Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/664069
ByJeffLarson jlarson@paradisepost.com @jtlarson on Twitter PARADISE Inordertostayright in the middle of the Eastern Ath- letic League race, the Red Bluff High baseball team needed to get back to its winning ways Thurs- day afternoon at Paradise. The Spartans jumped on the struggling Bobcats early with five first-inning runs, giving starter Wesley Clawson plenty to worth with, not that the junior lefty needed much, as he tossed a three-hitter through six innings and helped Red Bluff to the com- manding 17-2 win over the Bob- cats. Red Bluff, which swept the se- ries with Paradise (5-9. 0-4 EAL), improves to 9-5 and 3-2 in league heading into a crucial home bout with Foothill (12-4, 2-0), at 7 p.m. Friday night. "We got to execute (Friday night)," said Clawson, who im- proved to 2-1 on the mound this year. "At the plate we need to do better, had too many strikeouts, too many pop ups (last time)." Red Bluff dropped the series opener at Foothill. 6-3 Tuesday in Palo Cedro. "I think we're right at their level," Clawson said. Despite Thursday's lopsided defeat and current rough stretch of three straight losses by a com- bined 38-2 margin, Paradise is talented and can make a run in this league, coach Bryson Baker said. "We're a lot better than (the way) we're playing," Baker said. "We should be at Red Bluff's level and we're not playing like it." Paradise's latest bright spots came from starter Frankie Cleary as the junior ace struck out six through 4 1/ 2, and outside of a bad first inning appeared to have his way with the Red Bluff lineup. "Frankie pitched great," Baker said. Red Bluff did the brunt of its damage in the first with two outs, with Clawson and Ryan Gamboa shortening up and dropping in PREP BASEBALL R.B. TRAIN ROLLS THROUGH PARADISE Clawson tosses 3-hit gem with 7 strikeouts for Spartans in 17-2 victory JEFFLARSON—PARADISEPOST Junior le y Wesley Clawson tosses a three-hitter through 6innings to help guide Red Bluff to the commanding 17-2win at Paradise on Thursday. Clawson and the Spartans host Foothill on Friday. RedBluff17,Paradise2 Up next: Spartans vs. Foothill, 7 p.m. Friday. THESCORE JAE C. HONG — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Jordan Spieth kisses his putter a er saving par on the 16th hole during the first round of the Masters golf tournament Thursday in Augusta, Georgia. By Doug Ferguson The Associated Press AUGUSTA, GA. Jordan Spieth atop the leaderboard might be the latest tradition at Augusta National. One year later, he's still the man to beat at the Masters. Six tough par saves and six bird- ies sent Spieth to a 6-under 66 on Thursday and a two-shot lead in a strong wind that made Augusta Na- tional play tough for just about every- one except the defending champion. Coming off his wire-to-wire vic- tory last year, Spieth now has five straight rounds in the lead, and six out of the last seven when he was tied or leading. One more and he would match the longest streak since Ar- nold Palmer in 1960 and the open- ing two rounds of 1961. And just like last year, now it's time for the rest of the field to try to catch him. "We're through one round," Spieth said. "There's going to be a lot of dif- ferent changes. There are going to be a lot of different birdies, bogeys and everything in between. We know how to win this golf tournament, and we believe in our process. And if the putts are dropping, then hopefully it goes our way." They were dropping, which is why Spieth had the only bogey-free round on a day where the wind made that seem unlikely. He had a two-shot lead over Danny Lee and Shane Lowry. The battle among the modern "Big Three" and other top players ex- pected to contend did not take shape. Jason Day, the No. 1 player in the world and Masters favorite, was on the verge of catching Spieth until a mini-meltdown. He three-putted for bogey on the par-5 15th, pulled his tee shot into the water on the par-3 16th and made triple bogey, and then sailed the green on the 17th for an- other bogey. Just like that, the Aus- tralian was back to even par. "It could happen to anyone," Day said. "Even though I gave up five shots in three holes, I'm only six THE MASTERS Pickingupwhereheleftoff Defending champion Spieth has 2-shot lead a er opening with 66 By Andrew Baggarly Bay Area News Group SAN FRANCISCO Dave Rob- erts is the new manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The mere mention of him at AT&T Park is supposed to elicit boos, hisses and blue language from the or- ange-clad faithful. But Roberts, a former San Francisco Giants player, is too swell a guy for that. And af- ter the events Thursday after- noon, following his first experi- ence managing in this rivalry, he might have been less popu- lar with his own fans. Roberts made the curious de- cision to stick with left-hander Alex Wood, and the Giants beat down doors for seven runs be- tween the fifth and sixth in- nings to wrest a 12-6 victory in the first regular-season game of 2016 at Third and King. The Giants used small ball to erase a four-run deficit, Angel Pagan cast a tiebreaking, two-run sin- gle in the sixth, and Hunter Pence bought a zero-deductible policy in the eighth when his grand slam sailed into the left field bleachers. The Dodgers had spent three games in San Diego and four more innings Thursday sculpt- ing a 31-inning scoreless streak, matching the 1963 St. Louis Car- dinals for the longest to begin a season. The Giants took a chisel to the streak, then a jackhammer. They ended the streak with BASEBALL Giants erupt, thump Dodgers in home opener GIANTS 12, DODGERS 6 Up next: Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco Giants, 7:15p.m. Friday, TV on NBC Bay Area. THESCORE WHITE SOX 6, ATHLETICS 1 Up next: Oakland Athletics at Seattle Mariners, 7:10p.m. Friday, TV on CSN-CA. THESCORE Staff Report The Mercy Warriors boys ten- nis team played a match against the University Prep Panthers on Tuesday in Red Bluff and U-Prep won by a score of 6-3. In singles play, Mercy's Con- nor Rooney beat Jason Bickmore 6-1, 6-2, and Arthur Xiong came from behind to beat Sean McFad- den 4-6, 6-4 and 6-2. Mercy players came up short in four other matchups, including T.J. Frase losing to Dart Mills 6-0, 6-4; Chris Wood losing to Kevin Liu 6-1, 6-0; Anthony Marquez losing to Dan Holt 6-2, 7-6; and Mason Gilchrist losing 6-0 and 6-0 to Eddie Kranz. In doubles play, Rooney and Frase beat Bickmore and Mills 8-4. Wood and Marquez lost to Liu and Holt 8-1 and Xiong and Fletcher lost to Kranz and McFad- den 8-0. TENNIS Warriors lose home match to Panthers By Carl Steward Bay Area News Group OAKLAND Other than a strong starting outing from Kendall Graveman, the Oakland A's played to the size of their crowd Thurs- day — quiet and puny. In stark contrast to the excite- ment that was going on across the bay at the same time, only 12,577 turned out to see Oakland dink out four singles and drop a 6-1 de- cision to Mat Latos and the Chi- cago White Sox. The A's only drew four smaller crowds all of last season than the one that was scattered around the Coliseum, and they did not ex- actly assuage fears in this series about what prognosticators say their fans may be in for through- out 2016. Oakland lost three out of four to the underwhelming White Sox, hit just one home run, didn't steal a base and hit an aggregate .212. The best thing you can say is that the A's were competitive in all four games, losing a pair of one-run decisions, winning one behind ace Sonny Gray, and then staying close in the series finale until Chicago blew open a 2-0 game with four runs in the ninth. With 158 games to go, the A's would submit that what's been witnessed so far isn't them, so maybe it's a good thing they drew three crowds under 18,000 fol- lowing a sellout opener. Clearly, they believe they can pitch a lit- BASEBALL A's go quietly in 6-1 loss to White Sox A'S PAGE 2 GIANTS PAGE 2 MASTERS PAGE 2 SPARTANS PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, April 8, 2016 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1