SPORTS
Saturday, February 23, 2019
East Oregonian
B3
WOMEN’S COLLEGE HOOPS
Burke helps UCLA
rally from 22-down
to stun No. 2 Oregon
AP Photo/Charlie Riedel
Seattle Mariners right fi elder Ichiro Suzuki warms up in the outfi eld before the second inning of a spring training baseball
game against the Oakland Athletics on Friday in Peoria, Ariz.
MLB’s spring training games
underway in Florida, Arizona
By JIMMY GOLEN
Associated Press
FORT MYERS, Fla. —
The sun came out in Ari-
zona. Free agents played
for their new teams. Ichiro
Suzuki was back in uniform
at age 45.
Baseball is back.
A day after the sched-
uled exhibition opener
was rained out, baseball
returned to the ballparks
of Florida and Arizona on
Friday with the fi rst spring
training games.
The World Series cham-
pion Boston Red Sox began
their hoped-for journey to a
second straight title with a
6-0 victory over Northeast-
ern University. The Phil-
lies — still without Bryce
Harper, at least for now —
beat Tampa Bay 3-2. The
Tigers topped Southeastern
University of Florida 12-2.
Suzuki started what may
be his fi nal spring training
with a two-run, two-out sin-
gle in the third inning of the
Seattle Mariners’ 8-1 win
over the Oakland Athletics.
“It’s a good start to spring
training,” Red Sox manager
Alex Cora said after dis-
patching the Huskies in the
regularly scheduled seven
innings in a tight 1 hour, 45
minutes, a day before the
Grapefruit League opener
against the New York Yan-
kees. “It will be good to
start playing” against major
league teams.
Spring training has long
been seen as the unoffi cial
end to winter, but that was
postponed when the Mar-
iners and Athletics were
rained out of their opener on
Thursday. The teams, which
got the early start in order to
prepare for the regular sea-
son opener in Japan — were
back at it on Friday.
Ichiro prepared with
Mariners for his 19th major
league season (to go with
nine in Japan). Batting sev-
enth and playing left fi eld,
Suzuki fouled out in the
second inning against Liam
Hendriks and singled in the
third off left-hander Ryan
Buchter. Suzuki then was
replaced by a pinch runner.
He did not have any chances
in the fi eld.
“Of course you have
nerves, but this was one I
hadn’t experienced before,
the nerves that I had today,”
Suzuki said through an
interpreter. “I’m just glad
the fi rst day’s out of the
way.”
Many other big name
stars sat out as they eased
into the daily grind.
Manny Machado slipped
on a Padres uniform after
signing his $300 million,
10-year contract; San Diego
opens its spring training
schedule on Saturday.
Harper was hoping for
a similar deal, with the
Phillies the favorites to
sign him. But he remained
among more than three
dozen free agents who had
not yet been signed, lead-
ing players to accuse teams
of possible collusion. (The
owners say they simply
are making judgments
based on analytics.)
Here’s a look around the
ballparks on Friday:
—Bobby Dalbec hit a fl y
ball off the top of the fence
in center fi eld to give Bos-
ton the lead, and Jagger
Rusconi and Tyler Dearden
tripled for the Red Sox.
Mike Shawaryn pitched
two scoreless innings, strik-
ing out two, and Darwinzon
Hernandez fanned three
in two innings for Boston,
which will face the New
York Yankees in the Grape-
fruit League opener on
Saturday.
—In Charlotte, Florida,
Scott Kingery tripled and
scored on a throwing error
by shortstop Willy Adames,
and Maikel Franco homered
for the Phillies. Jason Coats
homered to make it 3-2 in
the sixth inning, three Phil-
adelphia relievers pitched a
scoreless inning of relief to
close it out.
—In Lakeland, Florida,
Jake Rogers, Daniel Pinero
and Brandon Dixon hom-
ered, and Kyle Funkhouser
struck out four in two
innings for the Tigers.
The Red Sox held a
moment of silence before
the game for Boston Globe
sports writer Nick Cafardo,
who covered the team for
most of three decades before
he died on Thursday after
collapsing at the ballpark.
The team placed a dozen
red roses at Cafardo’s seat in
the press box; the Baltimore
Orioles’ beat writers and
media-relations staff sent
fi ve dozen donuts, along
with their condolences.
In place of his usual pre-
game question and answer
session with reporters, man-
ager Alex Cora spoke for
more than seven minutes
about Cafardo and chose not
to discuss any other topics.
“That’s why I don’t get
caught up in the whole
game. It’s just a game,
bro,” Cora said. “When you
leave, that’s real. Life is
real. Everything you have to
do as a parent, as a husband,
as a son, that’s real. This is
just a game, man. We get
caught up on the whole wins
and losses and rivalries and
whatever. Life is real, man.”
Cora said he addressed
the team in the morning and
told them to enjoy the game
— but understand it’s just
a game. He recalled how
Cafardo enjoyed Game 3 of
last fall’s World Series, an
18-inning, 7-hour, 20-min-
ute Los Angeles Dodgers
victory.
“He loved the game,”
Cora said. “Let’s just cele-
brate his life. Like I told the
guys, just go out there and
have a great day. ... Let’s
have a blast on the fi eld.”
Up the Florida coast
in Tampa, Yankees man-
ager Aaron Boone also
opened his media session by
remembering Cafardo.
“One of the great things
about our game is the rela-
tionships that you get to
forge,” he said. “That’s one
of those that rocks our base-
ball community. ... It’s cer-
tainly a tough day in our
baseball family.”
EUGENE (AP) —
Kennedy Burke had a
career-high 29 points and
UCLA came back from a
22-point defi cit to knock
off No. 2 Oregon 74-69
on Friday night.
Burke was 12 of 17
from the fi eld and had
seven rebounds for the
Bruins (17-10, 10-5 Pac-
12), who won for the
eighth time in the last
nine games. Japreece
Dean added 14 points and
Michael Onyenwere had
12.
UCLA outscored the
Ducks 36-14 over a large
portion of the second half
to lead 68-60. Oregon
pulled to within 70-69
on Sabrina Ionescu’s
3-pointer with 34 seconds
left, but the Bruins scored
the last four points at the
foul line.
Erin Boley led the
Ducks (24-3, 13-2) with
20 points, Ionescu had
18 and Maite Cazorla 13.
Oregon was playing with-
out junior forward Ruthy
Hebard, who injured her
right knee in Monday
night’s 67-62 loss at No.
12 Oregon State.
It was the fi rst back-to-
back losses for the Ducks
since they dropped three
in a row to end the 2016-
17 season, a span of 71
games.
Oregon made 10 of
its fi rst 15 shots to lead
PAC-12
UCLA
Oregon
74
69
23-12 after one quar-
ter. The lead grew to 22
points behind 13 by Boley
before the Bruins scored
the last seven points of
the fi rst half to trail 42-27.
Big picture
UCLA gets its fi rst win
of the season over a Top
10 team with an impres-
sive comeback from a
sluggish fi rst half. ...
The Bruins also broke a
fi ve-game losing streak
against the Ducks.
Oregon struggled to
cope without the inside
presence of star forward
Hebard and her 69.0 per-
cent shooting, second in
the nation, against a pro-
jected NCAA Tourna-
ment team. ... The Ducks
need one win to clinch at
least a share of their sec-
ond straight Pac-12 regu-
lar-season title.
Up next
UCLA: visits Oregon
State on Sunday.
Oregon: hosts USC on
Sunday.
No. 12 Oregon St.
women beat USC
CORVALLIS (AP) —
Mikayla Pivec had 18
points and eight rebounds
and Oregon State used a
late run to beat Southern
California 68-61 on Fri-
day night.
Pivec’s jumper with
5:15 left in the fourth
quarter sparked a 16-2
run that turned a sev-
en-point deficit into a
seven-point lead with 22
seconds to go.
Aleah Goodman and
Destiny Slocum high-
lighted the run with
back-to-back 3-pointers
— Goodman giving the
Beavers (22-5, 12-3 Pac-
12) the lead for good at
61-59 and Slocum push-
ing the lead to five with
32 seconds left.
Slocum scored 16
points, Joanna Grymek
PAC-12
Oregon St.
USC
68
61
had 13 points and nine
rebounds, and Goodman
added 11 points for Ore-
gon State.
Aliyah Mazyck scored
25 points with five
3-pointers for USC (15-
11, 5-10). Kayla Over-
beck added 14 points and
Asiah Jones had 10.
The Trojans scored
the first 16 points of the
game, but Oregon State
recovered by halftime to
trail 27-26.
UCLA hangs on to beat Oregon State USC sails past Oregon, 66-49
By BETH HARRIS
Associated Press
By STEVE DILBECK
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES —
UCLA won its fi rst three
games under interim coach
Murry Bartow with Chris
Smith in the starting lineup.
Having lost four of its last
fi ve, Bartow decided to put
Smith back in the rotation.
The move paid off.
Smith scored the go-ahead
basket with 21 seconds left
on a desperate bank shot
after UCLA blew a 12-point
second-half lead, and the
Bruins hung on for a 68-67
victory over Oregon State on
Thursday night.
“We wanted a more
skilled guy at the 4,” Bartow
said. “We just thought we
needed a little bit of a change,
not just in the starting lineup
but who we were playing.”
Tres Tinkle airballed a
potential
game-winning
3-pointer with 1.8 seconds
to go for the Beavers, who
didn’t take their fi rst lead
until 1:26 remaining in the
game.
“We were just kind of out
of sorts,” Stephen Thompson
Jr. said of Oregon State’s last
play. “We weren’t in the right
positions.”
Moses Brown had 14
LOS ANGELES — It
was a rare sighting Thurs-
day, snow falling along
the Los Angeles foot-
hills. In downtown there
was a much more com-
mon occurrence — Ben-
nie Boatwright knocking
down 3s.
The USC senior scored
20 points, all but two
coming from beyond the
3-point line, to lead the
Trojans to a 66-49 victory
over Oregon.
“Bennie really killed
us,” Oregon coach Dana
Altman said. “Him shoot-
ing the ball was the differ-
ence. Those six 3s really
gave them separation.”
Boatwright has been
particularly hot of late
from beyond the arc. In
his last fi ve games, he has
made 24 of 39 3-pointers
(61.5 percent).
“Bennie is shooting
as well as he has in his
career,” USC coach Andy
Enfi eld said. “His all-
around game is good. He’s
feeling it. To beat Oregon,
you need players to step
up like that. It was fun to
watch.”
AP Photo/Kelvin Kuo
UCLA guard Jaylen Hands, left, loses the ball as Oregon State
forwards Warren Washington, center, and Tres Tinkle defend
during the fi rst half of an NCAA college basketball game in
Los Angeles on Thursday.
points and 11 rebounds for
the Bruins (14-13, 7-7 Pac-
12), who got back to .500
in league play with a hand-
ful of regular-season games
remaining.
“This season has been
like a war of attrition,” Smith
said. “We’ve been down
more than we’ve been up.
It really feels good to get
a win. Everybody knows
in the back of their head
we’ve got a lot to do. We got
to get better.”
Jaylen Hands added 12
points, but missed a pair of
free throws in the fi nal sec-
ond with UCLA clinging to a
one-point lead.
Thompson scored 21
points and Tinkle added 19
for Oregon State (16-9, 8-5),
which fell into a second-place
tie with idle Arizona State
and Utah in the league stand-
ings. The Beavers’ two-game
winning streak ended.
AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu
Southern California’s Ben-
nie Boatwright, right, goes
up while defended by Ore-
gon’s Kenny Wooten during
the fi rst half of an NCAA
college basketball game on
Thursday in Los Angeles.
Center Nick Rakocevic
added 17 points on 8-of-11
shooting and, like Boat-
wright, had six rebounds.
The Trojans (15-12, 8-6
Pac-12) held the Ducks
(15-11, 6-7) to 33.3 per-
cent shooting.
The Ducks never could
crack USC’s zone defense,
going long stretches where
they struggled to fi nd the
basket. Oregon went 1 for
12 in one stretch in the
second half when the Tro-
jans pushed their lead to
16 points (60-44).
The Ducks went just
4 of 21 from the 3-point
line.
“The ball movement
wasn’t there,” Altman
said. “We did have a lot of
good looks, but we missed
them and then started
pressing.”
USC, meanwhile, shot
62.5 percent in the second
half.
The victory reversed
an 81-60 USC loss at Ore-
gon last month.
“They beat us pretty
bad when we played up
there, so it was a good
game for us to get our
revenge here and take care
of business,” Rakocevic
said. “We had something
to prove tonight. This
was a statement game.
We played really well,
defended really well.”
While the Ducks strug-
gled to shoot from out-
side, they did not have
any more success under
the basket. USC out-
scored Oregon 30-18 in
the paint and 14-7 on sec-
ond-chance points.