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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 11, 2018)
SPORTS WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 2018 Prep roundup Chichester’s homer lifts Buckaroos 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS Solomon leads Bucks past Pioneers Pendleton catcher gets three hits with a home run against Mac-Hi By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian East Oregonian P PENDLETON — The Pendleton base- ball team wrapped up non-league play on Tuesday with a solid 8-2 victory over the La Grande Tigers at Bob White Field. Pendleton (6-6) had a tremendous pitching performance from the duo of Daniel Naughton and Ryan Russell, who combined to strike out 10 batters and allow just two hits and two runs over seven innings. However, the star of the game was Tyler Chichester, who hit a 2-1 pitch from La Grande (8-2) pitcher Logan Atkinson and crushed it over the center field fence for a three-run home run in the third inning, which gave the Bucks a 7-1 lead. It was the first home run that Chichester has ever hit, the Buckaroo said. “I was fairly deep in the count and I was just looking for the fastball and it was right there and hit it,” a smiling Chichester said after the game. “I thought it was going to hit the top of the fence, but it went over. I was just like ‘holy cow, I did it.” The homer was on the heels of a two-run single from Naughton to give the Bucks the lead earlier in the inning. Chich- ester finished 2-for-3 on the day with three runs and three RBI. Gabe Umbarger had a team-best three hits with two doubles and an RBI in the game. ————— R H E LG 001 010 0 — 2 2 2 PHS 016 001 X — 8 8 2 (L) B. Kincade, L. Atkinson (3), I. Zamora (5). (P) D. Naughton, R. Russell (5). W — Naughton, L — Atkinson. 2B — L. Atkinson (LG); G. Umbarger 2 (PHS). HR — T. Staff photos by Kathy Aney Chichester (PHS). PILOT ROCK 4, UNION 0 — At Pilot Rock, Levi Thieme struck out 14 batters and threw six shutout innings to help Pilot Rock notch its first league win of the season 4-0 over Union on Tuesday afternoon. Theieme allowed only two hits in his outing and hit one batter, and Chris Weinke pitched a perfect seventh inning with two more strikeouts for the save. Thieme also had a team-best two hits as a batter, with a triple and run scored, while Bryson Pierce also had two hits with a triple and Logan Weinke had a solo home run for the Rockets (6-2 overall, 1-1 Special District 6). ———— R H E UHS 000 000 0 — 0 2 1 PR 201 100 X — 4 7 4 (U) K. Glenn, L. Moore (6). (P) L. Thieme, C. Weinke (7). W — Thieme, L — Glenn. 2B — G. Carreiro (UHS); B. Pierce, C. Thorton (PR). 3B — B. Pierce, L. Thieme (PR). HR — L. Weinke (PR). MAC-HI 12, DAYTON 9 — At Dayton, Washington, the Mac-Hi erased a late deficit with a six-run sixth inning to defeat Dayton 12-9 in non-league action on Tuesday. Trailing 9-6 as they came to bat in the sixth, the Pioneers (5-5) recorded three hits, drew three walks, and were helped by two Dayton errors in the six-run rally. Devin Humbert’s two-run double got the deficit to 9-8 and then back-to-back fielding errors by Dayton plated three more for a 11-9 Pioneers lead. Mac-Hi added its final run when Devon Cothey was hit with a pitch with the bases loaded. Cothey was 2-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored for Mac-Hi, while Rudy Esparza was 2-for-3 with a double and three runs scored. Matt Cunnington had a team-high four RBI. David Zitterkopf earned the win on the mound after pitching three innings of relief, with five strikeouts and only two runs allowed. ———— R H E M-H 012 036 0 — 12 7 4 DHS 120 420 0 — 9 10 4 (M) E. Rencken, C. Pratten (3), D. Zitterkopf (5). (D) J. Helm, D. Swan (5), J. Wyatt (5), A. Loper (7). W — Zitterkopf, L — Wyatt. 2B — R. Esparza, D. Humbert (M-H); J. Helm, J. Wyatt, J. Willis, J. Williams (DHS). See ROUNDUP/2B ABOVE: Pendleton’s Kila Solomon touches third base on her way to home during Tuesday’s game against the Mac-Hi Pioneers at Steve Cary Field. BELOW RIGHT: Mac-Hi players greet Graci Bullock at home plate after she hit a home run during Tuesday’s game against Pendleton at Steve Cary Field. Pendleton’s Chelsea Farrow passes third and heads for home during Tuesday’s game against the Mac-Hi Pioneers at Steve Cary Field. ENDLETON — On Tuesday afternoon, the Pendleton softball team found itself trailing 2-1 to the Mac-Hi Pioneers in the third inning. It was the first time the Buckaroos, who had won their previous three home games by a combined score of 35-2, had trailed in a home game this season. However, that deficit did not last long. In the bottom of the third, the Buckaroos loaded the bases on back-to- back singles and a hit batter which brought Kila Solomon to the plate. With a 1-1 count, Solomon crushed a pitch into the right-center field gap, just out of the reach of Mac-Hi’s right fielder, to score all three runners and give the Bucka- roos the lead back. Pendleton went on to score a total of 11 unanswered runs on the Pioneers with a big help from Solomon, who went 3-for-3 and hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning, to earn a 12-2 win in five innings at Steve Cary Field. Solomon might be over- looked a bit sitting in the No. 7 spot in the lineup, but she is one of Pendleton’s best hitters this season — all while being a rock-solid catcher behind the plate, catching all 65 innings the Bucks have played this season. “Kila is an amazing workhorse,” Pendleton head coach Tim Cary said. “Not only does she have to catch the pitchers every day (in practice), she catches every single inning of every single game ... It’s great to see her have a lot of success because she works so hard, she stays late to take extra cuts and work on things.” See BUCKS/2B Keeney’s walk-off RBI one-ups Irrigon The Tigers are the only team in their league to remain undefeated after home victory By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ East Oregonian STANFIELD — Over the years, the Stanfield baseball team has dominated Eastern Oregon League play. The Tigers put together two undefeated seasons in the EOL, a state championship run in 2015-16 and have yet to drop a game to a league opponent since April of 2014. But that 35-game win streak was in danger Tuesday when Stanfield hosted Irrigon for their first league matchup. Weeks ago, the two teams faced off in the Riverside/ Irrigon Tournament where the Tigers came away with a whop- Staff photo by E.J. Harris Stanfield’s Justin Keeney throws from the mound in the fifth in- ning of the Tigers’ 11-10 win against Irrigon on Tuesday in Stanfield. ping 18-7 victory. This time around, it wouldn’t be so easy. “Coming into the game I told them not to expect the same Irrigon team that we beat there,” head coach Brad Rogers said. The circumstances of the game were different from the March 27 matchup. Winds weren’t whipping around at 40 mph, the teams were playing on a bigger field and now instead of a preseason tournament win on the line, it was first place in the EOL. Both the Tigers and Knights entered the day 2-0 in league play, but after Stanfield’s 11-10 victory at Madigan Field, the Tigers are the only unde- feated team left and sit alone atop the league standings. “(We) got things going and built on it and built on it,” Rogers said. “We started playing better defense and our bench started to get into it, (it was) good to see and shows the guys that this is how we can play if we’re in the game for a full seven innings.” It took the full seven innings to pull off the win. After Irrigon was up early with one run in the first, Stanfield answer with three runs over the second and third innings. The Knights (6-4 overall, 2-1 EOL) responded with four runs of their own in both the fourth and fifth innings. See TIGERS/2B Sports shorts Monster Energy extends NASCAR sponsorship through 2019 CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Monster Energy will remain the title sponsor of NASCAR’s top Cup Series through 2019 in an extension announced Tuesday. Monster is not expected to be back after next year as NASCAR will re-evaluate how it sells its sponsorship. The Monster contract with NASCAR is estimated to be worth $20 million annually. The energy drink company signed a two-year deal in late 2016. THIS DATE IN SPORTS Huskies agrees to deal with Adidas SEATTLE (AP) — Adidas will become Washington’s official apparel and footwear provider under a 10-year deal announced by the school Tuesday. The university’s board of regents must still approve the contract, which would run through June 2029. The Seattle Times, citing a source with knowledge of the contract, reported that the deal will be worth almost $12 million annually, making it one of the richest apparel deals in college athletics. The new deal also ends the Huskies’ 20-year partnership with Nike. 1965 — Jack Nicklaus shoots a record 271 and wins the Masters golf tournament by nine strokes over Arnold Palmer and Gary Player. 2007 — Roberto Luongo sets an NHL record for saves in a first career playoff start, making 72 in Vancou- ver’s 5-4 quadruple-overtime win over Dallas. The sixth-longest playoff game in NHL history, ends on a goal by Henrik Sedin 18:06 into the fourth overtime period. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com
