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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2015)
A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2015 SPORTS HAWKINS: continued from page A7 Hawkins’ attitude with his players is both relaxed and intense. He talks about his players like they’re his sons, and he talks about his sons like they’re his players. He said there’s no difference in his mind. He cares and encourages, and he pushes and celebrates. “I blame it on my dad,” he said about his demeanor. “He made me a certain way.” $W +DZNLQV¶ ¿UVW VRQ was born. He went from a normal 25-year-old to a fa- ther in the blink of an eye, and suddenly, his perspective changed, he said. He now had responsibilities. He became a teacher and a coach, and he shares these experiences and memories with his students and players. It helps him relate to them in a way that other teachers or coaches don’t or can’t, he said. ³, UHÀHFW´ KH VDLG ³, UH- ÀHFWRQP\GDLO\OLIH,UHÀHFW on my coaching and teach- ing. I usually wake up in the middle of the night, and my PLQG JRHV µ<RX ¿[ WKHVH WKLQJV¶ , UHÀHFW FRQVWDQWO\ , think that’s how you become a better dad, a better husband, a better whatever you want to be.” He wants his players to understand that baseball isn’t life, he said. His two sons, Vaughan and Hayden, are in the military, and Vaughan is about to go to Ukraine. He told his team exactly what’s happening and what he’s thinking. “I said, ‘Guys, I’ve got a lot of stuff on my mind, but I’d rather be here with BULLDOGS: continued from page A7 ally a pticher, but he gets out there and he battled his butt off today. I was really pleased with that, and we rewarded him by putting KLPLQWKH¿HOGDQGJLYLQJ him an at-bat.” Hermiston didn’t have many scoring chances, how- HYHU /LQGHOO WKUHZ DOO ¿YH innings, striking out sev- en and walking four, while touching 90 miles per hour on the scouts’ radar guns. Chase Root ended the no-hitter bid in the bottom of the third when his sharp grounder to short took a bad hop and found its way into OHIW ¿HOG DQG &ROH 6PLWK added another knock in the fourth on a line-drive up the middle. Both times, however, Hermiston helped Lindell wiggle out. Root’s third-inning single came with one out and Kyler Mi- NDPLRQ¿UVWEDVHEXWDQRXW later Mikami was picked off at second to end the inning. After Smith’s single, Dylan Caldwell grounded into a smoothly turned 6-4 dou- ble play to give Lindell two quick outs in his penulti- mate inning. Hermiston just didn’t have any answers. “In baseball, you have COLBRAY: continued from page A7 job done. “I think it’s pretty good for Sam, (too),” he added. “I think he deserves it. I don’t think he gets the cred- it he deserves. He’s a really talented wrestler, and he’s really smart about it. ... As long as he keeps improving on the little things, he’ll be OK.” The Hermiston junior wrestled in front of Cornell University coaches Rob Koll and Damian Hahn, who told Williams they were impressed with how Colbray wrestled. They have been actively recruit- ing the 195-pound national champion. Colbray was one of four Bulldogs to win matches at ADVERSITY: continued from page A7 do know something that’s important: This team has SAM BARBEE PHOTO )LUVW\HDU+HUPLVWRQEDVHEDOOFRDFK/DQFH+DZNLQVD +HUPLVWRQQDWLYHWDNHVDEXVLQHVVOLNH\HWIXQDSSURDFKWR FRDFKLQJEDVHEDOO+HVDLGLILW·VQRWIXQWKHQKHZRQ·WFRDFK without looking over his shoulder, Hawkins said. SAM BARBEE PHOTO It’s a similar approach he’s )LUVW\HDU+HUPLVWRQEDVHEDOOFRDFK/DQFH+DZNLQVFHQWHUZRUNVZLWKVHQLRU'\ODQ&DOGZHOO taken this year with former RQKLVVZLQJ7XHVGD\DW$UPDQG/DULYH0LGGOH6FKRRO Riverside head coach John Christy, who is now Haw- you. Please remember this an all-state-caliber baseball successful at it, he said kins’ assistant coach. He’s is a game. Life is happening player from the area, allows “I really didn’t look at be- given Christy the freedom to around us and sometimes we parents and fans to trust his ing a head coach when I was teach and help make lineup don’t know that,’ ” he said. “I philosophies as a baseball younger because I wanted to decisions. He lets Matt Berg- told these guys I lost a close coach and as a teacher. know the game, and I wanted strom coach the pitchers his friend of mine when I was 25. “(My accomplishments to be mature enough,” he said. way. Christy has head coach- In a blink of an eye, he was hold) credibility,” Hawkins “I had opportunities several ing experience and Bergstrom gone. Then you take things said. “Because I played the times. People say, ‘Well why pitched collegiately. Hawkins everyday, because you don’t game here, they know what didn’t you put in for it? Why said he wants their input. know.” kind of athlete I was when didn’t you do this?’ I wasn’t “We all work together,” --- I was a lot younger, but my ready. I wanted to do things, he said of his coaching staff. As a baseball player, Haw- mental approach was pret- and I’m glad I came back and “We talk about lineups, and kins wasn’t the biggest Herm- ty good ... I think people see coached with the kid, Doug ultimately I’m the one who iston baseball player, or the how hard you work as a kid Taylor, and I reached a point makes the decision, and they fastest, but he worked hard. and how hard you work going and said, ‘What better to do?’ realize that, but I want input. He was a three-time All-Inter- through the ranks.” ” I surround myself with peo- mountain Conference player --- After 14 years of biding his ple who are gonna help me in and an all-state selection his For 14 years, Hawkins was WLPH +DZNLQV LV ¿QDOO\ WKH whatever I’m lacking.” junior year. He’s one of two an assistant baseball coach in head coach of his Hermiston --- players from Hermiston to be Hermiston. He watched as Bulldogs after spending time Hawkins stood in the dug- selected to an all-state team in head baseball coaches were under head coaches who let out recently, his arms folded 50 years. He tried to play foot- hired, left and new ones came him roam and teach and grow over the railing, looking out ball at Blue Mountain Com- in to replace them. He never in the game. Taylor, who was GRZQ WKH ULJKW ¿HOG OLQH DW munity College, although he thought about being a head Hawkins’ predecessor and RXW¿HOGHUV WDNLQJ VZLQJV RII said he was best at baseball, coach. It wasn’t something current Redmond head coach, tees, every once in awhile but he hurt his back and ankle he wanted to just jump into. gave Hawkins the freedom to yelling to players when he and could never fully recover. He wanted to be ready. He voice his input, to teach the saw something he didn’t like. He said because he was wanted to know he could be game and to make decisions He said he loves the game, but partially because the group of players he has at his disposal make it easy for him. He said there are no cliques on Hermiston’s 2015 squad. Everyone gets along, and ev- eryone wants to get better. He’s already spent time with them. He was the head coach over this past summer and had time to in- still his philosophies. He’s coached the seniors for the past three years as an assis- tant. There wasn’t much of a transition for him or the players. It was merely a change in title. “They know where I’m coming from,” he said. “I have credibility with them. Coach Christy talks about this all the time: he goes, “They don’t know me. They don’t know my back- ground. They don’t know how much I know.’ ... For most of these seniors, I’ve had them for three years, but I know their folks. I think transition-wise, it’s been really good. I have great support, great par- ents.” Notes: Hermiston will continue its glare-shortened game against Redmond on Friday at 11 a.m. in The Dalles. The action will pick up right where it left off last week: with Redmond up 14-5 and Hermiston batting with runners and first and second with one out. to have a short memory be- cause you have so many games,” Hawkins said. “If you have a bad at-bat, we WDON DERXW ÀXVKLQJ LW DQG getting rid of it. It’s mental. The guy pumped it pretty good, and our guys went up there and got their hacks. Were we outmatched? Yeah, I think we were at times. When you got a 15-year-old going against an 18-year-old in some cas- es, you could tell they’ve never seen anything like that. That’s a good team. It should’ve been a little closer, I think, but they’re a better team than we are right now. That’s all there is to it.” West Linn scored three LQWKH¿UVWKLJKOLJKWHGE\D two-run triple to the fence in ULJKW¿HOGE\%UD\GHQ3HQH West Linn added some in the third, when the Lions scored SAM BARBEE PHOTO +HUPLVWRQ·V0LWFKHOO%URZQVTXDUHVWREXQWGXULQJWKHÀUVWLQQLQJRI+HUPLVWRQ·VORVVWR:HVW/LQQRQ7XHVGD\ six runs on both Robles and (GPLVWRQ7KH¿UVWWZREDW- ters of the frame walked, and Pene came through again with an RBI single. After a walk, a strikeout and another walk, Cole Kinman doubled to plate two. Rudy Hughes followed with a sin- gle to make the count 8-0, and, after an error, Chase Cosner grounded into a 6-4 ¿HOGHU¶V FKRLFH WR SODWH Jake Perkins, who courtesy ran for catcher Kinman. In the next frame, West Linn put the game away with four. Nicholas Yokubaitis singled with no outs and a runner at second to give the Lions a reached on an error, allow- 10-0 lead, and Tate Hoff- ing Hughes to trot home. PDQ ÀLHG RXW WR FHQWHU WR ——— plate Colton Cosner, who WEST LINN 13, had previously singled. HERMISTON 0 After an error and a hit-by- 306 640 — 13 10 1 pitch to load the bases, Tim WL HHS 000 000 — 0 2 4 Tawa singled to drive in K. Lindell and C. Kinman. R. Robles, H. Edmis- Yokubaitis to push the lead ton, C. Smith and L. Gammell. to 12-0, then Trevor Wells 2B: C. Kinman (WL). 3B: C. Cosner (WL). the NHSCA Nationals. Of seven Hermiston wrestlers competing, Colbray, Andy Wagner, at 126 pounds in the junior division, Bob Coleman, wrestling at 170 pounds in the junior divi- sion, and AJ Tuia, compet- ing at 132 pounds in the freshmen division, won matches. Coleman was two matches from placing eighth, which would have earned him an All-Ameri- can nod. Colbray, though, was the story for Hermiston. As the sixth-ranked wrestler in the tournament, he cruised through his ¿UVW IRXU PDWFKHV +H EHDW Georgia’s Jack Walsh 8-1 to start things off, handled Jalen Martin of Missouri 8-2, pinned New Jersey’s Patrick Daly in 35 seconds and then pounded Tennes- see’s Benjamin Stacey 13-3 LQWKHTXDUWHU¿QDOV ,QWKHVHPL¿QDOVKRZHY- er, Colbray faced Christian Araneo from New York, the 11th-ranked wrestler in the tournament, who gave Colbray some problems. The New Yorker had a style unfamiliar to Colbray, and Williams said it created a bad matchup for him un- til Colbary got a takedown midway through the third period for two points and rode Araneo the rest of the way for a 3-1 win. “That was probably the closest match of the tourna- ment,” Williams said. ,QWKH¿QDOVWKHPDWFKXS was better for Colbray, with, Williams said, in his opinion the best two 195-pound ju- niors wrestlers in the national championship, and Colbray won going away. In the other brackets, Coleman cruised through KLV ¿UVW WKUHH PDWFKHV XQ- til taking a 3-1 loss to Jalaa Darwish of New Jersey, the eventual runner-up. In the consolation bracket, Cole- PDQZRQKLV¿UVWPDWFKEXW couldn’t get past New Yorker Nick Garone in a 5-3 defeat. Wagner topped Florid- ian Dylan Cameron 5-1 in WKH¿UVWURXQGRIWKHMXQLRU 126-pound bracket and lost to Matthew Sheetz from Georgia. On the back end, Wagner slipped past Tex- as’ Mason Vidrine 5-3 in overtime but lost to Ryder Jones of West Virginia in a 3-1 decision. Freshman Tuia, who al- most didn’t wrestle at dis- tricts because of illness, beat Tennessee’s Thomas +DWFKHU LQ KLV ¿UVW round match, but top fresh- man 130-pounder Sammy Sasso of Pennsylvania handled the Hermiston freshman 20-5 in the sec- ond round. Tuia then lost his next match by fall in just 50 seconds to Joshua Brown of Pennsylvania. Williams said commu- nity members and busi- nesses deserved thanks for already learned from last year and is ready and willing to change it for the better. That’s something to admire and something to keep your eye on over the next couple of months. I won’t go as far as saying the Vikings will challenge anyone for a league title, but they’ll get better. I’m sure of that. — Sam Barbee is the sports reporter for the Hermiston Herald. He can be reached at sbar- bee@hermistonherald. com helping pay for the seven wrestlers’ trip to Virginia. Their contributions helped lower the wrestlers’ indi- vidual costs. “It was just overwhelm- LQJ ¿QDQFLDO VXSSRUW IURP people within the commu- nity (who) I can’t express enough thank you’s to,” he said.