team at No. 12 and Washington State is No. 25.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1938 — Before a crowd of
40,000 spectators, Seabiscuit,
under jockey George Woolf,
beat odds-on favorite War
Admiral in the Pimlico Special,
a winner-take-all match race
with a purse of $15,000.
2010 — The San Fran-
ciso Giants beat the Texas
Rangers 3-1 in a tense Game
5 to bring a World Series title
to the city by the Bay for the
fi rst time. Tim Lincecum
outduels Cliff Lee in a
matchup that was scoreless
until Edgar Renteria earns
the Series MVP award by
hitting a stunning three-run
homer with two outs in the
seventh inning.
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