E AST O REGONIAN
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2019
FOLLOW US ON
TWITTER @EOSPORTS |
FACEBOOK.COM/EOSPORTS
AP Photo/Elaine
Thompson, File
EDGAR MARTINEZ
B1
PREP ROUNDUP
Ione boys score
fi rst Big Sky
League victory
East Oregonian
After dropping the past 16 consecutive
games, the Ione boys fi nally took home a
win — their fi rst in the Big Sky League,
and second for the season overall.
The Cardinals turned away their
visitors from Mitchell/Spray 54-48 on
Tuesday night.
Hunter Padberg led the way with 22
points and 16 rebounds, 15 of which were
off the Loggers’ glass.
Taylor Rollins followed with 17 points
and six rebounds.
The Cardinals (2-16, 1-10 BSL) host
Dufur on Friday.
Boys hoops
HITTER
HEADED
FOR HALL
MAC-HI 60, ELGIN 36 — Alexis
Pio hit 12 points in Mac-Hi’s nonleague
road game on Tuesday.
Alexis Perez followed with 10 points,
and Deraegan Stevens had nine.
The Pioneers (11-6, 2-1 GOL) pick
up the Greater Oregon League again on
Saturday, when they host Baker.
IRRIGON 55, RIVERSIDE 49 —
Keith Fleming poured in 19 points to
improve Irrigon to a 2-4 Eastern Oregon
League record on Tuesday.
Riverside held an early 24-3 lead
before Irrigon rallied to outscore them
21-9 in the second and kept the Pirates
under 10 points per quarter in the second
half.
Francisco Barajas had a game-high 21
points for Riverside, followed by Cristian
Rea with 10. Ben Coria-Flores chipped in
an additional 10 points for the Knights.
Irrigon (8-11, 2-4 EOL) hosts Umatilla
on Thursday, and Riverside (9-10, 3-2
EOL) travels to the Vikings’ territory on
Friday.
See Preps, Page B2
Edgar voted into Hall of Fame in fi nal year of eligibility;
Rivera becomes fi rst unanimous selection
By JAKE SEINER
Associated Press
N
EW YORK — In his
fi nal chance to be
voted into the Hall of
Fame by the Baseball
Writers’ Association of America,
Edgar Martinez came up clutch.
Martinez, who played his entire
professional career with the Seattle
Mariners, was selected to the Hall
with 363 votes — 85.4 percent of
the 425 ballots cast.
He joined Mariano Rivera, Mike
Mussina and the late Roy Halladay
at the top of the 2019 ballot. Rivera
received all 425 votes in balloting
announced by the Baseball Writers’
Association of America, making
him the fi rst unanimous selection.
Ken Griffey Jr. held the mark for
top percentage at 99.32 when he
was on 437 of 440 ballots two years
ago.
The quartet will be enshrined in
Cooperstown along with Today’s
Game Era Committee selections
Harold Baines and Lee Smith on
July 21.
Martinez was a .312 hitter over
18 seasons with Seattle. He got 85.4
percent in his 10th and fi nal try on
the writers’ ballot. He and Baines
will join 2014 inductee Frank
Thomas as the only Hall of Famers
to play the majority of their games
George nets 36,
Westbrook 29
as Thunder tops
Blazers 123-114
By MURRAY EVANS
Associated Press
AP Photo/Bill Kostroun, File
Mariano Rivera, a closer for the New York Yankees, delivers the ball during
the 2013 season in New York.
at designated hitter. David Ortiz
will be eligible in 2022.
“I think the fact that Harold
Baines and me got in this year is
going to help the future of the DH
for years to come,” Martinez said.
Martinez was among the game’s
steadiest hitters throughout the
1990s and early 2000s, winning
two batting titles and hitting 309
homers.
A late bloomer from Puerto
Rico, Martinez never played more
than 100 games in the majors until
he was 27. He broke in as a third
baseman before becoming a full-
time DH at 32, a role he held until
retiring at 41 in 2004. MLB’s yearly
award for the top DH is named in
his honor.
Martinez’s classmates certainly
couldn’t get him out. The slugger
was 11 for 19 (.579) lifetime against
Rivera, 23 for 75 (.307) with fi ve
See Hall, Page B2
OKLAHOMA CITY — Paul George
had 36 points and eight rebounds, Russell
Westbrook had a triple-double of 29
points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds and the
Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Portland
Trail Blazers 123-114 on Tuesday night.
Steven Adams and Terrance Ferguson
each added 14 points for Oklahoma City,
which snapped a three-game losing streak
to Portland at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
After a stretch of losing fi ve of six games,
the Thunder have won three straight and
moved back into third place in the fl uid
Western Conference standings.
Damian Lillard had 34 points and
eight assists, and C.J. McCollum scored
31 for Portland, which had a three-game
winning streak snapped. Jusuf Nurkick
had 22 points and 15 rebounds.
Except for McCollum, who went 7 of
12 from 3-point range, the Blazers strug-
gled from behind the arc, going 10 for
36. Oklahoma City hit 11 of 23 3-point
attempts.
McCollum’s seventh 3-pointer, with
5:07 left, pulled Portland within 109-106,
but George keyed a game-sealing run by
the Thunder, hitting four free throws and
then stealing a pass intended for Jusuf
See Blazers, Page B2
SPORTS SHORTS
Williams upset at Australian Open
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Serena
Williams was one point — just one — from
quite a comeback victory in the Australian Open
quarterfi nals when she turned her left ankle.
Everything unraveled from there.
In a startling reversal and result, Williams
wasted four match points along the way to
dropping the last six games of a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5
loss to No. 7 seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech
Republic at Melbourne Park on Wednesday.
“I was almost in the locker room,” said Plis-
kova, who trailed 5-1 in the third set, “but now
I’m standing here as the winner.”
So instead of Williams moving closer to an
eighth championship at the Australian Open
and record-tying 24th Grand Slam title overall,
it is Pliskova who will continue her pursuit of her
fi rst major trophy.
In the semifi nals, Pliskova will face No.
4-seeded Naomi Osaka, who advanced by
beating No. 6 Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-1 earlier
Wednesday.
AP Photo/
Andy
Brownbill