The Spokesman-Review from Spokane, Washington • 37

Sunday, July 27, 1997 Page C7 Spokane, Wash.Coeur dAlene, Idaho Area sports vX i Emeralds pelt Indians pitchers for 16 hits, win 14-4 Eugene scores early, often to win third game of series EUGENE, Ore. Following two nights of elegant pitching, the Spokane Indians found themselves at the opposite end of the spectrum Saturday night, dropping a 14-4 Northwest League baseball game to Eugene. Spokane had opened the five-game series with 13-0 and 4-1 victories. Saturdays defeat, which included 16 Eugene hits, was more reminiscent of Southern Oregons lusty 10-7 triumph that concluded Spokanes last homestand on Tuesday night. This time around, the Indians lost more than a game.

North Division leader Boise defeated Salem-Keizer and stretched its advantage over Spokane, which led most of the first month, to 316 games. Spokane, which has played just .500 ball (11-11) since its 13-3 start, and Eugene play the fourth game of the series tonight. Eugene scored in each of the first four innings. The Emeralds took the lead for good by scoring twice in the second for a 3-2 edge. Four unearned runs made it 7-2 in the third.

John Arnolds three-run homer made it 10-3 in the fourth. Arnold finished with two hits and four runs batted in. He had singled in a run in the second inning, and his grounder to first base resulted in two of the third-inning runs when Dave Willis throw to home plate glanced off catcher Jeremy Hills glove. Spokane starter Dan Reichert was the principal victim. First-round choice of the parent Kansas City Royals in the June draft, Reichert lost his first pro decision after surrendering 10 hits and seven runs in 22i innings.

A1 Castro and Pooh Hines each had three hits for Eugene. Eight Ems hit safely against four Spokane pitchers, none of whom was effective. Spokane took two brief leads. Doug Blosser singled home Goef Tomlinson to give the Indians a 1-0 advantage in the first inning. Hill doubled home Willis for a 2-1 lead in the second.

1 Indians box scoreC8 Miss Bud remains top hydro Area golfers earn spots in Cup play irnintr SHriffilii fa, iiamiwTran. Roundup Brandon Smith and Ryan Camp of Spokane will begin play Tuesday in the Junior Americas Cup Team Matches after sharing fourth place in last weeks Washington Junior Golf Association championships. By accumulating season points in WJGA events, Smith and Camp qualified to make up half of the Washington team for the three-day tournament at Mauna Kea Golf Resort in Hawaii. Competition is for boys 15-17 years of age. Spokanes Bridget Johnson qualified for the corresponding girls event at Cody, in early August.

Johnson finished sixth in her bracket when the WJGA championships concluded Friday at Sand Point Country Club in Seattle. Jared Berling of Spokane edged Smith and Camp by a single stroke, shooting 223 for 54 holes, in boys play at Seattle. Derek Berg of Duvall, ran away with the title, finishing with a 71 for a total of 215. John Robertson of Olympia shared second place with Berling. Mike Hastings of Spokane placed sixth.

First-day leader Dan Potter of Coeur dAlene rocketed to an 82 and finished in a tie for 16th at 230. Patricia Bassett of Spokane carded a three-day total of 240 to place third in girls 15-17 action at Seattle. Winner Wendy Wang of Kirkland scored 231. Johnson, seven strokes off the pace entering the final round, shot an 86 and finished at 247. Two younger Spokane golfers finished second jn their categories.

Craig Leslie, playing in the boys 8-11 division, finished with a splendid 75, scoring an eagle on the 370-yard, par-5 12th hole. Nonetheless, his total of 236 fell two strokes short of Kyle Forbes of Lake Tapps, who saw most of his 10-stroke lead melt away. Matt Schiller of Spokane finished fifth at 260. Lani Elston of Spokane scored 245 to finish four strokes behind champion Jennifer Kamimura of Burlington among girls 12-14. Spokanes David Fern placed fifth among 12-14.

His 235 total put him 10 shots behind champion Ryan Moore of Puyallup. Baseball The Blue Devils erupted for five runs in the third inning and pitcher Chris Eggleston scattered five hits Saturday as the Blue Devils trounced the Cannons 9-1 to knot their AAA American Legion championship series at one game apiece. The teams meet for the title at Gonzaga University today at 6 p.m. Eric Bell socked a fifth-inning solo home run for the Blue Devils. Ben Miller had two singles and drove in the only run for the Cannons.

I IessAVheclcr, after trailing 9-4, scored six runs in the last two innings to defeat Spokane Athletic Supply 14-13 and advance 'to the AA American Legion finals. Justin Fox laced three straight hits, scored twice and drove in two runs as the Panorama Twins wrapped up the other semifinal series by defeating PAC of Clarkston 14-5. HessWhccler and Panorama begin their best-of-3 championship series with a doubleheader today at Jackson Field. Ryan Gricgos two-out single in the last of the seventh inning scored Ryan Pugh to win the game for 1 IessAVheclcr. The winners scored four times in the sixth and twice in the seventh.

Dan Thigpen had four singles for I less Wheeler. Chad Adamson had four hits, including a triple, for SAS, which led 9-3 after 216 innings. Jason Spears, the winning pitcher for Panorama, pitched a complete game, contributed two hits at the plate and scored three times. Viilwock hits 164.603 mph heading into todays finals From staff and wire reports KENNEWICK Miss Bud-weiscr remained the fastest qualifier for the Budweiser Columbia Cup as a leading rival unlimited hydroplane threw a propeller blade Saturday. Dave Viilwock drove the Bud to a top speed of 164.803 mph Saturday, slightly faster than the 163.227 mph he recorded Friday on the Columbia River course.

The Budweiser was assigned to Heat IB in the first round of eliminations today. The closest rivals, Close Call, driven by Mark Tate at 161.129 mph in qualifying, and PICO American Dream, driven by Mark Evans at 158.943 mph, head the field in Heat 1A. A propeller blade broke on the PICO Saturday morning, damaging the bottom of the boat. Evans said the hull would be patched, a strut replaced and a new propeller installed in time for today. Joining Close Call and PICO in -1A at 11:30 a.m.

are the Spokane-based Appian Jeronimo, driven by Mitch Evans at 158.851 in qualifying; DeWalt Tools, Mike Hanson, 158.453; Gargoyles Nitro, Steve David, 152.035; Computers Applications, Ken Muscatel, 146.860; and Miss Tri-Cities, John Watkins, 157.183. Joining the Bud in IB are Team Stihl, Mark Weber, 157.181; Miss E-Lam Plus, Jimmy King, 155.360; TruckGear, Nate Brown, 152.284; Spirit of Lake Chelan, Rick Christensen, 134.577; and Red Robin-Miss Exide, Jerry Hale, 147.092. After two more elimination races, the winner-take all final for the top six boats in the 13-boat field is scheduled for 4.10 p.m. Evans knows Cup Packet EnginesAppian Jeronimo driver Mitch Evans has a unique piece of unlimited hydroplane history to his credit, ft was 1989 when Evans won his first and only unlimited victory, piloting the Cooper's Express to an upset Columbia Cup victory. That was the last race won by a piston-powered boat.

Evans is the second member of his family to drive an unlimited hydroplane from Spokane. Evans father, the late Norm Evans, was a driver of the Miss Spokane in 1959 and the Miss Eagle Electric in 1964 and 1967. Besides being a driver, Mitch Evans is a boat builder. His latest creation is Ed Coopers U-3, which will race in Tri-Cities as the Ultima Presents the Spirit of Lake Chelan. Despite having a new hull, it's still the only boat on the unlimited circuit that runs on the traditional Allison engines.

Bud, wiser It is perhaps appropriate that Budweiser is the title sponsor of the Columbia Cup because Bernie Littles beer boat has won six of the last nine races at Tri-Cities. In contrast to its recent successes, the Budweiser had just three wins in the first 21 races. The Bud is the all-time win leader on the Columbia River with nine victories in the 31 years the race has been staged. Atlas Van Lines has six wins and Dave Heerenspergers Eagle Electric and Pay Pak hulls won four. With seven victories, Chip Ha-nauer is the win leader among drivers.

Hanauer got his first unlimited victory in Tri-Cities in 1981 and has twice put together three-race win streaks. The late Bill Muncey has five wins on the Columbia River. Pit stops The Columbia River is running higher than hormal and because of that, the boats are creating dangerous roller waves and tend to get the hydros more airborne. Today's finals will be rebroadcast next Sunday at 3:30 m. on LSPN2, and again Aug.

7 at 1 a.m., also on ESPN 2. Dan McCombThe Spokesman Review Spokanes Zane Higgins, left, battling Bellinghams Caleb Connell, suffered an apparent broken left leg in the second halt. Shadow: Shootout not die only oddity Fouts' head. I think we came into the game so overconfident, Saunders said. I think we were looking ahead and when you take that attitude its going to hit you.

Saunders, in those moments when he was still the hero, said he thought his shot missed, but added with a smile, it looked good to me. Later, as a non-scorer, he said, We came in with the attitude there wasnt a chance we would lose and we could, obviously. At this point, we have. With just under 18 minutes to play, Chad Brown put the ball in the box and Dave Berto bulled through to beat Enslow from 6 yards.1 With about 10 minutes remaining, a Jeff Rose-to-IIiggins-to-Berto combo inside the box led to an easy goal. A minute later, Higgins tied it from the left corner of the 6-yard line to the bottom-right corner.

In the shootout, the first four Spokane shooters failed: Tim Seeley was stopped, Berto hit the right post and Waibel and Lane Jcrdal sent shots over the net. Van de Ven made three saves before Greg St. Germain scored. Then Jeff Rose beat Enslow to the right before another van de Ven save. Then Saunders shot touched off the controversy.

scorer Zane Higgins with an apparent broken left leg. Higgins was tackled inside the Bellingham box in what seemed to be an obvious penalty that wasnt called. Then 4 minutes into the 15-minutc sudden-death overtime, Spokanes Ryan Edwards received his second yellow card and was ejected from the game, forcing the Shadow to play a man down. Even the Orcas goals were strange. Bellingham took a 1-0 lead 6 minutes in when Spokane defender Chad Waibel lost the ball in the sun, leading to an easy goal from 6 yards by Jesus Fuentes.

After Ryan Edwards tied it for Spokane on an assist from Higgins, Kurt Swanson collided with Spokane keeper Josh Fouts and knocked the ball free, then his brother Scot tapped it in at the goal line in the 29th minute. In the 62nd minute, Scot Swanson hit the post and the ball ricocheted to teammate Robbie Berg, who scored. Conversely, Spokane hit the post three times and never got a generous bounce. A minute later, Scot Swanson lofted a ball from 35 yards out that went over a surprised Continued from Cl not it was a controversial goal, the thing is they made a call and walked off the field. The rules wouldnt seem to allow (the reversal) once they walk off the field.

It was a unique way to end the game. The shootout will resume with the sixth kickers and it doesnt have to be Saunders or Scot Swanson, who was foiled by van der Ven for the apparent win but it cant be any of the first five kickers at noon today at Albi and is free to the public. The winner plays tonight at 6 against Yakima, which defeated Cascade 1-0 on a goal by Davidson Feital in the 36th minute. It was a strange game from the beginning. The Shadow looked flat in falling behind 4-1, then charged back with three goals in the final 15 minutes to electrify the crowd of 1,708.

And ciicumstances only got stranger after the Shadow tied the game with just under 9 minutes to play. Inside of 3 minutes to play, Spokane lost top Gonzagas Rogers makes Lakers most-wanted list 13 Sundberg averaged 7.7 points, 7.9 rebounds and two bliKks during his senior year at Hawaii before a lacerated spleen sidelined him during the team's stretch run. I Ie has averaged 2.2 points, four rebounds and one block in six summer games. But theres a lot of summer league left bclore play shifts to Utah on Aug. 3.

Knight got his big chance when he was moved from benchwarmer to power forward after O'Neal was injured and Llden Campbell became the center. said. Im also a good team player, I like to pass. I justwant towin, really. Through five summer league games, he has averaged nine points and four rebounds.

Paul, I think, has proven hes capable because he has the size, he has the strength and he knows how to play the game, Drew said, lie's really proven to be a good pickup for us." Sundberg, struggling in summer league play, is more of a throwback to the prototype NBA center who can bang inside. 212 pounds. Rogers and Sundbcrg have no such problems. Rogers, the 54th pick in this year's dralt, is 7-0 and 238 pounds; Sundberg is 7-1 and 265 pounds. Rogers averaged 15 points and 6.3 rebounds during his senior year at Gonzaga.

I Ie fractured his right foot during the fourth game of the season and missed the rest of the year, lie considers himself more a power forward, although he can play center. I think I run the floor well, Im pretty mobile and I think 1 can face up and play face basketball," Rogers make good first impressions. Closs, a lanky 7-3 cepter out of Central Connecticut, seems the best of the group. Through six games, he has averaged 12.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and five blocks. Lakers assistant coach Larry Drew will be among those deciding who is invited to fall camp.

All three of them are very good big men, but I think right now Keith has shown, maybe, to be a little better than the other guys, he said. The Lakers main concern with Closs is his strength, lie w-eighs only Associated Press LONG BEACH, Calif. When Travis Knight cleaned out his locker and headed for Boston two weeks ago, the Los Angeles Lakers were left with a big hole on their roster a 7-foot hole. The Lakers want a backup to Shaquille ONeal, and Gonzaga University product Paul Rogers is among the front-runners. Keith Closs and Seth Sundbcrg also want the job.

At the 1 1 LA Summer Pro League, all three were on the Lakers invitation-only squad, all aiming to IffinlHiniirfrii iftrrfUftainn.