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E AST O REGONIAN Tuesday, april 23, 2019 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS | FACEBOOK.COM/EOSPORTS B1 COLLEGE SIGNINGS Mac-Hi’s Doherty, Garcia to continue athletic careers doherty will play football, while Garcia will throw the javelin By ANNIE FOWLER East Oregonian alex doherty and Bianca Garcia had plenty of offers to take their athletic tal- ents to the college level, and Monday the Mac-Hi seniors put pen to paper in signing their letters of intent. doherty signed to play football with College of siskiyous in Weed, Calif., while Garcia will throw the javelin at eastern Oregon university. Doherty, 18, is the first Mac-Hi football player since derek richwine (Class of 2013) to play football at the college level. richwine played at George Fox university. “My freshman and soph- omore years, the older guys were really nice,” doherty said. “i never thought i’d have much of a chance to play college football, but they told me i had the size.” The 6-foot-4, 250-pound doherty, who played guard and defensive end for the pioneers, entertained offers from Western Oregon, uni- versity of idaho, univer- sity of redlands and oth- ers. COs offered him a full ride, making the decision a bit easier. “One of the main rea- sons there were so many (offers) is because (football coach Gary) robertson got the word out to colleges and sent video,” doherty said. “He has been a big help.” The eagles, who com- pete in the Golden Valley Conference of the California Community College ath- letic association, will have doherty play defensive end. doherty said the eagles plan for him to play this fall, but he needs to put in a little work first. “They are happy with my speed and strength, but they want me to be heavier,” doherty said. “They want me to be 285 to 300 pounds. They sent me a 10-week eat- ing and workout schedule that i will start next week.” doherty has played foot- ball since he was 8 years old. He played one year at wide receiver, but with his size in pee Wee football, he was more suited for the line. “i have always had a pas- sion for football,” doherty said. doherty, who has taken See Letters, Page B2 Defense defines NFL draft By BARRY WILNER Associated Press NasHVille, Tenn. — We learned during the 2018 season that offense is beloved by NFl teams (and fans). We also learned that defense, as performed by the patriots in the super Bowl, carries away the lombardi Trophy. This year’s draft, which begins Thursday night, is stocked with defenders who can be difference-makers. Many of them play up front and will go very high in the proceedings. Here’s one view of the first round, presuming no trades — something extremely unlikely. 1. Arizona — you don’t hire a new coach out of col- lege who plays a specific system and then not give him what he considers the perfect player to run that scheme. so Kliff Kingsbury gets ... KYLER MURRAY, QB, OKLAHOMA 2. San Francisco — ped- igree means plenty with this pick, even if the Niners’ choice missed much of 2018 while injured. yet another d-line early pick for san Francisco. NICK BOSA, DE, OHIO STATE 3. New York Jets — The Jets easily could trade out of this spot. staying put, they’ll put into their new uniforms a dynamic guy for the trenches. QUINNEN WIL- LIAMS, DL, ALABAMA 4. Oakland — With the first of three picks in the opening round as the rebuild begins in earnest, the raid- ers fill the chasm created by their trading of Khalil Mack last summer. JOSH ALLEN, LB, KENTUCKY 5. Tampa Bay — lots of holes here for Bruce ari- ans to get filled, and he’s an offensive-first guy. Still, there are too many studs on the other side of the ball to pass on one of them. DEVIN WHITE, LB, LSU 6. New York Giants — around the Big apple, fans are salivating about the Giants taking eli Manning’s successor at quarterback in this spot. sorry, New york- ers, you’ll have to wait. Defense first, if that sounds familiar in this draft. MONTEZ SWEAT, LB-DE, MISSISSIPPI STATE 7. Jacksonville — Tom Coughlin stays in-state for a protector for his new QB, Nick Foles. JAWAAN TAYLOR, OT, FLORIDA 8. Detroit — another See Draft, B2 Staff photo by Annie Fowler Mac-Hi’s Alex Doherty (left) signed a letter of intent Monday to play football at College of the Siskiyous, while Bianca Gar- cia signed to throw the javelin at Eastern Oregon University. COLLEGE BASEBALL Improved offense, strong pitching lift Gauchos into top 10 Oregon state ranked second in the country By ERIC OLSON Associated Press AP Photo/Cooper Neill, File In this Oct. 6, 2018, file photo, Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray (1) throws a pass against Texas during the first half of an NCAA college football game at the Cotton Bowl, in Dallas. Murray is a possible pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File In this Sept. 1, 2018, file photo, Ohio State defensive lineman Nick Bosa plays against Oregon State during an NCAA college football game, in Columbus, Ohio. Bosa is a possible pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. AP Photo/Butch Dill, File In this Sept. 22, 2018, file photo, Texas A&M quarterback Kellen Mond (11) is hit by Alabama defensive lineman Quinnen Williams (92) as he throws the ball during the first half of an NCAA college football game, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Williams is a possible pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. it was only three years ago that uC santa Barbara was in the College World series, andrew Check- etts was one of the hottest coaches in the country and the Gauchos had signed a recruiting class ranked in the top 10. Two losing seasons fol- lowed, with the Gauchos in the bottom half of division i in most statistical catego- ries and beset by injuries. uCsB reemerged this past weekend by posting a three-game sweep of uC irvine, an accomplishment that vaulted the Gauchos (27-5) as high as No. 7 in the major polls Monday. The Big West leaders have won nine in a row. “some guys we thought might be stars a little ear- lier in their career took a little longer to develop for various reasons,” Check- etts said. “it all came together at the same time, and it ends up being a pretty good ballclub.” even though there have been lots of moving parts, the offense has been more productive and the pitch- ing excellent. Checketts hired two new assistants, bringing in Washington hitting coach donegal Fergus as associ- ate head coach and saint Mary’s Matt Fonteno as recruiting coordinator and Fergus’ aide on offense. “i can’t claim any of the offensive glory,” Checketts, the pitching coach, said with a laugh. “They’ve made a big dif- ference in our offense and the approach and confi- dence of the guys. it’s been fun to watch.” The team batting aver- age is up 24 points to .289, scoring has gone from 5.2 runs per game to 7.3 and the Gauchos are sixth in the nation with a .495 slug- ging percentage, up more than 100 points from a year ago. eric yang, who batted .244 as a sophomore, leads the team at .393 and is one of the top catchers on the West Coast. Tevin Mitch- ell, who played second base and batted low in the order last year, starts in left field and bats leadoff with a .418 on-base percent- age and 16 steals. armani smith has six triples and is slugging .659. The Gauchos’ biggest concern has been in the infield. Shortstop Marcos Castanon, one of their top offensive players, has been out since the second game with a pulled hamstring and might not return for two weeks. The all-lefty weekend rotation of Ben Brecht, Jack dashwood and rod- ney Boone head a staff that’s fourth nationally with a 3.5-to-1 strikeout- to-walk ratio and 13th with a 3.20 era. Chris lin- coln, who combines an upper 90s fastball with a slider, has eight saves. In the polls uCla (27-6), which swept a three-game series against top-10 east Caro- lina, remains the consen- sus No. 1 team. Baseball america and Collegiate Baseball newspaper each rate stanford (24-5) and Mississippi state (31-6) Nos. 2 and 3. diBaseball. com ranks Oregon state (25-8-1) second with Mis- sissippi state third. Lots of pokes Oklahoma state set a Big 12 record by hitting 12 home runs in a 27-6 win over Kansas on Fri- day. Christian Funk and Trevor Boone homered three times apiece, and the Cowboys went deep at least once against each of the Jayhawks’ six pitchers. Lots of goose eggs Tennessee posted its nation-leading seventh and eighth shutouts in the first two games against Geor- gia, which was ranked as high as No. 2 last week. The Volunteers hadn’t held an opponent scoreless in consecutive seC games since 1967. Biliken beauty Cody luther pitched Saint Louis’ first nine-in- ning no-hitter since 1961 in the first game of a dou- bleheader against st. Bonaventure on saturday. The senior struck out a 11 and walked two in the Bil- likens’ 5-0 win. Dirtbags fire coach long Beach state (7-27) took two of three from Cal state Northridge after firing ninth-year coach Troy Buckley on Thurs- day. associate head coach Greg Bergeron and pitch- ing coach dan ricabal are sharing the head coach- ing duties the rest of the season. Buckley was 255- 205-1 with NCaa Tourna- ment appearances in 2014, 2015 and 2017.