MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2019
BAKER CITY HERALD — 7A
BAKER VOLLEYBALL
BAKER BOYS SOCCER WINS CLASS 4A PLAY-IN GAME OVER MARSHFIELD
Baker pillages Pirates, take
on top-ranked Marist next
By Jayson Jacoby
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Victor Benites had a sense
Saturday afternoon that his
Baker boys soccer team had
an advantage over Marshfi eld
in a Class 4A play-in game at
the Sports Complex.
Then the Bulldogs went
out and made their coach’s as-
sessment, based on watching
pre-match warmups, seem
prescient.
Baker took an early 1-0
lead on sophomore Isael Du-
ran’s goal, and the Bulldogs
were dominant in a 5-1 rout
over the Pirates.
“We took control early in
the game,” Benites said. “We
just played our game.”
And in doing so the Bull-
dogs earned what’s likely to
be their biggest challenge of
the season.
Baker (6-5-2) will travel to
Eugene on Wednesday to play
top-ranked Marist Catholic
(12-0-1) at 6:30 p.m.
Benites said he was
surprised Baker was given
a home match in the play-in
round. The Bulldogs took ad-
vantage, as Jamisun Reguiero
scored to give Baker a 2-0
lead at halftime.
Baker added three more
goals in the second half —
Duran’s second goal, followed
by his brother Jorge Duran’s
score on a penalty kick, and
Alex Davila’s goal.
Meanwhile Baker keeper
Silas Carter was thwarting all
but one of Marshfi eld’s shot, a
late, largely meaningless goal.
Wednesday’s fi rst-round
Bulldogs fall in
4 sets in playoffs
JUNCTION CITY — For one set, Baker’s volleyball
team showed Saturday that it was capable of beating
Junction City in a Class 4A playoff match.
The three other sets were a different matter.
Baker struggled early and then couldn’t maintain
the momentum from its dominating third set in suffer-
ing a season-ending loss to Junction City, 25-14, 25-16,
16-25, 25-13.
“We couldn’t keep it going for that fourth set,” Baker
coach Chelsea Hurliman said. “It was kind of a disap-
pointing way to end the season.”
Hurliman said that although Junction City is a solid
team, Baker’s miscues contributed much to their losing
the fi rst two sets.
“We had a ton of unforced errors,” she said. “We’ve
kind of been our own worst enemy at times this sea-
son.”
The Bulldogs had no such problems in the third set.
“They played better together, I think was the biggest
thing,” Hurliman said.
She said Lauren Benson, Hailey Zikmund and
Emma Baeth all played well.
Baker fi nished the season with an 8-12 record.
POWDER VALLEY VOLLEYBALL
Badgers return
to state tourney
Kathy Orr / Baker City Herald
The top-ranked Powder Valley Badgers are headed
to the 1A state tournament for a second year in a row
and for the third time in fi ve years.
The Badgers swept their second-round home match
Saturday against Jordan Valley to reach the tourna-
ment, 25-13, 25-10, 25-18.
Powder Valley, which enters the state tournament
with a 1A-best record of 32-1, will meet Damascus
Christian in the quarterfi nals Friday morning at Rid-
geview High School in Redmond.
Baker’s Wyatt Hawkins, right, defends against Marshfi eld’s Pedro Casas Saturday.
playoff match at Marist will
be just Baker’s second this
season played on artifi cial
turf.
“That’s a lot different from
playing on grass,” Benites
said. “It’s a much faster game.”
He hopes Baker will ar-
rive in Eugene early enough
Wednesday for the Bulldogs
to practice briefl y on the turf.
The only blemish on
Marist’s record this year is a
1-1 draw against North Valley
in the Spartans’ season-open-
ing match Sept. 3. Since then
Marist has won 12 straight
matches by a combined score
of 69-5.
Although Benites has video
of only one Marist match — a
5-0 win over Baker’s Greater
Oregon League foe Mac-Hi on
Sept. 26 — the Bulldogs and
Spartans also have Marsh-
fi eld as a common opponent.
Marist won both of its
matches against the Pirates
this year, 2-1 on Sept. 30 and
6-1 on Oct. 17.
“It should be a good game,”
Benites said of Wednesday’s
playoff contest.
Blazers lose on
buzzer-beating 3
PORTLAND (AP) — Philadelphia’s Furkan Kork-
maz was just as stunned as anyone by his game-win-
ning 3-pointer against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Korkmaz hit his 3 with just 0.4 seconds left and the
unbeaten 76ers rallied for their fi fth straight victory,
129-128 on Saturday night.