A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 2018
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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.