BAKER CITY HERALD • THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2022 A5
SPORTS
BAKER SPRING SPORTS BEGINNING
OREGON MEN’S BASKETBALL IN NIT
Baker High baseball team
excited to return to Arizona
Ducks roll past Utah St. in 2nd half
Annual spring break
trip was canceled
previous 2 years
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
The Baker High School baseball team prob-
ably will play games in three states this season
before it has one complete practice on its home
field.
Which isn’t an altogether bad situation, coach
Tim Smith said — in part because one of those
states is Arizona.
He’d be more disappointed by the delay in
getting onto the diamond at the Baker Sports
Complex if not for the revival of what had be-
come a spring break tradition for the Bulldogs.
That’s the long drive to the desert South-
west to play several games in temperatures
that sometimes don’t grace Baker City until
the high school baseball season is already over
hereabouts.
Smith scheduled the first Arizona expedition
in 2015, and the Bulldogs returned each of the
next four Marches as well.
But then came the pandemic.
The tournament that brought Baker to Ari-
zona was canceled in 2020 and 2021.
There was no spring high school sports sea-
son in Oregon in 2020, and the 2021 schedule
was shortened to little more than a month. The
Bulldogs went 10-6 during the abbreviated slate
in April and May.
But this year, with COVID-19 waning, the
Arizona trip is back on Baker’s schedule.
And Smith is excited to bring the Bulldogs to
cactus country for the first time in three years.
“It’s a good team-building trip,” he said. “We
spend a lot of time together. It’s a fun time.”
In addition to playing four games in Arizona,
the Bulldogs will watch the Arizona State Sun
Devils play, Smith said.
In past years the trip usually included tak-
ing in a Major League Baseball spring training
game, but this year a labor dispute delayed the
start of spring training. By the time the sides
had settled, Smith said it was too late to make
arrangements for the Bulldogs to watch the ma-
jor leaguers play.
But he’s still excited about the chance to get
away, however briefly, from the chilly and some-
times damp Baker County spring.
“It’s always good baseball, and it’s nice to get
in the good weather,” Smith said.
Since practice started on the last day of Feb-
ruary, the Bulldogs have spent much of their
time in the batting cage building at the Sports
Complex, Smith said.
They’ve done some drills on the grassy out-
field at the Complex, and on the soccer fields
where a temporary diamond was set up.
Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald
Baker baseball player Connor Chastain takes a
swing in the batting cages at the Baker Sports
Complex on Tuesday, March 15, 2022.
But the dirt infield on the field has been too
damp and muddy to use.
Smith said this is just the second spring in the
past eight where the entire field wasn’t playable
before the first game.
The Bulldog roster is at full strength this
week now that three players — Jaxon Logsdon,
Hayden Younger and Hudson Spike — have fin-
ished the basketball season.
Baker was slated to open the season Wednes-
day, March 16, at Parma, Idaho, followed by
a doubleheader at Heppner/Ione Thursday,
March 17, starting at noon.
Baker will then travel to Arizona, playing two
Colorado teams, Doherty and Monitou Springs,
on Monday, March 21, then taking on Buena
Vista, Colorado, on March 23, and Apollo, Ari-
zona, on March 24.
The Bulldogs’ home opener is set for
Wednesday, March 30, at 4 p.m. against
Homedale, Idaho.
Baker then returns to the road for five
straight games, including a weekend trip to the
Oregon Coast to start April.
The Bulldogs will play a doubleheader at As-
toria on Friday, April 1, starting at 4 p.m., fol-
lowed by a single game at Seaside/Jewell at noon
on Saturday, April 2.
Greater Oregon League play starts April 6
with a doubleheader at Mac-Hi starting at 2 p.m.
BY JAMES CREPEA
oregonlive.com
LOGAN, Utah — Oregon
weathered a first half shooting
barrage from Utah State, then
it unleashed one of its own.
De’Vion Harmon scored
16 of his 19 in the first half to
keep Oregon in it and Jacob
Young scored 13 of his 17 in
the second half to close out
an 83-72 comeback win for
the Ducks over No. 4 seed
Utah State in the first round
of the men’s National Invita-
tion Tournament on Tues-
day night, March 15, before a
raucous crowd of 7,023 at the
Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
Oregon (20-14) shot 50.8%
from the field and 42.1%
from three, its best outing
from the floor since Jan. 29
against Oregon State and best
from behind the arc since Jan.
23 against Washington.
“I’ve been fortunate to play
in some NIT games,” said Or-
egon coach Dana Altman,
who notched his 300th win
at UO while securing a 12th
straight 20-win season. “The
student section today was
really good. It was a great
environment. Our guys re-
sponded and hit some shots,
which we haven’t been doing,
we’ve just shot it so poorly. We
just finally hit some shots.”
The Ducks advance to face
top-seeded Texas A&M (24-
12) in the second round this
weekend in College Station,
Texas.
Utah State built a 32-23
lead with 4:41 to go in the
first half thanks to 12 assists
on 14 baskets, but failed to
create open shots in the sec-
ond half. The Aggies (18-16)
went from 7 of 16 from three-
point range in the first half
to just 2 for 12 from behind
the arc and 10 of 34 (32.4%)
overall from the field during
the second half.
“We made some scouting
report mistakes in the first
half not running (Steven
Ashworth) off the line,” Al-
tman said. “We knew what
he wanted to do. Second half
we did a much better job. We
gave him that one where we
screwed up in transition late
there, but other than that our
contests on threes were so
much better. The first half he
got it going; he hit four there
and we never ran him off the
line one time.”
Oregon held USU leading
scorer Justin Bean, who en-
tered averaging 17.7 points
and 9.8 rebounds with 20
double-doubles, to just nine
points on a season-low 18.2%
(2 for 11) from the field. It
was just the third time this
season Bean was held to un-
der 10 points, though he still
had 16 rebounds.
“They were a really phys-
ical team,” Bean said. “Give
them credit. It made us un-
comfortable. Obviously, of-
fensively we weren’t great, but
defensively was really where
they took over. We weren’t
filling up the gaps like we had
planned. Their athleticism —
they were getting downhill on
us. They made eight threes,
but they had a lot of points in
the paint for sure.
“It was just one of those
games. You try to make a lit-
tle run and they come back
with a big momentum play or
a dunk or an easy layup. It’s
hard to overcome those. In
the second half, we just didn’t
quite get over the hump and
they ran away with it.”
Utah State hosted a Pac-12
team for the first time since
2013-14 on a stage fitting of
postseason college basketball:
a raucous on-campus envi-
ronment where the game, al-
beit in a consolation tourna-
ment, mattered a great deal to
those on the floor and those
in the stands, who were over-
whelmingly standing.
“We’re grateful to be here,”
Quincy Guerrier said. “Obvi-
ously we were trying to be in
the March Madness, but we’re
in the NIT now and we’re go-
ing to take full advantage of
the opportunity for everyone.
It’s on ESPN and it’s a big thing
for everyone, especially for the
vets to showcase, and we’re go-
ing to try to win the NIT.”
Oregon opened with a
10-2 lead, but Ashworth (20
points) hit three straight
three-pointers to fuel an 11-0
Utah State run.
A second 11-0 run by the
Aggies made it 32-23 with
4:41 to half, but Harmon
scored nine of Oregon’s final
10 points of the half to get
the Ducks within 37-33 at
the break.
Just as it did in the first
half, Oregon opened the
second half with a 10-2 run,
regained and steadily in-
creased the lead and cruised
from there.
Other Baker High spring sports teams are in action
Baker’s other spring sports teams
are also preparing for their first
competition or, in some cases, are
already into their schedule.
Softball
The Bulldogs are slated to open
the season Thursday, March 17,
with a doubleheader starting at
noon at Heppner/Ione.
Tennis
Baker’s first match, set for Tuesday,
March 15, at Four Rivers in
Ontario, was postponed by rain
until Thursday, March 17, at 3 p.m.
PDT.
Golf
Baker had its first girls
tournament on Monday, March
14, at Weiser, Idaho. Two of
Baker’s six girls players competed
in the 9-hole event. Caitlin Lien
shot a 50, and Gretchen Morgan
carded a 68. The Baker boys team
has 11 players out, said Mike
Long, who coaches both the
boys and girls teams. Eight boys
players competed in an 18-hole
tournament at River Bend Golf
Course near Homedale, Idaho.
Results will be published in a later
issue.
Track and field
The Bulldogs are slated to open
the season with the Ontario
Icebreaker on Thursday, March 17,
starting at 3:30 p.m.
Insurance from
Gregg Hinrichsen
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
Indiana tops turnover-prone
Wyoming in First Four
make shots,” Indiana coach
Mike Woodson said. “But
DAYTON, Ohio — Uni-
we just kept grinding, and
versity of Dayton Arena was I found another player to-
rocking, thanks to hordes
night off the bench and that
of Indiana fans who made
was Geronimo, who gave us
the drive to the First Four to a major, major lift tonight.
see the Hoosiers play in the
And Trayce was who he’s
NCAA Tournament for the
been pretty much all year.”
first time since 2016.
Indiana opened a 10-point
The 13,400-seat newly ren- lead over the Cowboys (25-
ovated venue just got louder 9) with less than two minutes
as Indiana pulled away late
left. Wyoming’s Drake Jef-
to cap a 66-58 win over turn- fries hit a pair of foul shots
over-prone Wyoming on
Tuesday night, March 15,
sending the 12th-seeded
Hoosiers (21-13) to a first-
round East regional game to
face fifth-seeded St. Mary’s
on Thursday, March 17.
Trayce Jackson-Davis had
29 points and nine rebounds,
Jordan Geromino — who av-
eraged 3.9 points this season
— scored a career-high 15.
“I thought our defense was
really the key when we were
struggling offensively to
BY MITCH STACY
Associated Press
to get the Cowboys within
six with 14 seconds to go, but
Jeffries had to foul Indiana’s
Xavier Johnson, who hit a
pair from the stripe to put it
out of reach.
Hunter Maldonado paced
the Cowboys with 21 points
but turned the ball over 10
times. Graham Ike had 17 to
go along with and nine re-
bounds. The Cowboys had 19
turnovers leading to 17 Indi-
ana points.
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