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ByJanieMcCauley TheAssociatedPress SANTA CLARA One's the oldest on the team by a long shot at 40 and entering his 17th NFL season. The other is a poised rookie and the San Francisco 49ers' youngest player who just turned 21 in June. Veteran placekicker Phil Daw- son is thoroughly enjoying his role as mentor for strong-legged punter Bradley Pinion, and the two have spent their time early in training camp finding a rhythm and learning each other's tenden- cies. During practice, Dawson and Pinion slap hands after a field goal before moving back and try- ing again from farther out. They have lockers next to each other in Levi's Stadium. "We're building camaraderie," Dawson said after a recent work- out. "It's going to take some time, but man, he's super talented. He's got a great attitude. It's just going to come with reps and reps and he understands that. I understand that, so it's just every day we come out, put a little more work in. The goal is to be ready Week 1. If we have a hiccup here or there in pre- season, that's not what we're aim- ing for, but the goal is Week 1, be ready to rock and roll." In the months since the 49ers selected him in the fifth round of the draft, Pinion has done just about everything possible to show he belongs as a rookie: He has a strong foot, his punts have seri- ous hang time and they're tricky to catch with plenty of spin, and he has clicked with Dawson since Day 1. The 49ers felt so confident in Pinion they traded three-time All Pro Andy Lee to Cleveland. Coach Jim Tomsula guards against becoming too giddy ob- serving the impressive young punter — and he is awfully fun to watch. "Again, Bradley's not done a 49ERS TRAINING CAMP DAWSON MENTOR TO ROOKIE PUNTER San Francisco's veteran placekicker enjoys role with strong-legged Pinion TONYAVELAR—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE San Francisco 49ers kicker Phil Dawson (9) watches a 27-yard field goal from the hold of Andy Lee during a game against the Chicago Bears in Santa Clara. JEFF CHIU — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE San Francisco 49ers punter Bradley Pinion practices during the team's rookie minicamp on May 15in Santa Clara. As another protest on Fergu- son's beleaguered West Flo- rissant Avenue began to turn rowdy, Jon Belmar was among the first to confront protest- ers. The St. Louis County police chief strode at them. SECURITY IN FERGUSON Countypolicechief gets control of protests FULLSTORYONPAGEB6 As many as 100commer- cial truck drivers paid up to $5,000each to bribe state Department of Motor Vehicles employees for illegal California licenses, federal authorities said Tuesday. BRIBERY AT DMV Workers traded cash for California licenses FULL STORY ON PAGE B5 Pictured, back, from le , are Baseball Commissioner Bob Mitchell, Coach Kyle Button, Manager David Gamboa, Owen Swarthout, Eric Spencer, Dimitre Kent, Ian Skjegstad, Bryce Sinclair, Kegan Richards, Ian Hoskins; front, from le , are Michael Chapman, American Legion Commander Janet Wilson, Austin Youngblood, Ryan Gamboa, Jacob Rice, Travis Fite, Evan Tanner, Kolby Button, Coach Chris Sinclair and batboy Kyson Button. COURTESY PHOTO Staff Reports The American Legion Red Bluff Bulls 17U team traveled to Yount- ville on Aug. 6-9 to play in the Cal- ifornia State Championship Base- ball Tournament. Their first game of the tour- nament was against Ed Stewart Post 803 from Stockton, which the Bulls took with a score of 8-1. Leading hitters for the Bulls were Austin Youngblood 3 for 3, Eric Spencer 2 for 4, Kolby Button 2 for 3, and Evan Tanner 2 for 4. But- ton shared pitching duties with Ian Skjegstad and Kegan Rich- ards with Button getting credit for the win. In Game 2 on Friday the Bulls took on Auburn Post 84. Bryce Sinclair took the mound and went 4 1/3 innings and gave way to Owen Swarthout, who pitched the final 2 2/3 innings. With Red Bluff down 6-5 in the bottom of the seventh with two runners on, Ryan Gamboa hit a walk-off dou- ble to score both Spencer and But- ton for the win. Swarthout got the win. Leading hitters were Spen- cer 2 for 3, Gamboa 2 for 3 with a single, a double and three RBIs, and Tanner 1 for 2 with a double. In Game 3, the only two un- defeated teams were matched against each other — San Juan Capistrano Post 121 vs. Red Bluff Post 167. Button took the mound and went seven strong innings in a tough 7-4 loss. Leading hitters AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL Bullsfinishsecondinstate By Doug Ferguson The Associated Press SHEBOYGAN, WIS. Tiger Woods knows the concept of going through a transition, just not the numbers associated with this one. His world ranking is No. 278. Throw out some of the past cham- pions and the 20 club pros at the PGA Championship, and his rank- ing is the worst of all but two play- ers at Whistling Straits — Nick Taylor and Darren Clarke. He has not won a tournament in two years, and he has only one top 10 on the PGA Tour since. And while his winless streak in the majors is at 23 dating to the 2008 U.S. Open, only once in the last six years has he gone into the final round within three shots or fewer of the lead. That was at Muirfield two years ago, and he closed with a 74 to finish five shots behind. This is the new world of Woods at the majors. Expectations are lower than ever. There wasn't a lot of talk about Woods winning the PGA Cham- PGA CHAMPIONSHIP Woods has goal: Try to get better as player BLUE JAYS 4, ATHLETICS 2 Up next: Oakland Athletics at To- ronto Blue Jays, 4:07p.m. today, TV on CSNCA. THESCORE By Ian Harrison The Associated Press TORONTO Matched up against the hottest team in baseball, one inning of bad defense turned into big trouble for the Oakland Ath- letics. Jose Bautista hit a solo home run, Drew Hutchison pitched seven strong innings and the streaking Toronto Blue Jays took advantage of two Oakland errors to win their ninth straight game, 4-2 over the Athletics. Toronto scored three times in Oakland's sloppy second in- ning, which saw a throwing er- ror, a fielding error, and a ball that bounced over the head of out- fielder Coco Crisp. "That might be the worst in- ning we've played this year," Oak- BASEBALL Miscues hurt A's in 4-2 loss to Blue Jays NFL owners met Tuesday to hear about moving at least one team to Los Angeles. The Chargers and Raiders proposed a stadium in Carson and Rams owner Stan Kroenke proposed one in Inglewood. FOOTBALL NFL owners hear LA stadiums proposals The Mercy High School volleyball team will start its season Aug. 19with the Shasta College Play Day at 4 p.m. Mercy's home opener will host Dunsmuir at 5:30p.m. Thursday, Aug. 27. VOLLEYBALL Mercy High gears up for season openers BULLS PAGE 2 49ERS PAGE 2 GOLF PAGE 2 A'S PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, August 12, 2015 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1