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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 28, 2017)
SPORTS THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2017 PENDLETON Prep Basketball Dawgs continue skid 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS Former Bucks give back Hermiston gives up fi rst half lead, moves to consolation bracket East Oregonian LAKE OSWEGO — The Hermiston Bulldogs returned to the court after four days off, and looked as if they were on their way to their second victory GIRLS of the BASKETBALL season. B u t l i k e similar outings, Hermiston t h e y weren’t able to last the full 32 minutes fell Oregon City and to Oregon C i t y , 42-39, on Day 1 of the Lake Oswego Nike Interstate Shootout. The game marked the fi rst of many in the four-day tournament that is comprised of 24 teams, including Herm- iston. Among the mix are the top schools from OSAA’s Class 6A, Southridge and McNary, and from Class 5A, Marist Catholic and La Salle Prep. Hermiston went toe-to-toe with No. 2 seeded Oregon City and entered the break with a narrow 25-22 lead. But a sluggish third quarter for the Bulldogs (1-8) and a breakout third for the Lakers (2-5) gave Oregon City a late lead that it would hold until the fi nal buzzer. Leading its efforts was senior Kylie Guelsdorf, who scored 14 points. For Hermiston, junior Jordan Thomas fi nished with a team-high 12 points. With the loss, the Bulldogs move into the consolation bracket and face host school, Lake Oswego, on Friday. ——— 39 42 HHS 14 11 4 10 — 39 OCHS 11 11 12 8 — 42 HERMISTON — J. Thomas 12, H. Thomp- son 10, J. Romero 8, A. Green 3, S. Stefani 2, Regan Meyers 2, M. Wilson 1, J. Ray 1. OREGON CITY — K. Guelsdorf 14, T. Bradford 9, K. Kathan 7, A. Edwards 6, E. Welch 4, M. Hood 2. Staff photo by E.J. Harris Pendleton High graduate Alex O’Rourke, second from right, plays a dexterity games with attendees during a winter baseball workshop Wednesday in Pendleton. Ex-PHS baseball stars teach next wave of Buckaroos By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian PENDLETON — The booming sounds of baseball gloves popping and bats cracking echoed throughout the Pendleton baseball indoor facility Wednesday afternoon, as a select group of Buckaroo youth had the chance to learn fundamentals of the game from some of the best players the school has produced in the past decade. All week, kids have been swarming to the facility for skills camps with former Pendleton stars Alex O’Rourke (catching), Tommy Lane (hitting) and Lane Richards (fi elding) with the spots for the camps purchased at the Buckaroo Booster auction. All three athletes have volunteered for the camps since they graduated from Pend- leton and have enjoyed it every single time. “For me, it’s pure fun,” said Lane, a 2013 graduate of Pendleton High. “It’s a fun time and it’s not a burden on me by any means.” Lane, who stands with a sturdy 6-foot-7, certainly has enough expe- rience and enough success to make the campers want to soak in every piece of information that’s shared in the four, one-hour sessions. A stellar career at Pendleton earned him a chance to play at Mt. Hood Community College, where he hit over .300 in both seasons and then earned a scholarship to play Divi- sion-I baseball at Marshall Univer- sity in Huntington, West Virginia. While at Marshall, Lane played in 108 total games over two seasons and hit 15 career home runs with 74 RBI. He earned Conference USA Newcomer of the Year as a junior when he hit for a .296 average with 13 home runs. “I just hope to give a different point of view on baseball,” Lane said. “They could already be on the track to being a good player, or they could be struggling and something I say may fl ip a switch and if that happens for one kid out of 12 or 12 out of 12, that’s a big win for me.” After graduating in the spring, Lane moved back to Pendleton and is currently trying to land an appren- ticeship to become a journeyman electrical lineman. While still in Pendleton, Lane said he plans on volunteering to coach within the baseball program this spring. For O’Rourke, who graduated from PHS in 2015, he put in a good amount of preparation on what he wanted to teach because he knows that opportunities to learn the nitty gritty fundamentals of catching can be scarce for youth baseball players. “A lot of these kids haven’t had a lot of fundamentals taught to them yet,” he said. “So it feels good that I can come back and actually help somebody learn something that maybe I struggled with at that age or that I wish I had known. It’s a good feeling to actually impact the baseball program even though I’m not still a part of it.” O’Rourke is one of the best catchers to come out of Pendleton’s program, becoming just the third player ever to earn four varsity letters in baseball. He then earned a scholarship to Division-I power- house Oregon State, where he transferred after just one season for a stopover at Linn-Benton Commu- nity College after he realized it just wasn’t the right fi t in Corvallis. “I was kind of focused more on See CAMP/3B Altuve named AP Male Athlete of the Year By KRISTIE RIEKEN Associated Press HOUSTON — Jose Altuve led the Houston Astros to their fi rst World Series title with a win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in November and picked up the franchise’s fi rst MVP trophy in more than two decades a couple of weeks later. And as his huge 2017 is coming to a close, the diminutive second baseman already is looking for more. “Winning the World Series, winning the MVP, you feel like you have every- thing,” Altuve told The Associated Press. “But my perspective is to try and get better every year and if we win one World Series, why not win another one? Just keep playing for the team and keep playing for my city.” Altuve, who was one of only a handful of players who endured the Astros’ painful rebuilding process en route to this year’s championship, which gave hope to a city ravaged by Hurricane Harvey, was chosen as The Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year. Results of voting by U.S. editors and news directors was announced Wednesday. The 5-foot-6 dynamo got 715 points, beating out New England quarterback Tom Brady, who had 646, and third-place fi nisher Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James, with 626. On Tuesday, Katie Ledecky was named AP Female Athlete of the Year. Altuve is a fi ve-time All-Star who led the majors with a career-high .346 batting average and his 204 hits topped the American League. He is the fi rst player in MLB history to lead his league in hits in four straight seasons. He tied a career-best with 24 homers and had 81 RBIs. He was second in the AL by scoring 112 runs, his on-base percentage of .410 ranked third, he was third with 32 steals and his .547 slugging percentage ranked sixth. His work made him the second Astro to win an MVP award , joining Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell, who picked up the National League’s honors in 1994. Altuve carried his stellar regular season into the postseason, where he paced the Astros in their ALDS win over the Boston Red Sox by hitting .533 with an outrageous 1.133 slugging percentage. Altuve spent his early years with the Astros toiling in relative obscurity as Houston lost 100-plus games in each AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File In this Oct. 21, 2017, fi le photo, Houston Astros manag- er A.J. Hinch and Jose Altuve hold the championship trophy after Game 7 of baseball’s American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees, in Houston. Altuve was named The Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year on Wednesday. Sports shorts Rafael Nadal withdraws from Brisbane International BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Top-ranked Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the Brisbane International due to his “late start of preparation” for the new season. Brisbane International tourna- ment director Cameron Pearson said Thursday that he had received word of Nadal’s withdrawal earlier in the day. The joint ATP and WTA tournament begins Sunday at Pat Rafter Arena. Nadal Nadal, who pulled out of the ATP Finals in London after a loss to David Goffi n in mid-November due pain in his right knee, had earlier tweeted: “I am sorry to announce I won’t be coming to Brisbane this year. My intention was to play but I am still not ready after last year’s long season and the late start of my preparation.” “I’m real happy for the guys with the way the season’s gone. It’s been a tough go. This group has a ton of character and a lot of fi ght. It’s the fi rst time we’ve won consecutive back-to- back games, which is a big deal.” — Rick Carlisle The Dallas Mavericks head coach said after snapping an eight- game road losing streak with a 98-94 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night. Iowa rallies, beats Boston College in Pinstripe Bowl NEW YORK (AP) — Iowa beat Boston College 27-20 in the frigid Pinstripe Bowl on Wednesday night to snap a fi ve-game bowl losing streak. The Hawkeyes (8-5) had been the only team in the nation to lose a bowl game in each of the last four seasons. Iowa had last won a bowl game in 2010 and started the losing streak the next season. It ended in New York. The Hawkeyes had two clutch plays that kept it close: Iowa safety Jake Gervase inter- cepted a pass on the third play of the game and returned it to the BC 6. The Hawkeyes got a fi eld goal. And Akrum Wadley returned a kickoff 72 yards that led to a touchdown on Stanley’s 8-yard TD pass to Noah Fant. With a short fi eld, Iowa was stout and kept it at 17-10 at halftime. THIS DATE IN SPORTS 2003 — Jamal Lewis becomes the fi fth player in NFL history to run for 2,000 yards in a season. He gained 114 yards on 27 carries in Baltimore’s 13-10 overtime victory against Pittsburgh, fi nishing the year with 2,066 yards — second-most in NFL history. 2008 — The Cleveland Browns lose to Pittsburgh 31-0, setting an NFL record by failing to score a touch- down for six straight games. 2016 — Dillon Brooks hits a 3-pointer with 0.8 seconds left to give No. 21 Oregon an 89-87 victory over No. 2 UCLA in the Pac-12 opener for both teams. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com