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SATURDAY, JULY 7, 2018
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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.
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