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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (May 2, 2018)
A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 2018 Herald Sports Follow sports on Twitter @HHeraldSports DAWGS WIN COACH’S HOMECOMING STAFF PHOTO BY KATHY ANEY Jordan Ramirez, of Hermiston, puts his arms out and looks toward his bench after hitting a double Friday against Pendleton at Bob White Field. Pendleton alum returns home with his Hermiston team, split series By ERIC SINGER STAFF WRITER P ENDLETON — When Hermiston head coach Kevin Moore walked down into Pendleton’s Bob White Field on Friday afternoon, he took a moment to soak in the scene. Moore, a Pendleton native and 1995 grad- uate of Pendleton High, grew up at the Buckaroos’ home field and developed his love for the game there. After seeing longtime Pendleton coach Mike Hod- gen still roaming the dugout, as well as a memorial sign on the home bleachers for Moore’s old coach, Lyle Phelps, the memories and emotions started rush- ing back to Moore. “This is where I grew up, this is what I called home,” an emotional Moore said. “... it is emotional because this is the place that you eat, sleep and breathe baseball. This is where I learned the game, and to be on the opposite side of things now, I’m happy. “But if it wasn’t for those guys over there (Pend- leton’s coaches), I wouldn’t be in this situation I am today because they made me the man I am and taught me how to coach the game and play the game. But when I’m over here on the opposite side now, I want to compete against them and beat them.” It was a partially good homecoming for Moore, as his Hermiston Bulldogs earned a doubleheader split with the rival Buckaroos, where two pitchers stole the show. Hermiston won the opener 3-2 behind a dom- inant complete-game effort from Lukas Tolan and Pendleton won the second game 13-3 in five innings behind a solid complete game from Chris Large. Tolan’s complete game was his second of the Hermiston’s Lukas Tolan delivers a pitch during the first of two games at Pendleton’s Bob White Field. season for the Bulldogs (7-13 overall, 3-5 Colum- bia River Conference), with his first in a non-league matchup against Heritage (WA) on April 6. Though he admitted afterward that Friday’s was a bit more meaningful coming against the rival Buckaroos (12- 8, 6-2). The senior right-hander allowed only three hits in the game with the two runs, while striking out five and walking three. He gave up one run in the first and a run in the third on a RBI double from Pendleton’s Nick Bower to get the Bulldogs in a 2-0 hole. How- ever from that point on, Tolan allowed only two bas- erunners over the final four innings and allowed the Bulldog bats to rally. “I just kept doing my job and doing what I needed to do,” Tolan said. “And I had faith in our team that we were going to battle back like we’ve done all year.” Hermiston tied the game in the fifth when Dan- iel Gossler scored on a single from Joel Mendez and a Pendleton error, and later Mendez scored on a sac- rifice fly from Wyatt Noland. Then in the seventh, Jordan Ramirez hit a two-out double off of Pendle- ton’s Daniel Naughton, stole third and then scored on another Pendleton error to give the Bulldogs the 3-2 lead. “I wanted a fastball down the pipe so I could drive it, but then he (Naughton) gave me a little curveball so I just sat there, trusted my hands, and then hit it,” Ramirez said of his hit. “And then when I noticed Naughton was focused on the hitter, I took off (for third) and saw the ball roll away and coach Moore said ‘Go’ so I just sprinted home.” Naughton took the loss after allowing the winning run in his only inning of work. Ryan Russell threw a solid five innings for the Bucks, allowing two runs and five hits. However in the second game, Pendleton’s pitching with Large was better and his offense backed him up with 10 hits and 13 runs. Large, a junior right-hander, allowed only four hits, one walk and three runs in five innings while striking out six. Large had a shutout going until he started to run out of gas a bit in the fifth, where he allowed two singles and a three-run home run by Noland. Stanfield wins 10 in a row, then loses streak HERMISTON HERALD After extending its winning streak to 10 games in the opener of Friday’s doubleheader, the Stan- field Tigers saw it come to an end in the nightcap against Joseph. TJ Smith’s sacrifice fly brought in the one run needed to edge out the Eagles 2-1, and the walk-off kept Stanfield’s win streak alive — for the time being. In Game 2, the Tigers again got out to an early lead but Joseph slowly tallied up runs until the game was out of reach for an 18-3 victory. It was the largest margin of vic- tory any team has recorded against the Tigers this season. In the first outing, the Tigers (15-5 overall, 9-1 EOL) were up 1-0 after the first inning thanks to an RBI single off the bat of reli- able hitter Brody Woods. In the fourth inning, Joseph took advan- tage of wild pitch and an error on the catcher to knot the score at one run apiece. From that point on it was a pitcher’s duel between Woods and Chris Bathke. Woods threw a complete game, surrendering only one run and two hits while striking out 11 batters and walking one. Bathke toed the rubber for 6 1/3 innings — giv- ing up five hits and Stanfield’s two runs, striking out nine and walk- ing two — before Rylie Hayward relieved the starter. In the second outing, the Tigers got out to a 2-0 lead after the first inning but this time the Eagles answered with a whopping 18 runs while holding Stanfield nearly scoreless for the rest of the game. Umatilla sweeps Nyssa The hosting Umatilla Vikings earned a league doubleheader sweep of the visiting Nyssa Bull- dogs with 8-4 and 1-0 victories on Friday afternoon. The Vikings (7-7 overall, 3-6 Eastern Oregon League) had a pair of solid pitching performances Fri- day. Cody Samson threw 6 2/3 innings in Game 1 and struck out six while giving up five hits and four runs for the win. In Game 2, Kole Keller threw a five-inning shutout with two strike- outs while allowing only two hits. On offense, Umatilla was led by Seth Cranston, who compiled four hits total with a home run, two doubles, four RBI and scored five runs. Keller also had four hits with three RBI. Echo softball keeps unbeaten streak alive The Echo Cougars softball team has now won 14 straight games as it handed Tri-Cities Prep (WA) two big losses in a double- header on Saturday, 17-1 and 11-0. In the first outing, the Cou- gars (14-2 overall, 7-0 3A Spe- cial District 1) scored the bulk of their runs in the second and third innings and capped of the scor- ing with another lone run in the fourth. In the circle, Alyssa Ray was handed the win, and allowed only two hits and the lone run while striking out 11 and walking none. Offensively, Kendra Hart led the way with a two RBI, two triples and a double. She went 3-for-4 at the plate and scored twice. SCHEDULE Local slate PREP BASEBALL Friday Riverside at Joseph (DH), 1 p.m. Umatilla at Stanfield (DH), 1 p.m. Nyssa at Irrigon (DH), 2 p.m. Hermiston at Hood River Valley, 4:30 p.m. PREP SOFTBALL Friday Irrigon at Weston-McEwen (DH), 1 p.m. Echo at Riverside (DH), 1 p.m. Hermiston at Hood River Valley, 4:30 p.m. PREP TRACK & FIELD Thursday Echo, Helix, Stanfield at Helix Small Schools Invite, 3 p.m. Friday Echo, Heppner, Mac-Hi, Pilot Rock, Weston-McEwen at Baker Invitational, 10 a.m. Hermiston, Pendleton at CRC Novice Champi- onships (Hood River Valley), 2 p.m. Riverside, Umatilla at Ron Vanderholm (Royal HS), 3:15 p.m. Saturday Irrigon at Arlington Invite, 10 a.m. PREP GOLF Saturday Hermiston (girls) at Sun River, TBD Sunday Hermiston (girls) at Sun River, TBD PREP TENNIS Wednesday Hermiston at Pendleton, 4 p.m. PREP LACROSSE Wednesday Hermiston at Southridge, 7 p.m.
