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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 28, 2018)
SPORTS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 2016 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS Stahl’s shutout lifts Bucks Pendleton junior strikes out nine, allows just one hit By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian P ENDLETON — As Ryan Stahl jogged out to the pitching mound at Pendleton’s Bob White Field on Tuesday afternoon, he felt the nerves running throughout his body as he made his first start and third pitching appearance overall in the Buckaroos’ young season. However, it was unlikely any spectators, players or coaches were able to tell that Stahl was nervous. The Pendleton junior right- hander threw a five-inning complete game shutout on Tuesday, allowing only two walks and one hit while tallying nine strikeouts as he helped his Buckaroos to a 11-0 victory over St. Helens in the Red Lion Buckaroo Baseball Classic. “It was a fun day,” a smiling Stahl said after the game. After allowing three runs in one inning of relief in the against BASEBALL season-opener Southridge, Stahl has now thrown 8 1/3 straight scoreless innings for the Pendleton Buckaroos (3-5) dating back to his relief appear- ance in Walla Walla on Saturday. In Tuesday’s game, Stahl allowed his only St. Helens hit in the top of the first inning, a two-out double to St. Helens’ Joe Rea down the left field line, but induced a flyball out to left field to end the inning. From that point on, Stahl had three 1-2-3 innings and had only three players reach base — with none advancing past second base. “Just being able to command my fastball and change it up, throw a curveball to get them off-balance and then vice-versa really helped,” Stahl said of his performance. “And it helps when you have a defense that makes a couple plays behind you, and the bats defi- nitely help a lot with a big lead like that kind of gives you a nice cushion.” The Lions (0-5) did not put a lot of balls in play against Stahl, which was a pleasant sign for a Buckaroos’ defensive unit which strug- gled with seven errors in its previous game. However, the few balls that were put in play were taken care of cleanly by the Buckaroos defense including some nice, routine plays in the infield by shortstop by Tucker Zander and third baseman Daniel Naughton, though Naughton did mishandle one while trying to make a tough play on a slow, bouncing groundball. But Pendleton coach T.J. Hague- wood was very pleased with the overall effort and approach from his players in the field. “Defense always looks good with a lot of strikeouts,” Haguewood joked. “But I thought we had a better approach today on balls that were in play, just getting in ready positions more consistently, too.” East Oregonian IRRIGON — The Stanfield Tigers and Irrigon Knights combined to hit four home runs on Tuesday as the Tigers defeated the Knights 18-7 at the Riverside/Irrigon Tournament. Brody Woods hit two home runs for the Tigers (5-3), a two-run shot in the first inning and a solo shot in the fourth inning. Also going deep for Stanfield was Adrian Renner with a first-inning grand slam. Johnny Phillips hit a two-run homer for Irrigon (2-3) in the fourth inning as well. Renner finished the day with a game- high six RBI and scored four runs, while Woods had four RBI and also scored four runs. Phillips led the Knights with three hits while Lino Covarrubia, Zack Henrichs and Nate Gumbert each had two. ———— Game 2 R H E SHS (10)00 311 3 — 18 9 1 IHS 011 400 1 — 7 13 3 (S) T. Smith, D. Curial (4) and A. Renner. (H) Z. Henrichs, K. Flemming (4), R. Hussey (5) and M. Moreno (7) — K. Flem- ming, Z. Henrichs. HR: B. Woods 2, A. Renner and J. Keeney (S); J. Phillips (I). 3B: Z. Hendricks (I). 2B: D. Curial, S. Keltz and M. Connell (S); L. Covarrubia and J. Phillips (H). 0 Staff photos by E.J. Harris ABOVE: Pendleton pitcher Ryan Stahl throws from the mound in the Bucks’ 11-0 win against St. Helens on Tuesday in Pendleton. BELOW: Pendleton’s Ryan Russell (11) is mobbed at home plate after hitting a two-run home run in the Bucks’ 11-0 win against St. Helens on Tuesday in Pendleton. IRRIGON 27, HEPPNER 8 — At Irrigon, a 15-run third inning helped the Irrigon Knights thump the Heppner Mustangs at the Riverside/Irrigon Tourna- ment on Tuesday. The Knights tallied 23 hits in the game, and Adrian Roa, Nate Gumbert, Keith Fleming, Mathew Moreno and Ryan Hussey each had a three-hit game. Lino Covarrubia hit two triples and Johnny Phillips had a home run for the Knights as well. Nate Gumbert threw four innings of relief and struck out eight to earn the win on the mound. Coby Dougherty led the Mustangs (2-4) offense by going 3-for-4 with one run and on RBI, and Tyler Carter had two hits with a double and two RBI. ———— Game 1 R H E HHS 430 01 — 8 9 7 IHS 1815 3X — 27 23 3 (H) H. Hyatt, W. Steagall (3) and Z. Glover (3) — C. Dougherty. (I) B. Harrington and N. Gumbert (2) — C. Adams. HR: J. Phillips (I). 3B: L. Covarrubia 2 and A. Roa (I). 2B: T. Carter (H); N. Gumbert, R. Hussey, J. Phillips, A. Roa (I). STANFIELD 14, WILLAMINA 4 — At Irrigon, Adrian Renner went 3-for-3 at the plate with two doubles and a triple, scored three runs and earned the win on the mound with a complete game as Stanfield defeated Willamina 14-4 at the Riverside/Irrigon Tournament on Tuesday. See BUCKS/3B See ROUNDUP/3B Lillard’s 41 points lifts Blazers past Pelicans NEW ORLEANS — Damian Lillard scored 20 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter, and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the New Orleans Pelicans 107-103 on Tuesday night. Lillard hit his first six shots of the fourth quarter, including two Tigers defeat Knights Stanfield wins twice to start Riverside/Irrigon tourney 11 By BRETT MARTEL Associated Press PREP ROUNDUP 3-pointers, to push Portland into its first lead since early in the first quarter. He made two free throws with 1.3 seconds left to seal the victory. Anthony Davis had 36 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks for the Pelicans, with 22 points coming after he rolled his right ankle and See BLAZERS/3B Lillard leaves Blazers for impending birth of first child AP Photo/Gerald Herbert Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard slam dunks over New Orleans Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday, left, and forward Anthony Davis, in the first half Tuesday’s game in New Orleans. NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Damian Lillard says he’s on his way home and hoping to arrive in time for the impending birth of his son. That means Lillard won’t play when the Blazers visit Memphis tonight. Lillard says he learned when he got to the locker room after the game against the Pelicans that his girlfriend is in labor. He says the message was essentially, “Get home.” Lillard says he’ll go directly from the airport to the hospital when he lands. The Trail Blazers All-Star says he’s excited but hoping he could get some sleep on the flight back to the West Coast, given how little sleep new parents tend to get. Sports shorts Seahawks release Boykin after assault allegation DALLAS (AP) — The Seattle Seahawks released quarterback Trevone Boykin on Tuesday shortly after his girlfriend alleged in a television interview that he physically assaulted her in Texas last week. The practice squad player was released from the team after WFAA-TV in Dallas posted an interview with Boykin’s girlfriend detailing an assault she alleges happened on March 20 in Mansfield, just southwest of Dallas. The woman said she refused to show Boykin a text message and an argument ensued, and that he broke her jaw and tried to strangle her. Boykin, 24, denied the allegations in a statement released Tuesday to NFL Media. He called the allegations false and said he wasn’t involved in a physical fight. THIS DATE IN SPORTS Lowering helmet to hit now 15-yard penalty ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — NFL owners rewrote the rule on using the crown of the helmet, making it a 15-yard penalty to initiate any hit with it. Rich McKay, chairman of the competition committee, called it “a significant change,” noting that it was a “tech- nique too dangerous for the player doing it and the player being hit.” McKay said the tackle made by the Steelers’ Ryan Shazier last season that resulted in the linebacker suffering a spinal injury — Shazier underwent spinal stabilization surgery two days later — was not the impetus for the change. But it was an example of what needs to be eliminated from the game. “This one technique, we saw so many hits when a player lowered his head and delivered a hit and either hurt himself or the player he was hitting,” McKay said. “It was time for a change of this magnitude.” 1950 — City College beats Bradley 71-68 in the NCAA basketball final to become the only team to win the NIT and NCAA titles in the same year. CCNY defeats Bradley 69-61 in the NIT on March 18. 1992 — Christian Laettner hits a 15-foot turnaround jumper at the buzzer to give defending cham- pion Duke a 104-103 overtime victory over Kentucky and a fifth consecutive Final Four trip. 2012 — The NFL’s new rule for postseason overtime is expanded to cover the regular season on a 30-2 vote by the NFL owners. All games that go into overtime cannot end on a field goal on the first possession. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com