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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (July 7, 2018)
SPORTS SATURDAY, JULY 7, 2018 ALL FOUR SEMIFINALISTS EUROPEAN 2B 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS PENDLETON Buckaroos find their newest basketball coach Pendleton hires Zach Dong to lead boys basketball program By ERIC SINGER East Oregonian PENDLETON — When Pend- leton High School athletic direc- tor Troy Jerome and the school’s hiring committee set out to search for the next head boys basket- ball coach in early June, their pri- ority was to find someone that would want to lead the Buckaroos long-term. That’s because the school has seen coaches come and go over the past decade. David Nor- ton coached to a 59-41 record, but stepped down after only four seasons. Brian Broaddus was hired from Bonneville High School in Idaho Falls, Dong Idaho, in 2014, but he lasted just one season in Pendleton before departing for Bend to coach the Mountain View Cougars. And most recently, Kyle Tedder came to the Buckaroos right out of col- lege in 2015 and coached the team to three outstanding seasons before resign- ing last month to take a teaching job in Medford. “We wanted a per- son to come and want to teach, want to be an educator, and to teach through basketball the skills kids can take with them after graduation,” Jerome said. “And we wanted a person that wanted to put down roots here. We wanted the next coach to still be coaching this team 20 years from now.” With that desire to find a long- term coach, along with wanting a candidate that can fill Tedder’s vacant health and physical educa- tion teaching position, Jerome and the committee went through a lot of candidates before they zeroed in on Filer High School athletic director Zach Dong. Dong’s hire is pending school board approval, expected on Monday. Dong coached junior varsity basketball for eight years in Filer, Idaho, and was a varsity assis- tant until he became the school’s athletic director for the last two years and no longer had the time to coach. However, the itch to OREGON STATE BASEBALL coach remained, and this year he began searching for coaching jobs in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. “I wasn’t able to get the head position that I wanted at Filer ... the timing just wasn’t right,” Dong said in a phone interview on Thurs- day. “But after two years of being AD, I still had the itch to coach. So I reached out to my coaching net- work I still had, and they pointed me in Pendleton’s direction.” Dong, 33, is a native of Mesa, Arizona, who moved to Twin Falls, Idaho, in 1994 with his mother See COACH/3B Legion baseball Diamondjaxx win one, lose one at tourney East Oregonian AP Photo/Nati Harnik Oregon State pitcher Bryce Fehmel will return for his senior season in 2019 to lead the Beavers’ pitching staff. A lot to like in 2019 Oregon State to feature young lineup, deep pitching staff next spring By BOB LUNDEBERG Albany Democrat-Herald C ORVALLIS — Jack Anderson red- shirted in 2014 as Oregon State won the Pac-12 title and earned the No. 1 national seed for the NCAA tournament. Eight members of the team were drafted that June, leaving holes to plug in the field and on the mound. OSU still threatened to claim the 2015 conference crown and nearly hosted a regional, fin- ishing 39-18-1 overall in what was sup- posed to be a rebuilding year. Anderson believes the 2019 Beavers could also surprise the outside world by contending for another College World Series berth. “That’s the beauty of college sports,” said Anderson, an outfielder and one of four senior leaders who helped carry the Beavers to the 2018 national title. “You have four or five years with guys and then great players have to move on and do great things. “There’s a reason guys were recruited here, and they are going to come out AP Photo/Ted Kirk On Day 2 of the Spokane American Legion Wood Bat Classic, the Pepsi Dia- mondjaxx started off the morning with a 8-0 shutout loss to The Dalles but fol- lowed the disappointment with a 3-0 shutout victory over Medical Lake. In the win over Medical Lake, Blane Peal pitched a tremendous game to lead the Diamondjaxx. He threw a com- plete-game shutout, allowing only four hits and two hit batsmen while striking out five. Peal also went 2-for-3 at the plate with a run scored. Pepsi got on the board in the second inning when Jesse Berry came through with a two-run double that scored Jordan DeGeer and Peal for a 2-0 lead. It added on in the sixth when Jimmy Jones walked and advanced to third, and then scored on a wild pitch for a 3-0 Pepsi lead. Against The Dalles, the Diamondjaxx manged only one hit and just six total baserunners. The lone hit came off the bat of Jimmy Jones when he singled in the third inning. Blake Swanson struck out eight bat- ters over five innings, but he also allowed six hits, six runs, five walks and hit two batters. Hodgen Distributing loses twice in close games ready to go. Next year will definitely be a younger team, but that’s not going to change the way Oregon State baseball plays.” The Beavers had to replace some seri- ous star power following the 2014 sea- son, including current MLB players Michael Conforto and Jace Fry. Next spring will be no different. Multi-year starters Nick Madrigal (second base), Cadyn Grenier (short- stop), Steven Kwan (center field) and Drew Rasmussen (pitcher) have all agreed to professional contracts. Fellow junior Trevor Larnach, a right fielder, is expected to sign with the Minnesota Twins before Friday’s deadline. Pitcher Luke Heimlich, third baseman Michael Gretler, outfielder Kyle Nobach and Anderson are out of eligibility. All four seniors were major contributors over the past few seasons. “We are losing some great people, great players and leaders. Some of my best friends,” closer Jake Mulholland said. “But just like this year and previ- ous years, we will keep going and people have to step up. That’s just how Oregon State baseball rolls.” The Beavers are slated to return every arm other than Heimlich, a two-time Pac- Friday was another tough day for Hod- gen Distributing at the Spokane Wood Bat Classic, as the Senior Legion team went 0-2 for the second consecutive day, this time losing both games by one run each. Hodgen Distributing (18-12) started the day with a 6-5 loss to Medicine Hat and finished with a 4-3 loss to Northern Lakes. Against Medicine Hat, Hodgen scored all of its five runs in the top of the first inning. Tucker Zander, Ryan Stahl and Logan Weinke each reached base and scored on wild pitches, and Cooper Rob- erts hit a two-run double that put Hodgen up 5-0. However, Hodgen had only three bas- erunners the rest of the game. Medicine Hat scored once in the third inning and then scored three in the sixth and two in the seventh to secure the walk-off win. Chris Large pitched all 6 1/3 innings for Hodgen, striking out nine but allow- ing seven hits and six runs — only one of which was earned with three Hodgen errors in the final two innings. In the loss to Northern Lakes, Hodgen Distributing once again scored most of its See OSU/3B See LEGION/3B Preston Jones will likely be Oregon State’s centerfielder in 2019. Sports shorts Blazers re-sign Jusuf Nurkic for 4 years (AP) — Jusuf Nurkic is staying with the Portland Trail Blazers. The club announced the deal with a press release late Friday. Terms of the deal were not released, but ESPN reported it was a four- year contract worth $48 million. Nurkic, 23, averaged 14.5 points in 99 games since joining Portland and became the starting center. “As a 23-year-old center, Jusuf is an integral part of the core of this roster,” Portland’s president of bas- ketball operations Neil Olshey said. THIS DATE IN SPORTS Parker leaves Spurs for Hornets after 17 years LAS VEGAS (AP) — Tony Parker went to San Antonio as a teenager nearly two decades ago, quickly became part of the Spurs’ legendary Big Three and cel- ebrated four championships while wearing silver and black. He’s not done playing. He’s just done in San Antonio. Parker agreed to a two- year, $10 million contract with the Charlotte Hornets on Friday, ending a 17-year run with the Spurs. Parker averaged career-lows of 7.7 points and 19.5 minutes last season, when he lost his start- ing job. He was part of 137 playoff wins with Popovich. 1973 — In the first all-U.S. women’s Wimbledon final, Billie Jean King beats Chris Evert, 6-0, 7-5. 1974 — In Munich, West Ger- many beats the Netherlands 2-1 to win soccer’s World Cup. 1980 — Larry Holmes retains his WBC heavyweight title with a seventh-round TKO of Scott LeDoux in Bloomington, Minn. 1991 — Steffi Graf beats Gabri- ela Sabatini 6-4, 3-6, 8-6 to capture her third Wimbledon women’s title. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com
