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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 18, 2018)
SPORTS WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2018 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS PATIENT BUCKS PUT AWAY RIVERHAWKS NBA PLAYOFFS: RND 1 No. 6 seed No. 3 seed NEW PORTLAND ORLEANS vs TRAIL PELICANS BLAZERS (48-34) (49-33) Game 3 Thursday, 6 p.m. At New Orleans, Smoothie King Center TV: NBATV Pelicans beat Trail Blazers to go up 2-0 By ANNE M. PETERSON Associated Press one on each inning after that and after four innings, you’ll have a 4-0 lead, hopefully, and that makes it decent to work with.” This time around, the Buckaroos (13-1 overall, 3-0 Columbia River Conference) had a 4-0 lead after just three innings and broke out the bats in the fourth to get the double- digit win. PORTLAND — Jrue Holiday had a career playoff-high 33 points and the New Orleans Pelicans took a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series against the Portland Trail Blazers with a 111-102 victory on Tuesday night. Rajon Rondo had 16 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists for the Pelicans, who host the Blazers on Thursday as the series shifts to New Orleans. Anthony Davis added 22 points and 13 rebounds. CJ McCollum, who struggled with backcourt teammate Damian Lillard in the opener, rebounded with 22 points to lead the Blazers. Portland trailed by as many as 11 points in the third quarter but Lillard hit a 3-pointer and added a free throw to tie the game at 93 with 7:31 left. Holiday’s pull-up jumper and Rondo’s driving layup kept the Blazers from pulling ahead. Maurice Harkless dunked and Al-Farouq Aminu had a layup to re-tie the game at 97. After Holi- day’s hook shot, Harkless made a 3-pointer to give Portland a 100-99 lead. Nikola Mirotic and Holiday each hit 3-pointers to put the Pelicans back in front 105-100 with 1:35 remaining and Portland couldn’t catch up. Fans at the Moda Center booed at the final buzzer. Lillard finished with 17 points for the Blazers, who were hurt in the third quarter when starters Jusuf Nurkic (left leg) and Evan Turner (right toe) left the game. The third-seeded Blazers, in the playoffs for the fifth straight year, dropped the first game against the Pelicans 97-95, becoming the highest seed to lose at the start of the opening round. Davis had 35 points and Rondo had 17 assists to tie the franchise record. Lillard and McCollum combined to shoot just 13 for 41 in the opener. Portland got a boost in Game 2 with the return of Harkless for first time since he had a minor procedure on his left knee in late March. He missed 11 games. See SOFTBALL/3B See BLAZERS/2B Staff photo by Kathy Aney Pendleton’s Gabe Umbarger sprints for third base Tuesday as the third baseman from The Dalles prepares to catch an incoming throw. Pendleton draws 14 walks to earn come- from-behind win By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian ENDLETON — One season ago, the Pendleton baseball team opened up Columbia River Conference play with a three-game set against The Dalles Riverhawks and won the first two before dropping the third. The loss started a five-game skid for the P Buckaroos, which did not get that third league win until April 28. History started to repeat itself this season, as Pendleton again won the first two games over the Riverhawks to begin league play Saturday, and came back to Bob White Field on Tuesday looking to finish off the sweep. Except this time, the Buckaroos followed through. Once staring at an 8-5 deficit, the Buckaroos used a patient approach at the plate and scored 11 unanswered runs to finish off the Riverhawks 16-8. The win is the eighth in the past nine games for the Buckaroos (9-6 overall, 3-0 Columbia River Conference) and has them one win short of their 2017 win total (10) with 10 games left to play. The Buckaroos also stay one game up on Hood River Valley atop the league standings. “It feels amazing,” Pendleton second baseman Cam Sandford said following the win. “This is what we want to feel like all the time.” Tuesday’s game was much-dif- ferent than the ones that transpired Saturday. After Pendleton’s pitchers allowed only one run and seven hits en route to a pair of easy wins, starting pitcher Chris Large was tagged for eight runs and eight hits by the Riverhawks. Large had breezed through the first two frames but started to leave pitches up in the zone in the third as the Riverhawks put up a five-run inning, highlighted by a grand slam home run off the bat of Zac Anderson. “He left (pitches) in positions See BASEBALL/3B Richards pitches shutout, Bucks go 3-0 in league By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ East Oregonian Staff photo by Kathy Aney Pendleton’s Lauren Richards winds up for a pitch Tuesday against The Dalles at Steve Cary Field. PENDLETON — The Pendleton’s softball team plan was simple: score one run per inning. The Buckaroos have stuck to this offensive strategy to power their way to 12 straight wins, including the most recent defeat of The Dalles on Tuesday at Steve Cary Field. Head coach Tim Cary knew an early advantage would not only boost the team’s momentum, but give the starting pitcher a cushion. The plan worked, more or less, and Pendleton came away with a 10-0 win in five innings of play. “Really our goal is to go out a score run for sure in the first inning,” Cary said, “so we can have a little bit of a breathing room, not much, and then it’s just put Sports shorts THIS DATE IN SPORTS Oregon plans new stadium to replace Hayward Field EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — The Univer- sity of Oregon will replace historic Hayward Field with a new track and field stadium to open in 2020. Oregon unveiled plans Tuesday for the privately-financed venue, which will host the 2021 world championships. It will seat 12,900 but will be expandable to accommodate 30,000 spectators. The new Hayward Field is being funded by gifts from Nike-co-founder Phil Knight and his wife Peggy, along with 50 other donors. It will include laboratory and classroom facilities for Oregon’s human physiology department. Built in 1919, has Hayward Field has hosted seven U.S. Track and Field championships and six Olympic trials, as well as the annual Prefontaine Classic on the Diamond League schedule. The 2014 world junior championships were also held at the track, one of the most well- known in the sport. The stadium’s stands were also featured in the 1978 movie “Animal House.” 1966 — Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics becomes the NBA’s first black head coach. 1994 — West Indian batsman Brian Lara completes a world record single-innings cricket score of 375, beating the 365 by countryman Sir Gary Sobers 36 years ago. 2007 — Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox faces the minimum 27 batters in a 6-0 no-hit victory over the Texas Rangers. Buehrle walks Sammy Sosa with one out in the fifth, then promptly picks him off first base. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com
