SPORTS
THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 2018
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COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
Beavers from the brink
Arkansas misplays fly ball, OSU rallies to force Game 3
By ERIC OLSON
Associated Press
OMAHA, Neb. — Oregon
State hadn’t been able to catch a
break in the College World Series
finals. And then the ninth inning
happened Wednesday night.
Three
Arkansas
fielders
watched a foul ball drop between
them with two outs. If one of them
catches the ball, the Razorbacks
would have locked up the national
championship.
No one did.
Cadyn Grenier singled in the
tying run, and Trevor Larnach fol-
lowed with a two-run homer into
the right-field bullpen to give the
Beavers the lead in a 5-3 win that
forced a third and deciding game
on Thursday night.
“As soon as you see the ball
drop, you know you have another
life,” Grenier said. “I needed to
refocus and make the most of that
extra life we got. That’s a gift.”
Arkansas (48-20) turned back
the Beavers (54-12-1) when they
threatened in the sixth and eighth
innings, and they were in position
to do the same in the ninth if not
for the bungled foul ball.
Zach Clayton, who pinch ran
for Zak Taylor after a walk leading
off the ninth, was on third when
Grenier came up to bat with the
entire stadium on its feet.
See OSU/3B
AP Photo/Nati Harnik
Oregon State’s Cadyn Grenier (2) and Adley Rutschman (35) celebrate with teammates after Trevor Larnach (11) hit a two-run home run against Arkansas that scored Gre-
nier during the ninth inning of Game 2 of the NCAA College World Series baseball finals in Omaha, Neb., on Wednesday. Oregon State won 5-3.
Prep softball
Riverside’s Wightman earns district POY Mariners outlast
Orioles in 11 innings
East Oregonian
Riverside senior pitcher Skylar
Wightman earned the 3A Special
District 1 Player of the Year this
season as she pitched and helped
her Pirates hit their way into a sec-
ond place finish and a spot in the
state playoffs.
Wightman finished with a 2.60
earned-run average in 76 innings
in district play, registering 135
strikeouts — a ratio of 12.4 strike-
outs per seven innings — to just
12 walks. She also handled the
bat well, hitting for a .564 aver-
age with a home run, six doubles
and 20 RBI while also drawing 17
walks.
Echo/Stanfield head coach
Bryan Bailey earned district coach
of the year honors after leading the
Cougars to the regular season and
district titles.
Along with Wightman on the
all-district first team was pitcher
See SOFTBALL/3B
By DAVID GINSBURG
Associated Press
Riverside
senior Skylar
Wightman
prepares to
take a lead
from a base
during a
2018 game.
Wightman
was the 3A
Special Dis-
trict 1 Player
of the Year
and all-state
first team
selection this
spring.
Photo courtesy of
Jordan Mittelsdorf
BALTIMORE — Denard
Span hit a tiebreaking sacri-
fice fly in the 11th inning after
Kyle Seager delivered a two-run
homer in the ninth, and the Seat-
tle Mariners beat the Orioles 8-7
Wednesday night to move within
a victory of an unprecedented
four-game sweep in Baltimore.
Playing without injured Nel-
son Cruz for a second straight
game, the Mariners got a home
run from Ryon Healy and col-
lected 14 hits while improving
their record in extra innings to
7-0.
The Mariners came to town
having lost six of seven. Now,
after winning three straight over
the lowly Orioles, they can com-
plete the first four-game road
sweep of Baltimore in franchise
history.
Seattle has never swept a two-
game series in Baltimore, and its
last three-game sweep of the Ori-
oles on the road was in 2007.
Jean Segura led off the 11th
with a double against Mychal
Givens (0-5), and Span drove in
the go-ahead run with a deep fly
to center off Donnie Hart.
Chasen Bradford (5-0) worked
the 10th and Edwin Diaz got three
outs for his major league-leading
30th save, a club record before
the All-Star break. He has earned
the save in each game of this
series.
The Orioles trailed 5-4 in
the eighth inning before Chris
Davis interrupted his season-long
slump with a three-run homer off
Alex Colome. The drive, on a 3-1
pitch, soared onto Eutaw Street
See MARINERS/2B
Sports shorts
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
Oops, times 8: WC new
record for own-goals
(AP) — Mexico defender
Edson Alvarez’s 74th-minute own-
goal against Sweden was the sev-
enth time at this year’s World Cup
that a player has sent the ball into
his team’s net — a tournament
record — and Switzerland goal-
keeper Yann Sommer made it eight
on an unlucky bounce.
As with many of the earlier mis-
cues, Alvarez was trying to clear a
cross in the box. But it bounced
off of him and inside the left goal-
post as ‘keeper Ochoa watched.
Becky Hammon promoted, moves up
San Antonio Spurs coaching ladder
AP Photo/Eric Gay, File
SAN ANTONIO (AP) —
Becky Hammon is moving up
San Antonio’s coaching ladder.
The
Spurs
announced
Wednesday that they have pro-
moted Hammon, and that she
will fill the spot vacated by
James Borrego on the team’s ros-
ter of assistant coaches.
Borrego left the Spurs to
become the new coach of the
Charlotte Hornets.
Hammon has been a member
of the San Antonio coaching staff
since 2014, and was one of six
assistants under Gregg Popovich
last season. Hammon has been
among the assistants who sit in
the row directly behind the Spurs
bench, but this move means she
will be in the front row alongside
Popovich starting this season.
1971 — Muhammad Ali wins
a four-year legal battle to over-
turn his 1967 conviction for draft
evasion in an 8-0 vote by the U.S.
Supreme Court.
2007 — Frank Thomas hit his
500th home run and Craig Biggio
becomes the 27th player in major
league history to get 3,000 hits.
2009 — Mariano Rivera earns
his 500th save, becoming the sec-
ond reliever to reach the milestone,
and the New York Yankees beat the
Mets 4-2.
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