Ellsbury, Red Sox to open season
Baseball star from Madras now playing left field for Boston

Buffs rally past Cougs in baseball – The Bulletin

Saturday’s tennis matches between Hermiston/Pendleton and Madras/Summit have been postponed due to the snow. Softball and baseball are likely going to be effected as well.

Q. & A. about trade rumors involving the Boston Red Sox’s Jacoby Ellsbury who was a star at Madras High School and Oregon State University.
Jacoby Ellsbury trade rumors – Boston.com (extra bases)

Just two games scheduled for Tuesday night and they are huge!
Bend @ MADRAS - Both teams are fighting for a spot in the playoffs and are currently tied for fifth with 4-5 league records. Madras is coming off a big win @ Summit. Bend upset Pendleton, but then lost to Hermiston.
Mountain View @ THE DALLES-WAHTONKA – The battle for the IMC championship. MV only loss is to TDW @ MV. TDW has lost @ home to Summit and @ Hermiston. A MV win and then winning out gives them the IMC title. A TDW win and then winning out gives them the title.

Friday night games:
Bend @ THE DALLES-WAHTONKA 7:00pm – Would be a huge win for the Lava Bears. TDW has to stay perfect if they want to win the IMC.
Crook County @ PENDLETON 7:00pm – Crook County still looking for their first win of the season, @ Pendleton would be a hard place to make it happen.
Summit @ HERMISTON 7:00pm – Summit won the home game against Hermiston, they need the season sweep.
Mountain View @ MADRAS 7:00pm – Madras is a tough place to play and the White Buffaloes are playing well.

Saturday games:
Crook County @ HERMISTON 12:45pm – The Bulldogs could find themselves in the playoffs, but they’ve got to win some big games.
Summit @ PENDLETON 12:45pm – Pendleton won @ Summit. This game would be a monster big win for the Storm.

IMC standings
Mountain View 8-1
The Dalles-Wahtonka 7-2
Pendleton 5-4
Summit 5-4
Madras 4-5
Hermiston 3-6
Crook County 0-9

Intermountain Conference Standings:
Mountain View 7-1
The Dalles-Wahtonka 7-2
Pendleton 5-3
Summit 5-4
Bend 4-4
Madras 4-5
Hermiston 2-6
Crook County 0-9

Today’s Games:
Hermiston @ Bend – Hermiston needs this one to keep hope alive. A Bend win and they are likely tied for third in the IMC. Having lost several close games, I imagine the Lava Bears would be very happy to be tied for third!
Pendleton @ MV – Mountain View has won three straight and Pendleton has lost two in a row. A MV win and Pendleton loss would create a log jam in the 3rd through 6th positions.

The last time I went to a Summit basketball game, they beat Bend High in overtime. I went to Friday’s game as the Storm hosted Madras and it was again an exciting overtime game… but this time Summit didn’t come out on top. The White Buffaloes rallied late to send the game to overtime and then pulled away in the extra period to top Summit 72-65.

Austin Say hit some clutch free throws for Madras and Ahern hit a big three to send the game to overtime.

Pendleton (5-2) @ BEND (3-4) 7:00pm – Should be a dogfight. Expect a big (organized) crowd @ Bend. Both teams are coming off of losses. Pendleton sits in 3rd in the IMC, while Bend is 5th. A huge game for both teams.
The Dalles-Wahtonka (6-2) @ CROOK COUNTY (0-8) 7:00pm – TDW should improve to 7-2, a record that would seemingly put them in great playoff position.
Hermiston (2-5) @ MOUNTAIN VIEW (6-1) 7:00pm – Always a physical intense matchup. Both teams have won two-IMC games in a row. A loss would put the Bulldogs playoff hopes in serious jeopardy.
Madras (3-5) @ SUMMIT (5-3) 7:00pm – Madras has won two in a row and is coming off a 91-point outburst against Crook County. Summit has already notched a win @ Madras. Both teams still have the playoffs in their sites.

Mountain View’s Seth Brent and Madras’ C.J. Easterling are two of 21 nominees from Oregon to be McDonald’s All-American high school basketball players. Brent and Easterling are the only Central Oregon players named to the list.

Jefferson’s Terrence Jones is a likely to make the McDonald’s All-American team.

Mountain View (6-1) – A home loss to TDW is the only blemish on a 16-1 record for the Cougars. Don’t be shocked if that’s their only loss going into the state tournament.
Pendleton (5-2) - Losses @ home against MV and @ Madras serve as bookends on a 5-game winning IMC streak.
Summit (5-2) - Riding a three-game winning streak, which includes the buzzer-beating overtime win against Bend.
The Dalles-Wahtonka (5-2) – Losses @ Summit and @ Hermiston. TDW does have the big win over MV, which could be a tie-breaking factor.
Bend (3-4) – 2 overtime losses to Pendleton and Summit and a 1 point loss to TDW. The Lava Bears could be 6-1 right now. Look for Bend to win some of those close ones in the second half of the season.
Madras (2-5) – The White Buffaloes are dangerous, their win @ Pendleton makes that clear. In their two wins they’ve held their opponents to 55 and 50. In their five losses they’ve given up: 61, 72, 78, 67 and 74.
Hermiston (2-5) – The streaky Bulldogs have won 4 in a row early in the year and followed that with a 5-game losing skid. If Friday’s win over TDW is going to start another win streak, the next one has to come @ MV!
Crook County (0-7) – The bad news for the winless Cowboys is that 6 of their final 7 games are on the road.