Mount Hood

Get amped for baseball

By: Burke De Boer
Sports Editor

The Wolves were ranked second in the GNAC preseason poll, and pitcher Brady Miller was named an All-American as high hopes were extended to Western Oregon Baseball.

The college baseball season is upon us. It would already be here, but Western Oregon’s opening pitch was delayed on account of weather. Last weekend’s rain postponed a double-header against Corban.

And so excitement continues to build as the Wolves wait to get the 2017 season under way.

The preseason coaches’ poll placed Western Oregon second in the GNAC, with one vote for first place. Northwest Nazarene, the team that beat the Wolves for the GNAC championship in last year’s 8-9 title game, remain on top.

Then the National College Baseball Writers released their preseason rankings, where the Wolves and Northwest Nazarene tie for 10th place in the western region.

The Baseball Writers also named their preseason All-American rosters. Junior pitcher Brady Miller made the All-West first team and the All-American third team.

Miller was last year’s GNAC pitcher of the year, going 10-2 with a 3.14 ERA.

The Wolves will open their season this weekend in Fresno. After some time on the road, their first game at home is a double header on March 4.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

Dispatches from the sports desk

By:Burke De Boer
Sports Editor

The Korean Zombie earned a first round knockout of ninth-ranked Dennis Bermudez in his return bout.

Bermudez opened the Feb. 4 fight with strong blows, but found the inevitable lurch of Chan Sung Jung to be inescapable.

A bear of an uppercut took Bermudez to the ground. Jung was on him, delivering hits, when the fight was called.

Knockout. 2:49 in the first.

Probably a bit of an early stoppage, all things considered. But the bell was rung and what’s done was done.

I’ve been a fan of The Korean Zombie since I first found out there was a fighter with the nickname “The Korean Zombie.” A few years ago, he was one of the most exciting, rope-a-dope fighters out there.

The prevailing theme across fight media is “The Korean Zombie is back!” He didn’t have as much as ring rust as many predicted and he picked up a win in his classic style.

Belal Muhammad tweeted, “There was three years of anger in that uppercut.”

We shouldn’t be this surprised.

We may remember that he missed his fights in 2014 following a shoulder injury he suffered in his championship fight. But he’s not returning from that injury. He’s back from serving mandatory time in the South Korean Military.

That time serving not only gave him time to heal, but it was time spent keeping him fighting fit.

South Korea raises one of Asia’s strongest militaries. And in the case of Chan Sung Jung, one of the world’s toughest fighters. The soldier’s return has put his division on notice.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

Wolves on a hot streak

By: Burke De Boer
Sports Editor

Men’s basketball continued its dominant streak with two wins at home last week.

This extends the winning streak

The Wolves beat St. Martin’s 82-73 in a Feb. 2 home match. Junior forward Tanner Omlid lead the scoring with 23 points.

The defense shutting St. Martin’s down opened the door for a lot of points, as the
Wolves forced 16 turnovers and scored 22 points off of turnovers. Junior forward JJ Chirnside grabbed 8 rebounds and made 3 blocks, while Omlid added 5 rebounds, six steals and 2 blocks of his own.

Chirnside also contributed 15 points of offense.

The game saw a few lead changes as the teams sparred through the first half. But after halftime it was all Wolves. Western Oregon lead by as much as 16 throughout the second half on their way to the 9-point win.

Three dunks were slammed in by Omlid and Chirnside through the second half.

Tanner Omlid continued to put on a clinic when Seattle Pacific came to Monmouth on Feb. 4. He scored 18 and made 15 rebounds on his way to a double-double.

The Wolves took down Seattle Pacific, 84-70 in the GNAC Game of the Week.

Junior guard Ali Faruq-Bey and JJ Chirnside both put up 17 points. Coming off the bench, junior guard Demetrius Trammell scored 11 to make it four – Wolves with double digit points.

Trammell lead the much stronger bench performance, which saw the Wolves’ reserves score 27 while the Seattle Pacific bench was held to four. Senior forward Yanick Kulich also contributed 8 points in 10 minutes off the bench.

“We are just playing a lot harder and we’re all on the same page now,” JJ Chirnside said on the team’s recent form. “We’re moving the ball well and getting better on the defensive end. We’re getting stops which leads us to transition points.”

The Wolves are on the road this week, and will face Western Washington, one of the last teams they lost to before going on the win streak.

“We’ve learned a lot from them,” Chirnside said. “We just need to keep getting better everyday ‘til then.”

Western Washington are the top-ranked team in the GNAC, but have only a single game advantage on the third-ranked Wolves.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

Softball opens season

By: Burke De Boer
Sports Editor

Wolves softball traveled to Las Vegas for their first taste of competition in 2017. The season started hit-and-miss, and after three days of gameplay the Wolves are now at 2-3.

The first day was the hardest, as the Wolves suffered two losses. The first was a tight 1-3 to Azusa Pacific. In the second game, playing Chico State, Western Oregon went into the seventh inning with a 4-2 lead. But Chico State was able to capitalize on final mistakes, and won 7-4 in extra innings.

A high scoring second day saw Western Oregon win one and lose one. The win against Minot State came courtesy of a big fifth inning, where the Wolves scored three runs to take the lead and close out 5-4.

Senior Ashlee Lynch scored a homerun in the game, while first year pitcher Chandler Bishop recorded the win in relief.

The final loss came at the hands of Cal State San Bernardino, who scored the winning run on an RBI double in the home half of the final inning.

Senior Sammi Cadwallader pitched a shutout against Cal State Monterey Bay for the final win. Senior Kelsie Gardner scored the only run of the day in the first inning.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

Pro women’s hockey fights for a future

By: Burke De Boer
Sports Editor

It was only recently that women hockey players in this country began to be paid for their sport.

Now the National Women’s Hockey League is midway through its second season and the Boston Pride tops the table. The three teams below them are the Buffalo Beauts, the New York Riveters and the Connecticut Whale.

It is a faster-paced game than what is played on NHL ice, with less pauses to fight. And while NHL rosters tend to be dominated by Canadians, here American women lead the way.

Which only makes sense, as Team USA has won the world championship in each of the last three years.

While the Pride are undefeated, sitting at 11 wins from 11 games, the remaining three teams have played largely balanced games against one another.

League founder and commissioner Dani Rylan built the league on a strong business model, the likes is seen across all of professional sports. This attracted team owners, investors and sponsors. ESPN’s online streaming service ESPN3 has aired matches, and Dunkin Donuts gave the league a multi-year sponsorship deal.

But to make it over the hump that every new business faces, some concessions had to be made. The most notable was a pay cut early into the 2016-17 season. The 10,000 dollar minimum player salary was cut in half last November.

This is seen as an unfortunate yet necessary step from management. The first women’s league to pay its players does not intend to fold. The goal is to return to the original salary next year. But before that can be accomplished, the league must see financial improvements.

The league will continue to provide all uniforms and equipment to its teams. This too is a first for post-collegiate women’s hockey leagues in America.

The sports world certainly benefits from having a salaried women’s hockey league. What remains to be determined is just how far it will go.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

Men’s Basketball goes 3-1 on Road



By: TK Layman
staff writer

Western Oregon Wolves Men’s Basketball finished a two-week road trip with a pair of wins last week.

The Wolves ended up edging out the Northwest NazareneCrusaders in a 69-67 victory. Ali Faruq-Bey totaled a team high 23 points that night, tacking on 5 defensive rebounds and 2 steals. Tanner Omlid had a great overall performance, totaling 13 points with 9 rebounds, 3 blocked shots, 6 assists, and 6 steals.

Rounding out the road trip the Wolves had an 85-68 win over the Central Washington Wildcats. Wolves Faruq-Bey continued his scoring performance with 21 points, scoring 15-of- 21 behind the arc. JJ Chirnside helped with a great defensive performance adding 8 rebounds to his 13 total points for the game.

Following the road trip the Wolves sit with an 11-9 record, 8-4 GNAC, putting them in third place for men’s GNAC standings.

They return home Thursday, Feb. 2 where they take on the Saint Martin’s Saints in the Hall vs. Hall night.

Follow the Wolves online at wouwolves.com
Contact the author at tlayman16@mail.wou.edu

Defensive skills not enough

By: Burke De Boer
Sports Editor

The Wolves lost 45-65 to Western Washington and 49-60 to Simon Fraser.

Junior guard Shelby Snook put up 19 points against 15th-ranked Western Washington.

Junior forward Savannah Heugly made her second start in a row, and put up 9 points while grabbing 6 rebounds.

Western Washington benefitted from depth. Their bench put up 20 points while the Wolves’ bench could only score eight.

The Wolves forced 18 turnovers but couldn’t capitalize on them as well as the Vikings.
Against Simon Fraser the Wolves forced even more turnovers, with 21.

Though the defense was solid once again, the offense couldn’t generate enough to top 21st-ranked Simon Fraser.

Sophomore forward Ali Nelke and junior guard Sydney Azorr both but up 10 points.

The Wolves will be back in Monmouth on Feb. 7.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

Men’s basketball tested in Alaska

By: Burke De Boer
Sports Editor

The Wolves had their most dominant win of the season in Fairbanks on Saturday, Jan. 21, and came away from a trip to Alaska with a win and a loss.

Junior guard Demetrius Trammell impressed in both games in Alaska, first scoring a team-high of 17 against the University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves, then contributing 15 against the Alaska Nanooks.

But even a 17 point performance from Trammell wasn’t enough to top the Seawolves in their Thursday night game.

It wasn’t the only point of frustration: the Wolves had deeper team play, with the bench putting up 40 points while UAA’s only scored 15. The two teams committed the same amount of turnovers but Western was more efficient with their opportunities. They scored 22 points off of turnovers while the Seawolves could only manage 16.

Despite all this, Western lost 73-81.

On the heels of the game that should have been theirs, the Wolves came out quick against the Nanooks. A three-pointer from Ali Faruq-Bey opened the scoring at 15 seconds and they never gave up the lead.

At 83-51, the Wolves put up with the widest margin of victory they’ve had all season.

Bryan Berg lead the scoring with 22, while Tanner Omlid and Akil Reese contributed 19 and 14 points respectively. Trammell and Faruq-Bey rounded out the top scorers, with Faruq-Bey putting up 9 points throughout the game.

The Wolves are on the road again this week, traveling to Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington.

They now sit at 9-9 on the season, and their 6-4 record in the GNAC ranks them fifth in the conference

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

Baseball old timers make hall of fame

By: TK Layman
Staff Writer

The MLB Hall of Fame inducts the best players from years past, enshrining them forever as baseball’s greatest of all time.

For a player to be elected to the Hall of Fame, they must receive 75 percent of the total votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America. Many big-ticket players have made it in, such
as George Herman “Babe” Ruth and Hank Aaron. In recent years we have seen names like Mike Piazza and Ken Griffey Jr. inducted.

The hall of fame class of 2017 saw three players and two MLB executives.

Jeff Bagwell, who played all 15 years of his career with the Houston Astros, made it in after his seventh year being on the ballot. Known for his wide squatting stance, he ended with a career .297 batting average and 449 home runs.

Signed by the Boston Red Sox in the fourth round in the 1989 amateur draft, Bagwell made his Major League debut with the Houston Astros in 1991. During his tenure with the Astros he saw six postseason appearances, winning the National League pennant in 2005, but getting swept by the Chicago White Sox in the World Series. Among his playing career he racked up four All-Star Game appearances, three Silver Sluggers, the 1991 Rookie of the Year, the 1994 NL MVP, Gold Glove and Player of the Year.

His hall of fame bid saw some controversy with allegations of steroid use, that were ultimately unsubstantiated.

Tim Raines, a 23-year veteran of the MLB also saw induction after his 10th year being on the ballot. Making his breakthrough with the late Montreal Expos at 19, Raines .294 career average and a modest 170 home runs. Though he was not known for his power, he was a master on the bases with a .385 on-base percentage and 808 career stolen bases.

With 34 Postseason appearances, along with a World Series win in 1996, the seasoned outfielder saw seven All-Star games, winning the All-Star MVP in 1987 and the 1986 Silver Slugger and NL Batting Title
Ivan Rodriguez was the third player inducted to the class of 2017. After retiring in 2011 with the Washington Nationals, he became eligible for the vote this year, winning 76 percent of the vote on his first ballot. As Rodriguez wrote in a brief memoir on Player’s Tribune, he signed with the Texas Rangers at 16 years old and in 1991, at age 19, he made his debut. Amassing a career .296 average, 311 home runs and 2844 hits, Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez made a name for himself as the second catcher to make it into the hall on his first ballot with 14 All-Star appearances, 13 Gold Glove awards, winning ten years in a row starting with his rookie year 1991, a seven-time Silver Slugger, winner of the 1999 MVP and 2003 NLCS MVP. Rodriguez made a career to remember as a great defensive catcher.

Along with the three players, John Schuerholz, Vice-President of the Atlanta Braves, and Allan H. “Bud” Selig, former MLB Commissioner, were also placed as MLB Executives.

Following the World Baseball Classic in March, the MLB regular season starts up April 2.

Contact the author at tlayman16@mail.wou.edu

Super Bowl matchup settled

By: Burke De Boer
Sports Editor

A pair of blowouts on Sunday set the stage for the biggest sporting event in the country. The Atlanta Falcons will face the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI.

The Falcons clobbered the Green Bay Packers 44-21 to claim the NFC title. Meanwhile the Patriots topped the Pittsburgh Steelers 36-17 for the AFC crown.

These score lines were par for the course in a lopsided playoff year, where only two games were decided by less than double digit points.

The Patriots return to the Super Bowl sees Tom Brady extend his record for Super Bowl starts by a quarterback to seven.

It’s the Atlanta Falcons’ first Super Bowl appearance since their ‘98 loss to the Broncos.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

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