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E AST O REGONIAN THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2019 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS | FACEBOOK.COM/EOSPORTS A8 LEGION BASEBALL DIAMONDJAXX split with Legends AP Photo/John Froschauer Seattle Mariners’ Domingo Santana hits an RBI single against the Kansas City Royals during the fourth inning of a baseball game on Wednes- day in Seattle. Santana has 2 HRs, 5 RBIs in Mariners’ 8-2 win over Royals By CHRIS TALBOTT Associated Press Staff photo by Kathy Aney Pepsi Diamondjaxx pitcher Kobe Fell throws during Wednesday’s game against La Grande at Bob White Field. Pendleton’s 16U legion rallies back in closer for split By BRETT KANE East Oregonian PENDLETON — The baseball players on Pendle- ton’s 16U Pepsi Diamond- jaxx have faced those on La Grande’s Legacy Legends for years. Because of that, they knew exactly what to expect. “I’ve been playing against most of these kids since I was 9,” Pendleton starting pitcher Kobe Fell said. “I knew it was going to be tough.” And Fell was right. In Wednesday’s home double- header, the Diamondjaxx dropped a 15-1 opener, but came back to take the second game, 15-9. “Our team’s shaping up well,” Pendleton coach Nick Bower said. “We’ve come a long way since the begin- ning. Our chemistry is coming along. But we just came out fl at today. Once (La Grande) jumped out to that early lead, we couldn’t recover.” Fell got the fi rst three outs of the game from the mound. While La Grande’s Daniel Rogers was able to single off him, Fell turned around and struck out the next batter, and nabbed a line drive for the sec- ond out. He threw two consec- utive walks to load the bases, but fanned the next batter to strand all three runners. But the Legends wouldn’t be denied for much longer. Two walks and a sacrifi ce bunt put La Grande on the board in the top of the second, and Cole Jorgensen ended the scoring with a two-RBI single that kept them up 4-0. Three innings later, Cesar Rodriguez and Derek Begin each drove in runs off singles. Pendleton fi nally scored in the bottom of the fi fth. Colton Henderson, who led Pendleton with a 2-for-3 bat- ting performance, doubled to lead off the inning. With two outs on the board, Blane Peal singled, allowing Henderson to score a run. Before a second run was in question, Peal was tagged out stealing second. But the Legends still weren’t through. They sent 12 batters to the plate in the top of the seventh, which got them eight more singles. Logan Williams sent a two-RBI dou- ble to left fi eld, aiding in the six-run inning. “Their hitting is great,” Fell said of La Grande. “Their fi elding is average, but their hitting makes up for it. It’s their biggest strength.” Rodriguez led the Legends, going 2-for-5 and scoring two runs and three RBIs in the opener. Williams went 2-for-4 and put up three more runs and a pair of RBIs. “The kids have confi dence,” La Grande coach Tyson Wick- lander said. “That’s important. It’s summer ball — it’s good to SEATTLE — Mariners manager Scott Servais had an idea his struggling team was poised for a big performance. “The guys weren’t real happy with how we played this last couple of days,” Servais said after Seattle’s 8-2 win Wednesday over the Kansas City Royals. “You could feel it in the clubhouse when you came in this morning and we responded.” Domingo Santana hit two home runs in a game for the third time this season, Marco Gonzales won his third straight start and the Mariners avoided an embarrassing series sweep by returning to a recipe that helped them start the season 13-2. “Marco pitching well and we’re hitting homers — that’s a good formula for us,” Ser- vais said. Santana, who had fi ve RBIs, and Dan- iel Vogelbach hit back-to-back homers in the fi rst inning to give the Mariners a 4-0 lead and they went on to snap Kansas City’s three- game winning streak. The Mariners had been outscored 15-4 by the Royals in the fi rst two games of a series between last-place teams. Seattle jumped on starter Brad Keller (3-9) immediately. Mallex Smith doubled to open the bottom of the fi rst and J.P. Crawford walked before Santana hit his fi rst home run of the day to left-center fi eld. Vogelbach fol- lowed with his 18th of the season, off the Hit It Here Café in the second deck. It was the eighth time this year the Mar- iners, second in the majors in homers, have gone back-to-back. “When these guys make mistakes, you’ve got to make them pay,” Vogelbach said. “You can’t really give them more pitches and more opportunities. Credit to Mallex and J.P. for getting things going, and Domingo hitting the homer. (Keller) made a mistake with two strikes and I was able to make him pay.” It marked the fi rst time the Mariners scored in the fi rst inning since June 6 and the fi rst time they posted multiple runs to begin a game since May 11. They are 22-12 when scoring fi rst. Gonzales said he went back to the mound in the second inning riding “a wave of confi dence.” Seattle showed some of the small-ball potential of its new young lineup in the fourth after Dylan Moore singled to start the inning. Keller hit Smith with a pitch, then gave up run-scoring singles to Crawford and Santana before Vogelbach’s sacrifi ce fl y made it 7-1. See Baseball, Page A9 See Mariners, Page A9 SPORTS SHORTS Wedding to follow World Cup for U.S. teammates Krieger, Harris By RONALD BLUM Associated Press P ARIS — Many World Cup team- mates have special bonds. The tie that binds U.S. defender Ali Krieger and American goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris is among the strongest at the tournament. They got engaged last year and are planning a December wedding. “A lot of our teammates with their part- ners and spouses, they don’t get to be here day in and day out,” Krieger said. “It’s really nice to be able to share this moment with her and to make these memories with her.” They announced their engagement in People magazine in March, revealing Harris proposed on the beach in Clearwa- ter, Florida, during a picnic last Sept. 15 and surprised Krieger with a ring. “She is what makes me. She is my life. She is the person I am spending the rest of my life with,” Harris said. They fi rst met in 2010, a time both were training with the national team. They were teammates with the Washing- ton Spirit of the National Women’s Soc- cer League for much of 2013-15. Harris was left unprotected in an expansion draft and was taken by the Orlando Pride, and Krieger joined her when she was traded to the Pride after the 2016 season. AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino