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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (April 27, 2016)
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 2016 HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A9 Herald Sports IN BRIEF Lien, Simmons lead Lewis-Clark title surge Chris Lien opened his inal round at the Frontier Conference Champion- ships in Tempe, Arizona, with three-straight bird- ies, and the Lewis-Clark State senior from Hep- pner went on to post the lowest round of the 54- hole tournament to win the men’s title on April 20. Lien made the turn at ASU Karsten Golf Course at three-under par for the day and was ive-under before hitting bogeys on two of the inal four holes to come into the club- house with a 68. That was enough to surpass Rocky Mountain’s Colton Mur- phy, who entered the inal round with a four-stroke lead that disintegrated when he shot three bo- geys and two bogeys on the front nine to make the turn at seven-over. Lien inished with a three-round score of 76- 74-68—218 and Murphy came in at 76-70-79— 225 to tie for second. L-C State’s Casey Brown held a two-stroke lead on Lien headed into the inal 18 but was hurt but a dou- ble bogey on No. 5 and a triple bogey on No. 18 to inish tied for second with 74-74-77—225. Lien’s rise to the top on Wednesday mirrored that of the team as the Warriors overcame a ive- shot deicit to win the team title with a score of 304-301-292—897. Rocky Mountain inished six strokes back with 309-291-303—903. Kurt Simmons also played a huge part in the Warriors’ surge, and the senior from Hermiston shot a one-under 70 for his best round of the tour- nament to inish tied for fourth with 80-76-70— 226. Simmons shot an eagle on the par-5 No. 10 hole and was on pace to match Lien’s inal round until a double bogey on No. 16. The Warriors women’s team inish second by 10 strokes to Rocky Moun- tain with a three-round total of 994. L-C State led by the fourth-place inishes of Karina Davila and Kayla Monroe with 242 totals, and Hermiston native Janci Spoo placed 13th with a 90-87-90— 267. The men’s team win secured them a spot in the NAIA National Champi- onships to be held May 24-27 at TPC Deere Run in Moline, Illinois. The women’s team will need an at-large bid to qualify for their championships, which are May 17-20 at Savannah Quarters Coun- try Club in Pooler, Geor- gia. Kreps sinks hole-in- one at Willow Run Ryan Kreps sank a hole-in-one during his round at Willow Run Golf Course in Board- man. Kreps aced the 117- yard par 3 No. 4 hole on April 6 using his Ping 9-iron. Kreps has been play- ing golf for six years and it was his first hole- in-one. Hermiston senior chose BMCC from several other offers Tyler Sexton has had a love for the game of baseball for as long as he can remember. That love has grown stronger and stronger over the course of his high school career, and now he has the opportu- nity to take his talents to the collegiate level for at least the next two years. Earlier this month at a ceremony at Hermiston High School, Sexton put pen to paper and signed on to play baseball at Blue Mountain Commu- nity College. “Every kid has that dream of playing at the next level either in college or the major leagues,” Sexton said. “I liked the school and I like the program, so it’s good to ind a place where I feel like I belong. “It’s deinitely a bless- ing to be able to maintain my health so I was able to play at the next level.” The Bulldog senior said he considered sever- al other schools as well, such as Yakima Valley Community College, Clackamas Community College and Columbia Basin College, but in the end Blue Mountain won over his heart. Sexton said that Blue Mountain coach Brad Baker will slot him in as a pitcher, but also wants to utilize his powerful bat and 6-foot-4 frame at first base. The decision to attend Blue Mountain came with the stamp of ap- proval from his parents, father Jim and mother Kim, who are excited to have just a short drive to Pendleton to be able to watch Sexton at the Tim- berwolves home games. “My mom is espe- cially happy I’m staying close to home,” Sexton said with a smile. “(My family) is going to be able to make it to home games since it’s only a half hour drive versus Clackamas or Yakima Valley that were an hour to four hours away.” Through 14 games for Hermiston in his senior season, Sexton is hitting .307 (12-39) with 10 RBI, eight runs scored and a pair of doubles at the plate. He has also been very strong on the mound as a reliever and starter, throwing 26.2 total innings with a 3.78 ERA while racking up 33 strikeouts to 16 walks and 17 hits. Follow sports on Twitter @HHeraldSports Sorey, Smith continue hot streak Intermountain team ropers win title in Hermiston Team ropers Trent Sorey and Calgary Smith are get- ting hot at just the right time and continued their climb in the season standings by winning the aggregate title at the Intermountain High School Rodeo in Hermiston over the weekend. Sorey, of Pendleton, and Smith, of Adams, were the fastest in each competition round to win with 12.83 seconds on two head. They started the weekend with a 5.56 to win the irst half of the doubleheader rodeo, then posted a 7.27 to win the second half and give them a streak of three straight wins. The pair has shot up the season leaderboard with 37 points on their last four steers and trail event lead- ers Zach and Jake Raley by one point, 48-47, after the brothers from Brush Prai- rie, Washington, scored just nine points in Hermiston. Smith also won the boys’ Papa Murphy’s All-Around title and the Boulet Boots that came with it. He also won one round of tie-down roping to inish with 30 points and edge teammate STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Hermiston’s Preston Pederson chase down his calf on his way to a 14.93-second time in tie down roping Friday at the Intermountain High School Rodeo in Hermiston. Preston Pederson of Herm- iston, who inished with 26. Pederson won two event aggregate titles — tie- down, 24.24 on two, and steer wrestling, 7.6 on one. He was also the champi- on cow cutter for the boys with 284 points on two, but those points did not factor into the all-around stand- ings. Pederson’s inish in the cutting unoficially ties him for the season champion- ship, but he’s still awaiting inal word from the Oregon High School Rodeo Associ- ation’s number crunchers. No other Intermountain team members won event titles in Hermiston, but Heppner’s Jacee Currin was the top girls’ rookie and inished with 40 total points while winning the second round of goat tying in 7.89 seconds. Hope Luttrell of Carlton won the girls’ all-around with 54 points and was the aggregate champion in bar- rel racing with 35.102 on two, and breakaway roping with 5.93 on two. Dawson Branton of Jef- ferson was the boys’ rookie champion with 23 points and won the irst round of bull riding with an 81-point ride. Chase Dougherty of Woodburn won the bull rid- ing aggregate with 154 on two, and other event win- ners were: Orrin Ouska of Dundee in bareback, 128 on two; Joe Scott in saddle bronc, 121 on two; Maria Millard of White City in pole bending, 41.050 on two; Kimmer Severance of Prineville in goat tying, 16.13 on two; Aimee Davis of Central Point in girls’ cutting, 286 on two. Intermountain team coach Curtis Pederson said it was lot of work for the team to host the three-day rodeo, but he was happy to see their effort in working the rodeo as well as com- peting. “We really tried to pro- duce a good rodeo and we had a strong showing out of our own team while they were working at it and pro- ducing the rodeo, and that was nice to see,” he said, adding the team’s family members and sponsors also stepped up big to make it a successful weekend for all. “The sponsors that we have to represent the rodeo is re- ally what makes the rodeo ly, and makes the week- end ly. (The team’s) got strong Umatilla and Mor- row County support, from the whole nine yards we get a good support group and good sponsors.” Next on the schedule for Oregon’s high school ro- deo season is the Prineville doublheader on May 7-8. Hermiston drops double header against Hood River By ANTONIO SIERRA Staff Writer It was a heartbreaker then a headscratcher for the Herm- iston baseball team Saturday, as the Bulldogs dropped both games in a doubleheader against Hood River at Ar- mand Larive Middle School. Hermiston had a chance to leapfrog the irst-place Eagles in the Columbia River Con- ference standings by winning both games, but the Bulldogs lost the irst game 3-2 before falling to the Eagles again 19-9 in ive innings in a game which they looked poised to win at several times. Although the 10-run rule was invoked in the second game, the inal score didn’t relect the Bulldogs’ hot start. After being held to two runs in the irst game, the Hermiston bats exploded for ive runs in the irst inning and four runs in the second. Despite the strong show- ing at the plate, Hermiston (9-8, 2-3 CRC) wasn’t able to hang onto the lead against the third ranked team in the state. After the Eagles (15-3, 5-0 CRC) went down 1-2-3 in the irst inning, Hood River matched Hermiston with ive runs in the second inning and four runs in the third. The Bulldogs continued to get on base against Hood Riv- er pitcher Isaiah Enriquez, but didn’t score after the second inning. Meanwhile, the Eagles continued to rack up runs, plating six in the fourth and four in the ifth. The Hermiston coaching staff made several pitching changes, but neither Tyler Sexton, Slade Gritz, Andrew James or Kody Moss could STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY The Bulldogs’ R.J. Robles comes home Saturday during a Columbia River Conference game against Hood River in Hermiston. solve the Eagles line-up. The Bulldogs pitching staff also had to deal with a couple of ielding errors and gusty game conditions that led to some routine outs be- coming hits. Given that both teams dealt with the windy condi- tions, Hermiston coach Lance Hawkins didn’t buy the weather as an excuse for his team’s performance. “That isn’t an issue in my book,” Hawkins said. Hood River is well known for its offense — the Eagles averaged 7.8 runs per game going into Saturday’s con- test — and Hawkins said the Bulldog defense couldn’t al- low them to extend innings. “They teed off on us,” said R.J. Robles, who played out- ield in the Game 2. Pitching for the Bulldogs in the irst game, Robles kept the Eagles’ potent line-up at bay for most of the game. Hermiston scored a run in the top of the irst and Robles pitched a no-hitter through the ifth inning. But opposing pitcher Pat- rick Harvey broke up the bid with a home run and also hit the decisive double that put the Eagles up for good. SOFTBALL HERMISTON 9-0, HOOD RIVER 4-10 — At Hermiston, Ellery Jones hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning and Rebecca Englebrecht hit a three-run homer in the sixth to lift Hermiston to a 9-4 win over Hood River in the irst half of their CRC doubleheader on Saturday. The Bulldogs tallied 11 hits in the win, but couldn’t keep the production up in the second game and only had one runner past irst base in a ive-hit, 10-0 loss. In Game 1, Hood River (9- 9, 2-3 CRC) went up 4-0 after scoring three runs in the top of the third thanks to a couple of Hermiston (12-7, 3-2) er- rors and a Zoe Munn double, but Bulldogs pitcher Julissa Almaguer was able to lean on her defense from there. Almaguer, who inished with three strikeouts and two walks, induced ground ball after ground ball in the later innings and the defense played clean ball to erase Hood River scoring chances in the fourth, ifth and seventh innings. Jones’ two-run shot in the third began the comeback and Hermiston added seven runs on seven hits in the sixth. Amanda Barron’s two-out single scored Mikayla Kopacz for the eventual game-win- ning run. Englebrecht (2 for 4), Jones (3 for 4), Kopacz (2 for 4) and Kylie Hinkley (2 for 2) led the Bulldogs hitters. In Game 2, Hood River took the lead with a two-out rally in the irst inning when Janessa Castaneda capped a string of four straight singles with a two-RBI hit to left ield. Hermiston pitcher Tay- lor Betz struck out ive and walked none, but gave up 14 hits and the Hermiston defense committed six errors behind her. Bulldogs place 3rd at Big River Lowest round of the season not enough for win By MATT ENTRUP Staff Writer The Bulldogs shot their best round as a team but couldn’t catch the Pendle- ton Buckaroos in boys golf Thursday at Big River Golf Course. All ive Bucks came in between 70 and 77 to break the school record for lowest round with a 294 and win Hermiston Invitational. Hermiston shot 329 for its lowest team score of the year and inished third be- hind The Dalles (310). Ander Lind was 10 strokes ahead of his pre- vious season-best and in- ished third with a 73. “It was the irst time when we dipped down to what we wanted to do,” said Hermiston coach Aar- on Lind. “It’s the lowest we’ve done in a competi- tion, signiicantly. … And we know we can be better than that.” Lind said he was happy to see Jared Thacker shoot an 80 that was second on the team, but he knows Thacker isn’t satisied with the score. Dylan Martin (85), Kayden Mecham (91) and Tyler Cameron (91) completed Hermiston’s round. “The kids are working hard and we’ve still got to put to some stuff together, but we’re deinitely moving in the right direction,” Lind said. Mac-Hi placed fourth with a team score of 344. STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Hermiston’s Anders Lind tees off on the 6th hole during the Hermiston Invitational on Thursday at Big River Golf Course in Umatilla.