Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Baker City herald. (Baker City, Or.) 1990-current | View Entire Issue (April 5, 2022)
BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2022 A5 SPORTS BAKER BASEBALL TRAVELS TO THE OREGON COAST Bulldogs drop 3 games on road trip Bulldogs lose first game to Astoria on walkoff double At Astoria, Game 1 Baker 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 — 3 Astoria 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 — 4 Carter, Skidgel (7) and Logs- don. Boudreau, Fromwiller (6) and Palmberg. BY JAYSON JACOBY jjacoby@bakercityherald.com The Baker baseball team’s hectic weekend started with a heartbreaker. And it didn’t get better. The Bulldogs were one out away from winning the first of their three games on the Ore- gon Coast, leading Astoria 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning of the first game of a doubleheader against the Fish- ermen on Friday afternoon, April 1. On the previous play, with runners at first and third, Baker second baseman Cole Hester caught Merrick Ben- esch’s line drive and then threw to first baseman Kai Ogan to force out Connelly Fromwiller for the double play. But the next batter, Teague Palmberg, hit a walkoff double to give Astoria a 4-3 win. “We played a good game,” Baker coach Tim Smith said. “I Baker’s Jaxon Logsdon slides into second base against Seaside on Saturday, April 2, 2022. thought when we took the lead we were going to be in good shape to win that game.” Ultimately, though, Baker made too many mistakes — the Bulldogs committed five errors. “We have to execute consis- tently better,” Smith said. “We have to make plays when our pitchers are struggling, and we’re just not doing it right now.” Smith said the Bulldogs hit the ball better during the coastal trip than they did during a spring break journey to Arizona, where Baker was 0-3-1. “We certainly hit well enough to stay in games,” he said. But Baker has struggled on the mound and on defense since returning from the desert. First game at Astoria The contest was mainly a pitcher’s duel between Baker’s Silas Carter and Astoria’s Niko Boudreau. After Astoria scored a sin- gle run in the first, Carter held the Fishermen scoreless for the next five innings. He allowed just two hits, striking out nine and giving up five walks. Boudreau, meanwhile, struck out 11 batters with only one walk. Baker got on the board in the fifth when Connor Chastain scored on an error on Ogan’s bunt. The Bulldogs took a 3-1 lead with two runs in the sixth. Jaxon Logsdon led off with a walk, and he advanced to sec- ond on a passed ball and then scored on an error. After consecutive doubles by Logan Capon and Carter, Chastain scored Capon, who was at third, on a groundout. Smith said Carter had a At Astoria, Game 2 Baker 0 2 5 0 0 — 7 Astoria 11 0 4 0 0 — 15 Chastain, Skidgel (1) and Logsdon. Hawkins, Giles (2), Benesch (2) and Palmberg. At Seaside Baker 1 0 1 0 0 0 — 2 Seaside 1 1 2 0 3 6 — 13 Capon, Smithson (5) and Hester. Shulte, Tamamantez (6) and Varozza. Robert Hilson/Contributed Photo At Seaside On Saturday the Bulldogs traveled a short distance south along Highway 101 to Seaside for a single game against the Seagulls. Baker struggled on offense but starting pitcher Capon kept the game close, as Seaside led just 4-2 after three innings. But the Seagulls scored nine runs in the final two innings to win 13-2. Baker had six more errors in the game, and two more big in- nings again proved costly. Baker actually outhit the Seagulls, seven to six, but Sea- side didn’t commit any errors, and its pitchers yielded just two walks compared to seven for Baker. Skidgel was 2 for 2 with an RBI. Smith said the Baker coaches had a “heart to heart” talk with the team after the loss to Sea- Robert Hilson/Contributed Photo side, emphasizing the need for Robert Hilson/Contributed Photo Baker’s Cody Skidgel rips a double against Seaside on Saturday, players to assert themselves as Logan Capon pitches against Seaside on Saturday, April 2, 2022. leaders and hold their team- April 2, 2022. mates accountable to prevent strong outing. batters, walks and Baker errors. ledger, Smith said the Bulldogs Hester’s walk. one or two mistakes from turn- But three errors in the de- Smith said the first inning also have shown a propensity Baker didn’t rely solely on ing into a big inning for the op- cisive seventh inning proved exemplified the Bulldogs’ for rallying after some of their free passes to score five runs in ponent. costly as the Fishermen rallied struggles, which he considers worst innings. the top of the third and briefly “Things have to change,” from the 3-1 deficit. mental rather than physical. The Bulldogs certainly made trim the Astoria lead to 11-7. Smith said. “They have the “We get our heads down Friday’s second game against After Cody Skidgel reached ability, they just have to stay in Second game at Astoria pretty quick,” he said. Astoria more interesting than on an error to start the inning, it mentally.” Astoria didn’t need any A couple of errors or other might have seemed likely after Capon and Carter had back-to- Baker fell to 4-6-1 on the last-inning heroics in the sec- miscues tend to lead to a flurry the 11-run first inning. back singles to load the bases. season. ond game of the doubleheader of similar mistakes, with the Baker got on the scoreboard Chastain drew a walk to score The Bulldogs open Greater Friday evening. result being a big inning for in the top of the second with a Skidgel. Oregon League play by trav- The Fishermen scored 11 the opponent. Baker gave up pair of runs. Hayden Younger Thomas Smithson followed eling to Milton-Freewater on runs in the first inning, starting three or more runs in five in- drew a bases loaded walk to with a two-run single. Wednesday, April 6, for a dou- Chastain scored on a passed bleheader against Mac-Hi. First with five straight singles. Asto- nings during its three weekend score Capon, who led off the ria scored runs in almost every games. inning with a walk. Carter also ball, and Younger had a sacri- pitch is set for 2 p.m. possible way, including on hit On the positive side of the drew a walk, and he scored on Spurs top Blazers to strengthen play-in hopes BY RAUL DOMINGUEZ Associated Press SAN ANTONIO — Kel- don Johnson scored 28 points and the San Antonio Spurs defeated the short-handed Portland Trail Blazers 113- 92 on Sunday night, April 2, to strengthen their bid for a play-in berth. Coupled with the Los An- geles Lakers’ loss to Denver, San Antonio’s magic number for clinching 10th place in the Western Conference is two games. The Spurs (33-45) also hold the tiebreaker over the Lakers (31-47) with a better conference record. “If we don’t win, it’s differ- ent,” Johnson said. “As long as we just take care of business and not really focus on any- fice fly to make it 11-7. The Fishermen quickly thwarted Baker’s rally, though, scoring four runs in the bottom of the third. Astoria again took advantage of Baker errors — three of the Bulldogs’ four miscues were in the third. Neither team scored in the final two innings. Smithson was 3 for 3 with two RBIs. Younger also drove in two runs. body else, just focus on our- selves each and every game, we’ll be fine.” San Antonio won a two- game weekend series with Portland to complete a four- game sweep of the Trail Blaz- ers. It was the sixth win in seven games for the resurgent Spurs. Portland has lost seven straight as it limps to the close of the season. The Blazers struggled to maintain any consistency of- fensively without Damian Lil- lard, Jusuf Nurkic, Josh Hart, Eric Bledsoe, Anfernee Sim- mons and several other injured players. “Beating someone four times is tough no matter who is out there,” said Spurs for- ward Keita Bates-Diop, who finished with 12 points. “He obviously got into us at half- time to stay focused and stay to our principles.” Keon Johnson and Ben Mc- Lemore had 19 points each to lead Portland. San Antonio’s Zach Collins had 18 points and 13 rebounds for his first career double-dou- ble. Tre Jones added 18 points. The duo started in place of in- jured starters Dejounte Murray and Jakob Poeltl. Collins finished 5 for 9 from the field while playing a sea- son-high 31 minutes after missing the previous two sea- sons with ankle and shoulder injuries. “He did an amazing job,” Johnson said. “I’m glad to see Baker City's Newest Brewery Taproom Hours: Wed-Fri 4pm to 8pm Sat 2pm to 8pm Closed Sun-Tues Snacks | Beer | Cider 541-519-1337 | 1935 1st St, Baker City, OR him playing well. Everybody is glad to see him playing well. He brings that toughness to the game. We needed some- body else to step up and he stepped up.” As they did Friday, the Trail Blazers took an early lead as the Spurs struggled to adjust without its missing starters. The Blazers were 6 for 10 on 3-pointers in the second quar- ter and shot 52% overall in the period. Portland finished 16 for 44 on 3-pointers and shot 40% overall. St. Stephen’s Preschool Registration for 2022-23 2177 First St. Baker City Enter on parking lot side Friday, April 8, 4-7 p.m. and Saturday, April 9, 9-noon Call 541-523-4812 or 541-519-4526 for more information Come and see us for all of your vision needs • A great selection of frames to choose to get the look you want. • We carry both regular and prescription sunglasses. • In house repairs and special packages starting at $ 99 Eagle Optical 3705 Midway Drive • Baker City 541.523.2020