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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2019)
E AST O REGONIAN Saturday, december 21, 2019 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS | FACEBOOK.COM/EOSPORTS B1 Eastern Oregon University names new head baseball coach By RONALD BOND EO Media Group La GraNde — eastern Ore- gon university has named the head coach who will lead its reinstated baseball program. mike mcInerney, who recently completed his eighth season as pitch- ing coach at Western Oregon uni- versity, and also is the Wolves’ asso- ciate head coach, will head up the mountaineers’ baseball program, the school on Friday confirmed for the Observer. The offer is con- tingent on the com- pletion of a back- ground check and signing of an offer letter. McInerney mcInerney has been part of a pro- gram that has been a mainstay at the top of the NCAA Division II Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Western has a conference record of 153-58 and won five GNAC titles the past eight years, and at least five players in that span have been selected in the MLB Draft, accord- ing to the WOu website. mcInerney also coached at mis- souri Western State university, Saint Joseph, missouri, and churchill High School in eugene. EOU will be McInerney’s first head-coaching post. McInerney beat out a field of finalists that included Jim Horner, an assistant coach at Washington State University and a former minor league baseball player in the Seattle mariners system. Horner had an impressive resume, as according to the cou- gars’ website he spent nine sea- sons playing in the Mariners’ farm system — reaching as high as tri- ple-a tacoma — and has had sev- eral coaching stints since ending his playing career in 2004. He has more than seven years of managerial experience between the Wisconsin timber rattlers and High desert mavericks — both Single-a ROCKETS teams in the Mariners farm system — and Seattle’s Double-A affiliate Jackson Generals. He also served as a hitting coach for Texas Tech. Horner was named California League Manager of the year in 2009 and has been on the WSU staff the past four years. At least a dozen play- ers he coached have been drafted. blue mountain community col- lege head coach brad baker and Whitman college assistant coach tommy richards were the other two finalists. GIRLS PREP ROUNDUP OUT RALLIED BY BOBCATS Myrtle Point takes a 10-point streak in the final quarter to defeat Pilot Rock at the Rocket Invitational 2A Preview Staff photo by Ben Lonergan Weston-McEwen’s Trinity Hearn (4) takes a shot past Gervais’ Katie Hanson (20). The Gervais Cougars defeated the Weston-Ewen Tiger- scots 52-28 in the opening game of the Rocket Invitational 2A preview tournament at the Pendleton Con- vention Center Friday morning. By BRETT KANE East Oregonian P eNdLetON — In a game that was tied six times, it was almost a matter of which side could hit the last basket before the buzzer. At the opening day of the rocket Invitational 2a Pre- view at the Pendleton con- vention center, the Pilot rock girls basketball team suffered a heartbreaking 33-30 loss to myrtle Point in nonleague play. although the rockets were held to just one basket in the first quarter, they rallied to tie the score twice before the half and took three brief leads before giv- ing up a nine-point bobcats run in the fourth quarter that put the game out of reach for good. “We have to play four quar- ters of basketball,” Pilot Rock head coach amyLee Perrine said. “I feel like we only played two tonight. The effort was there, but the execution was not.” myrtle Point’s maddi reyn- olds, madison brown, and Nikki Leep opened play with a five-point streak in the first quarter. Pilot Rock junior guard Lillie Brewer missed two free throws that would have opened scoring for the Rockets with less than three minutes left, but rockets sophomore post emily Lambert knocked down a basket in the final minute as the Rock- ets were left down 5-2 by the quarter’s end. rockets senior guard Whis- per Waite and sophomore guard Madyson Moffit combined for three points to open the second quarter and tie the game at 5-5. bobcats sophomore Hayden Staff photo by Kathy Aney See Rockets, Page B2 Lillie Brewer (3), of Pilot Rock, shoots the ball during Friday’s game against Myrtle Point at the Rocket Invitational 2A Preview at the Pendleton Convention Center. Wilson leads Heppner past Illinois Valley East Oregonian Lillard scores 36 as Trail Blazers beat Magic 118-103 By ERIK GARCÍA GUNDERSEN Associated Press POrtLaNd — damian Lil- lard scored 36 points, cJ mcco- llum had 31 and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Orlando magic 118-103 on Friday night. Portland earned its sea- son-high third straight win despite losing carmelo anthony to a bruised left knee in the sec- ond quarter. The Trail Blazers improved to 8-7 since anthony joined the team a month ago. Hassan Whiteside added 10 points and 17 rebounds for Portland in his 13th straight double-double. Nikola Vucevic led Orlando with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Portland’s backcourt took over in the third quarter. Lillard had 16 points and three assists in the period, helping the Blazers build a 93-75 lead. mccollum scored 10 points in the quarter. d.J. augustin scored 17 points for Orlando, and Evan Fournier had 16. aaron Gor- don grabbed 11 rebounds in the magic’s sixth loss in seven games. See Blazers, Page B2 AP Photo/Craig Mitchelldyer Portland Trail Blazers guard Kent Bazemore, right, and guard CJ McCo- llum react after Bazemore made a 3-point basket against the Orlando Magic during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Portland on Friday. PeNdLetON — Sydney Wil- son scored 22 points, had six steals and six rebounds to lead Heppner to a 53-37 victory Friday over Illi- nois Valley at the 2a Preview tour- nament at the Pendleton convention center. “We had a rough first 2 minutes of the game,” Hepper coach Rob- ert Wilson said. “We calmed down, we were efficient and got some easy looks. I’m proud of the girls.” the mustangs (6-1) raced out to a 14-8 lead at the end of the first quar- ter, and led 30-12 at the half. Wilson had 16 of her points in the first half. madelyn Nichols added 12 points and six steals for Heppner, while Zabrena masterson had six steals. the mustangs had 24 steals for the game. Megan LeMasters, a 6-foot soph- omore, led Illinois Valley (3-3) with 12 points, while Alexis Gomez and alyvia miller each had eight. “We knew they were a little short-handed with some injuries,” Wilson said. “We wanted to pres- sure them and push the pace.” Heppner will play Gervais at 8 p.m. Saturday in the final game of the tournament. PENDLETON 76, ST. HEL- ENS 44 — muriel Hoisington scored 12 of her game-high 17 points in the first half of a nonleague game in St. Helens on Friday, and the Bucks (4-3) won their fourth consecutive game. “Offensively, we played very well, and with each game the girls get to know each other better and are making the extra pass to find open teammates,” Pendleton coach Kevin Porter said. “It is so fun to see the girls improve each day and work so hard to make each other better.” Hoisington had five assists and seven steals to her credit, while Natalie Neveau chipped in 15 points. daisy Jenness added seven points and eight rebounds, while chloe taber had nine points and seven rebounds, and Josie Wilson 10 points. DALLAS 25, MAC-HI 20 — Poor shooting from the floor and the free-throw line had the Pio- neers on the losing end against the dragons at the cascade Holiday See Girls roundup, Page B2
