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ByAntonioGonzalez TheAssociatedPress agonzalezAP on Twitter OAKLAND Golden State War- riors co-owner Joe Lacob has never been afraid to take a risk. And he knows his latest move — firing coach Mark Jackson — comes with a lot of risk. Lacob just believes it's one worth taking. After jettisoning Jackson on Tuesday, Lacob and general man- ager Bob Myers moved forward on filling the team's coaching va- cancy Wednesday. Lacob said he has no set criteria for his next coach and no timetable to make the hire, but he's counting on the search to attract more can- didates — and more top-tier tal- ent — than when he hired Jack- son three years ago. "We do have some ideas of what we want to do," Lacob said in a phone interview with The Asso- ciated Press. "We will look at all the basic aspects such as basket- ball experience, and I don't mean coachingnecessarily.Someonelike Mark Jackson had played 17 years in the NBA, that's a lot of experi- ence. In this case it might be more coaching experience, it might not. We're kind of open to that. "But it has to be someone with good pedigree, someone who's a leader, someone who can deal with the pressure of a situation. We have been somewhat success- ful now and want to go to the next level." The job is certainly a far more attractive one than when Lacob hired Jackson away from the ESPN/ABC broadcast table in June 2011. The Warriors are com- ing off a 51-win season and con- secutive playoff appearances for the first time in 20 years, and they've surrounded star Stephen Curry with young talent. Lacob compared the decision to change coaches to how he built his fortune as a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley. He said there's a different person to lead a busi- ness at different stages of devel- opment, and the Warriors have gone from a "startup" company to an organization looking to maximize its output. "Or in this case win an NBA championship," he said. "And we just felt overall we needed a dif- ferent person to go forward and get to the next level." Where the Warriors go for their next coach is unclear. Lacob and Myers both declined to dis- cuss specific candidates. Former NBA player and cur- rent TNT broadcaster Steve Kerr, who is also a candidate for the New York Knicks job, has close ties to Lacob and Warriors President Rick Welts from Kerr's time as the general manager for the Phoenix Suns. Former Or- lando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, who went to high school in nearby Martinez, has been men- tioned for multiple openings. NBA Warriorsbeginsearchingfornextcoach Co-ownerLacobknowslatestmoveoffiring Jackson comes with lots of risk going forward COURTESY The 2014 Red Bluff River Dawgs 11-and-under travel baseball team took first place recently at the Big League Dreams Hot April Nights tournament. They defeated the Redding Vipers 8-5 in the championship game. The River Dawgs are (from back le ): Gar- rett Freeman, Logan Houchins, Codee Hill, Bryan Acree, Luke Lindsey, Kurtis Rodriguez; (Middle row) Luke Arvig, Jake Fregoso, Jordan Shank, Cooper Bonham, Bryce Tweedt, Blake Tweedt, Christopher Huhn, Trevor Coates and Jake Benner (not pictured). The River Dawgs are coached by Vince Rodriguez, Rob Huhn, Randy Fregoso and Wes Arvig. YOUTH BASEBALL DAWG GONE GOOD Red Bluff River Dawgs 11-and-under travel team wins Hot April Nights tournament Justin Smoak hit an RBI single with two outs in the 10th inning a er Oakland's bullpen blew a late lead and the A's lost their sixth straight home game, 6-4to the Mariners in a doubleheader opener. BASEBALL Marinersrally,beatA's to open doubleheader FULLSTORYONPAGEB2 McEnaney was named an honorable mention to the California Collegiate Athletic Association's all-conference team. She is a junior on the California State University, Chico Wildcats so ball team. ALUMNI UPDATE Emily McEnaney RBHS Class of 2011 McColpin was named to the California Community College Athletic Association's All- State team. She is a sopho- more pitcher on the Shasta College Lady Knights so ball team. ALUMNI UPDATE Megan McColpin RBHS Class of 2012 The Drug Enforcement Ad- ministration is trying to stay one step ahead of synthetic drug makers, wholesalers and retailers as it broadens its crackdown on the growing black market product. DRUG ENFORCEMENT DEA agents target synthetic drugs, sellers FULL STORY ON PAGE B4 KEITH SRAKOCIC — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Tim Lincecum throws against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the fi h inning Wednesday in Pittsburgh. The Pirates won 4-3. The Associated Press PITTSBURGH Despite losing the se- ries, the San Francisco Giants found something positive about their trip to PNC Park: Brandon Belt is beginning to hit. Belt homered, doubled and drove in all three runs for the Giants in their 4-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday. The Giants had won 10 of 11 before dropping two straight in Pittsburgh. Belt came into the series in a 2-for- 30 rut, but went 5 for 8 with a pair of walks in the three games. "I've been just looking at the video, seeing what I was doing when I was hitting well," Belt said. "Obviously, the adjustment was a timing issue. I've been working on that the last few days and I'm starting to come around." Belt homered on the first pitch he saw Wednesday, connecting with two outs in the first. He hit a two-run dou- ble with two outs in the fifth. "He was quieter and was seeing the ball better and not drifting through the strike zone," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "We need him to get going like we need to get Pablo (Sando- val) going so we can get the line mov- ing and get this thing clicking." Giants starter Tim Lincecum (2-2) allowed four runs, eight hits and two walks in four innings. Opponents are hitting .329 against the two-time Cy Young winner. "I wasn't finishing my pitches, es- pecially my secondary pitches," Lince- cum said. "When I got ahead in the count, the secondary pitches were just rolling up there and had no bit on them. I'm the type of guy who's going to have to get guys to chase pitches but I can't do that when I'm leaving balls up in the strike zone that are so hittable." Gerrit Cole (3-2) beat Lincecum for the second time in his 11-month major BASEBALL NottotallossforGiants,Belt San Francisco drops series before heading to L.A. to face rival Dodgers PIRATES 4, GIANTS 3 Up next: Today, Giants at Los Ange- les Dodgers, 7:10p.m., TV on MLBN, CSNBA. THESCORE By Rich Greene rgreene@redbluffdailynews.com @richgreenenews on Twitter REDDING It's all coming down to Friday night in Red Bluff. Needing just one win in its fi- nal three games of the season for an outright Sac River League ti- tle, the Red Bluff High Spartans walked away from a doubleheader at Shasta empty-handed Tuesday. It leaves huge implications for the Spartans' season finale at 7 p.m. Friday in Red Bluff. Should the Spartans (8-3) win, they'll be outright league champs. If Shasta (7-4) wins, the Wolves could share the title with Red Bluff, but have the tiebreaker over the Spartans for seeding purposes. Then there's Foothill (6-4). If the Cougars win their final two games of the season and Shasta beats Red Bluff, there would be a three-way tie for first with Foothill holding the tiebreaker. Red Bluff would drop to third. But all those tiebreaker scenar- ios can be avoided if the Spartans win Friday night. PREP BASEBALL Red Bluff loses twice to Shasta, title on line Staff Report PORTOLA Red Bluff High School's Derek Runnels qualified for the NSCIF Masters golf champion- ship by firing an 88 at Tuesday's Division I championships at Griz- zly Ranch Golf Club. Pleasant Valley won the division team title with a score of 378. Shasta shot a 393 and Chico 402 to qualify their teams along with the Vikings for the Masters. Runnels was joined by Foothill's Sam Smith and Coleman Thoma- son and Paradise's Eric Poll in tak- ing the four individual qualification spots. PV's Noah Norton fired the low round of the day with a 72. Red Bluff finished in fifth place with a team score of 475. Kyler Puckett shot 91, Nathan Fregoso 103, Tanner Durfee 106, Ben Crain 131 and Liam Brown 147 for a young Spartans team. Boys Tennis RED BLUFF 8, WEST VALLEY 1 The Spartans closed out their season PREP ROUNDUP Runnels gets in Masters golf section finals GIANTS PAGE 2 BASEBALL PAGE 2 ROUNDUP PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, May 8, 2014 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1