6A — BAKER CITY HERALD
THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2021
BAKER SOFTBALL
Baker nips Nyssa, 9-8
By Corey Kirk
BAKER BASEBALL
ckirk@bakercityherald.com
Corey Kirk/Baker City Herald
Baker’s Cody Skidgel fouls off a pitch against Nyssa on Tuesday, April 27.
Bulldogs blast Nyssa, 11-1
By Corey Kirk
ckirk@bakercityherald.com
After almost a week since
their last contest, the Baker
baseball team didn’t show
any signs of rust in rout-
ing Nyssa 11-1 on Tuesday,
April 27 at the Baker Sports
Complex.
Baker improved its
season record to 4-2. Nyssa
dropped to 0-6.
Moving from his usual
position behind home plate
to the pitcher’s mound,
senior Mason Van Arsdall
breezed through the fi rst
three innings, holding
Nyssa scoreless.
“It’s kind of weird. I
haven’t pitched in a re-
ally long time. Being on the
mound is weird because I’m
always behind the plate,”
Van Arsdall said.
Baker also failed to score
in the fi rst two innings.
But in bottom of the third,
after Andrew Zellars got on
base, Jake Wright found a
fastball to his liking from
Nyssa pitcher Collin Hysell,
crushing the ball over the
left fi eld wall for a two-run
homer.
“That was huge, you can
feel it, you can feel it on the
Nyssa side, you can feel it
on our side,” Baker coach
Tim Smith said. “We needed
a spark, we needed some-
thing, and we got it.”
Prior to Wright’s blast,
Smith was disappointed in
his team’s sluggish start
offensively.
“We started out awful
slow,” Smith said. “That’s
two dates now that we came
out not ready to go.”
Nyssa scored its only run
in the top of the fourth to
briefl y cut Baker’s lead to
2-1.
But Baker responded im-
mediately with fi ve runs in
the bottom of the inning.
With the insurance runs,
Van Arsdall continued
to hold Nyssa at bay. He
allowed just four hits and
struck out nine.
Van Arsdall credited his
battery mate in Zellars, who
is one of Baker’s top pitch-
ers, and Baker’s defense.
“Zellars did a really good
job sticking the ball where
it was — he got me a lot
Corey Kirk/Baker City Herald
Baker’s Mason Van Arsdall, who usually plays catch-
er, was the winning pitcher against Nyssa on Tuesday,
April 27. He struck out nine in fi ve innings.
“I haven’t pitched in a really long time. Being on the
mound is weird because I’m always behind the plate.”
— Mason Van Arsdall
of strikes I didn’t know I
would have had with any-
body else back there,” Van
Arsdall said. “I just had a lot
of good back up behind me
tonight.”
Baker continued its
offensive momentum with
four runs in the bottom of
the fi fth to end the game by
10-run mercy rule.
Zander Arriaga led the
way going 3-for-4 with four
RBIs.
Hayden Younger was
aggressive on the basepaths
with three stolen bases.
“I thought Hayden
Younger was a spark on the
bases, he’s just a go getter,”
Smith said. “He runs the
bases like we want everyone
to run the bases.”
Smith was also happy
with Baker’s offensive per-
formance in the fi nal three
innings.
“We fi nally started to put
the ball in play and capital-
ize on their mistakes,”
Smith said.
He was impressed with
the work of sophomores Kai
Ogan and Thomas Smith-
son, who moved up from
junior varsity for Tuesday’s
game.
“I thought they did a good
job for us,” Smith said.
Baker now welcomes ri-
val La Grande to the Sports
Complex for the teams’
second doubleheader, this
one set for Saturday, May 1
with a fi rst pitch at noon.
La Grande dominated the
fi rst twinbill against Baker
on April 20, winning 16-3
and 18-3.
Van Arsdall said Baker’s
performance against Nyssa,
despite the score, won’t be
good enough against the
Tigers.
“We had way too many
K’s today, backward K’s,
backward K’s are the worst,
against a team like La
Grande, they will make us
pay,” Van Arsdall said.
His coach agreed.
“We are going to work on
early count hitting, early
count pitching, we want
to throw strikes, (and) we
did not do that against La
Grande,” Smith said. “We
can’t put La Grande on the
bases, we can’t give up any
freebies.”
Baker’s softball team used
late-inning heroics to claim
its fi rst win of the season with
a 9-8 victory over Nyssa on
Tuesday afternoon, April 27 at
the Baker Sports Complex.
Baker was down to its last
three outs trailing 8-5.
The Bulldogs tied the score
at 8, but there were two outs
when sophomore Skylar Roy
stepped to the plate.
After taking a few pitches
per her coaches’ instructions,
Roy rapped a single for the
walkoff win for the Bulldogs
(1-3).
“I was pretty nervous,” Roy
said. “I was proud of myself.
I was excited to be able to hit
that, and to be the one to do
it.”
Baker coach Sonny Gulick
was happy to see Roy shine in
such a high-pressure moment.
“She fi nally put her weight
back, and gave us the hit we
needed,” Gulick said.
With a team made of
primarily sophomores, Roy
among them, Gulick said
he was optimistic going into
Tuesday’s game against Nyssa
(1-5) due largely to the Baker
junior varsity’s strong per-
formance on April 24 against
Vale. The Bulldogs swept the
twinbill, 14-4 and 18-7.
“We just had won two
games in JV so I was very con-
fi dent in how we were going to
play against them,” Roy said.
But Tuesday’s varsity game
against Nyssa didn’t have
a promising start, as Nyssa
scored three runs in the top of
the fi rst.
Baker responded in the
bottom of the second, with
senior Rebekah Davis and
sophomore Taylor Gyllenberg
each getting an RBI as Baker
tied the score at 3.
Gulick was excited to see
his players capitalize on their
opponents’ mistakes, and
heeding his advice to be more
patient at the plate.
“We were going to see a
pitch, because what we found
is that if a pitcher is throwing
a little slower, we’re not very
patient,” Gulick said. “Every-
body is going to see a pitch,
ball or strike, before they
were going to swing.”
Corey Kirk/Baker City Herald
Kaycee Cuzick went the entire way in the circle for Baker
in a 9-8 win over Nyssa on Tuesday, April 27.
Nyssa regained the lead
but Baker stayed close
thanks in part to sophomore
pitcher Kaycee Cuzick, who
pitched the entire game.
“I really loved how she
(Cuzick) battled through
some early location issues,
and in the last two and a half
innings she was right down
the zone, really just shut
them down and gave us an
opportunity to win,” Gulick
said.
Baker took advantage of
that opportunity with the
last-inning rally.
Baker returns to varsity
action on Tuesday, May 4 by
playing host to Ontario in a
doubleheader starting at 3
p.m.
NFL draft heavy on quarterbacks
chie Manning, Dan Pastorini) and 1999 (Tim
Couch, Donovan McNabb, Akili Smith) as the
As soon as the San Francisco 49ers traded only drafts with quarterbacks taken with the
three fi rst round picks to move up to No. 3
top three picks.
overall, it became clear that quarterbacks
A record could be set with four QBs going in
would come off the board at a record pace at
the top four if Atlanta drafts the successor to
the NFL draft starting this evening.
Matt Ryan or trades down to a quarterback-
While QBs are widely expected to go 1-2-3 needy team.
for just the third time in the common draft
If Fields, Jones and Lance all get taken in
era that started in 1967, there are still ques- the top 10, that would also be a fi rst, beating
tions about how many others will follow in
the four top-10 QBs taken in the 2018 draft
the top 10 and fi rst round.
when Baker Mayfi eld, Sam Darnold, Josh
Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson are ex-
Allen and Josh Rosen all went off the board
pected to be the top two picks, to Jacksonville quickly.
and the New York Jets, with the Niners likely
All fi ve of those QBs are almost assuredly
choosing among Mac Jones, Trey Lance and
fi rst-round picks, something that also hap-
Justin Fields at No. 3.
pened in 1999 when the fi ve came off in the
That would match 1971 (Jim Plunkett, Ar- top 12, and in 2018.
By Josh Dubow
AP Pro Football Writer
BRINGING QUALITY
PRODUCTS AT AFFORDABLE
Blazers snap 5-game losing streak
franchise record and became the first NBA
player to open a game with nine consecutive 3s
INDIANAPOLIS — Anfernee Simons deliv-
since Klay Thompson made 10 straight on Jan.
ered the knockout flurry for Portland on Tuesday. 21, 2019. Simons wound up 9 of 10 from beyond
His teammates and coaches enjoyed watching the arc and 9 of 13 overall.
it.
How good was he?
Simons made his first nine 3-pointers, finished
“The man of the hour, talk to him,” Lillard said
with 27 points and helped the Portland Trail
when Simons showed up for his postgame Zoom
Blazers snap a season-high, five-game losing
call. “Nine 3s.”
streak with a 133-112 rout at Indiana.
Lillard added 23 points and the Blazers shot a
“After the first 3 I made in the second half,
season-best 57.1% from beyond the arc.
I knew it was going to be a good night for me,”
With the Trail Blazers going 20 of 35 from
Simons said. “After that, I felt like it didn’t matter 3-point range, Indiana never really had a chance.
who was contesting or how close they were, I
Portland broke open the game in the second
knew it was going to go in.”
quarter by taking advantage of a 13-5 discrep-
They did — time after time.
ancy in offensive rebounds and, of course, the
Simons fell two 3s short of Damian Lillard’s
long-range shooting.
Corey Kirk/Baker City Herald
Taylor Gyllenberg waits for a pitch Tuesday against Nyssa.
PRICING TO EASTERN ORE-
GON
By Michael Marot
AP Sports Writer
Try the SHIP TO STORE feature at millershomecenter.com
3109 May Lane, La Grande
541-963-3113
3815 Pocahontas Road, Baker City
541-523-6404