A6 BAKER CITY HERALD • THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2022
SPORTS
BAKER BASEBALL IN ARIZONA
Bulldogs rally to earn tie
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Baker’s baseball team had a
chilly start to its road trip de-
spite temperatures in the up-
per 70s.
On offense, anyway.
But the Bulldogs’ bats even-
tually warmed amid the early
spring heat in Phoenix, Ari-
zona.
Baker rallied in each of its
first two games on a four-
game desert swing, a spring
vacation tradition that was
revived this year after being
canceled due to the pandemic
in 2020 and 2021.
The Bulldogs’ two come-
backs on Monday, March
21, yielded one loss, 11-5 to
Doherty, Colorado, and a 13-
13 tie with Manitou Springs,
Colorado.
Baker had the day off on
Tuesday, March 22, giving the
players a chance to do some
sightseeing with family mem-
bers who also made the jour-
ney.
Baker coach Tim Smith said
several players watched var-
ious Major League Baseball
spring training games early
in the day, before rejoining in
the evening to watch a college
baseball game between the
Arizona State Sun Devils and
Grand Canyon University, a
7-5 win for Grand Canyon.
“It’s been a good trip over-
all,” Smith said on Wednesday
morning, March 23. “It’s been
fun.”
But it’s also a work trip, and
he was eager to see the Bull-
dogs try to finish with a cou-
ple wins.
“We need to come out bet-
ter early in the game, and
jump on teams like they’ve
been doing to us,” Smith said.
“On defense we need to make
the plays we’re supposed to
make.”
Baker struggled in both
areas early in its first game,
against Doherty.
Baker went scoreless for the
first three innings.
Starting pitcher Connor
Chastain kept Doherty off the
scoreboard in the bottom of
Baker falls 4-1 to
Buena Vista
The Baker baseball team’s re-
cord on its Arizona road trip
dropped to 0-2-1 with a 4-1
loss to Buena Vista, Colorado,
on Wednesday morning,
March 23. Baker coach Tim
Smith said pitchers Silas Car-
ter and Cody Skidgel threw
well, but Baker struggled at
the plate.
Baker 0 0 0 3 2 0 — 5
Doherty 0 6 4 1 0 x — 11
Chastain, Crawford (2), Spike
(3) and Logsdon. Crook, Corsi
(5) and Weaver.
2B: Hester.
Manitou 3 3 5 1 1 — 13
Baker 1 3 2 2 5 — 13
Maloney, Thomson (3), Mc-
Caskey (5) and Cashdollar
(Hettle). Capon, Smithson (2),
Carter (4) and Logsdon.
2B: Skidgel. 3B: Spike.
tum, and I think we were set
up to maybe win that thing.”
Hudson Spike went 3 for
4 with a triple and two RBI.
Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald Cody Skidgel was 2 for 3 with
Baker baseball player Jaxon Logsdon works on his hitting in the
an RBI, and Silas Carter 1 for
3 with an RBI. Jaxon Logsdon,
batting cages at the Baker Sports Complex on March 15, 2022.
Chastain, Kai Ogan and Cole
the first, but then Baker’s de- is on schedule, so the game
Hester each had a hit.
fense struggled.
against Doherty ended after six
Baker was 3-1-1 on the sea-
The Bulldogs gave up six
innings rather than the usual
son after the Manitou Springs
runs in the second inning and seven.
game.
four more in the third, falling
Baker had just three hits.
The Bulldogs conclude their
behind 10-0.
The second game, on Mon- Arizona trip on Thursday,
“We didn’t make the plays
day afternoon against Manitou March 24, with a 3 p.m. game
we needed to make to get out
Springs, Colorado, had a some- against Apollo, Arizona.
of the inning,” Smith said.
what similar start.
Baker rallied with three runs
Manitou Springs led 6-4 af-
in the fourth and two more in ter two innings and 11-6 after
the fifth to cut Doherty’s lead
three.
to 11-5.
But Baker dominated the
“We made a little charge at
next two innings, outscoring
the end but it wasn’t enough,
Manitou Springs 7-2, including
and we ran out of time,” Smith five runs in the bottom of the
said.
fifth to tie the score at 13.
Time isn’t normally a fac-
Again, though, the clock ran
tor in baseball games, but the
out on the Bulldogs.
Arizona tournament is an ex-
“We battled back, and I like
ception. Smith said games are that,” Smith said. “It would
limited to two hours, 15 min- have been nice to finish that
utes to ensure the tournament one. We had some momen-
Lillard out for
remainder of Trail
Blazers’ season
PORTLAND — Portland
Trail Blazers star Damian Lil-
lard has been ruled out for the
rest of the season.
Lillard had abdominal sur-
gery on Jan. 13, and it was
widely expected he would not
return. The Blazers made it
official on Monday, March 21.
The team said that Lillard
has “progressed well through
the reconditioning phase of
his rehab protocol” and has
reached performance bench-
marks. He will continue the
rehab process.
Lillard said he had been
bothered by lower abdomi-
nal tendinopathy for several
years, but it flared up during
the Tokyo Olympics.
A six-time All-Star, Lillard
averaged 24 points and 7.3 as-
sists in 29 games this season
for the Blazers.
Portland is 26-44 this sea-
son and in 12th place in the
Western Conference. The
Blazers are in a rebuilding
phase after trading away
three starters — including
Lillard’s backcourt teammate
CJ McCollum — at the Feb-
ruary deadline.
OREGON DUCKS BASEBALL
Ducks win fourth straight
BY JAMES CREPEA
oregonlive.com
Oregon baseball won its
fourth straight, topping Gon-
zaga in a mid-week game.
Tanner Smith and Jacob
Walsh each doubled and
homered in a 9-5 win for the
Ducks on Tuesday, March 22,
in Spokane.
Oregon (14-6) took an
early lead on an RBI walk by
Josh Kasevich and Anthony
Hall drove in a run to make it
2-0, but Gonzaga tied it at 2
after the first.
Smith hit a solo home run
in the second and had an RBI
double in the fourth, Hall
hit a sacrifice fly in the third,
Colby Shade drove in a run
and Walsh hit a two-run sin-
gle in the fourth as the Ducks
built an 8-2 lead.
Gonzaga (14-5) got a run
back in the fourth and two
more in the seventh to run
the gap to 8-5.
Walsh hit a solo home run
in the eighth for the game’s fi-
nal margin.
Jacob Hughes allowed two
runs on two hits and four
walks over 1.2 innings in a
no-decision. Logan Mercado
picked up his third win of the
season and allowed two hits
and struck out three over 1.1
scoreless innings. Oregon
used six other relievers, who
combined to allow three runs,
two earned, on seven hits and
two walks with two strikeouts
over the final 6.0 innings.
The Ducks return home
to begin a three-game series
with USC starting at 4 p.m.
Friday, March 25.
March
26-27
Saturday 9:00 am–5:00 pm
Sunday
9:00 am–3:00 pm
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