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CHIPTHOMPSON—DAILYNEWS Evan Tanner was one of four Spartans pitchers used to no- hit the Willows Honkers Thursday evening. ByChipThompson editor@redbluffdailynews.com @editorchip on Twitter RED BLUFF A platoon of four Spar- tans pitchers held the Willows Honk- ers hitless Thursday evening for a 10-0 Red Bluff win in five innings. Kolby Button faced four batters in the first inning, striking out the lead- off hitter and giving up a walk. Wes Clawson took the mound in the sec- ond and put the Honkers down in or- der, recording a pair of strikeouts. Evan Tanner handled the third and fourth innings, striking out 3, and Ke- gan Richards closed out the game in the fifth. Bryce Sinclair got the scoring started for the Spartans with a home run to deep center field to lead off the second. Lane Pritchard led off the third with a single to left and Button sin- gled to put Pritchard at second. Sin- clair would strike out before Pay- ton Edwards singled to right to plate Pritchard. The fourth would be the big inning for the Spartans. Ryan Gamboa led off with a single and Jacob Rice went in to run — stealing second easily. Tanner Tweedt doubled to right and Rice went to third before Travis Fite walked to load the bases with Spar- tans. Austin Youngblood singled to left to score Rice and Tweedt, Pritchard singled and Button was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Sinclair, who struck out for the first out of the in- ning. But an Edwards double scored Fite and Youngblood and Clawson was hit to once again load the bases. The Spartans Rally fourth inning would end there, with a pair of pop ups to center and right after a Honk- ers pitching change. Red Bluff was up 7-0 after four. Fite led off the fifth with a single, Dustin Crain was hit by a pitch and Eric Spencer walked to load the bases. Button was hit, sending Crain across home and a fielder's choice put Rich- BASEBALL Spartansno-hitWillowsinwin Re d B lu ff p it ch er s h el p t ea m secu re 1 0- 0 w in i n 5 i nn in gs Online: Be the first to get results from local athletes and teams at REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM/SPORTS. By Chip Thompson editor@redbluffdailynews.com @editorchip on Twitter LOS MOLINOS When the Mercy Warriors came to bat in the seventh inning Friday evening against the Los Molinos Bull- dogs they had their work cut out for them, down 10-6. The Bulldogs' Aaron Hardy had pitched the Warriors trough through six, but Los Molinos turned it over to Caleb Duncan in the seventh. After Kavin Mc- Clellan reached on a base on balls and Nick Ornelas singled, Duncan struck out the next two batters and looked like the Bull- dogs' lead would hold up. That's when the wheels came off. The Warriors rallied for 7 runs on 2 hits off Duncan and Josue Orozco to take a 13-10 lead into the bottom of the seventh. It was the Bulldogs' time to rally. Mercy's Travis Gorden took over for Jonathan Ross on the mound to start the inning with a quick grounder back to the mound and threw to first for the first out. But the Bull- dogs put together a string of 2 hits and 3 walks to plate 2 runs and Richie Borges took the hill for the Warriors with the bases loaded and just one out. On a full count, Borges fielded a dribbler back to the mound and went home for the second out and then to first to end the game with a 13-12 win. The Bulldogs got the scoring started in the first with a Kevin Dean single to right that scored Hardy from third. Mercy struck back in the third with 3 runs, starting with a 2-run double off the bat of Mc- Clellan, who then stole third and scored on a passed ball. The Bulldogs tied it up in the third with a 2-run Orozco tri- ple, and went on to dominate the fourth and fifth innings, putting up 3 runs in each while holding the Warriors to 1. Henry McHale hit a bases- loaded double in the fourth to scoreOrozco,DuncanandHardy. Dean singled to put runners on the corners, but the next batter struck out and Dean was picked off at first to end the inning. The Warriors tacked on a run in the top of the fifth when Mc- Clellan doubled, stole third and came home on a passed ball. BASEBALL WARRIORSBEATBULLDOGS 13-12 IN HEART-STOPPER Seven-run, two-out rally in the seventh wins it Los Molinos' Josue Orozco comes into third standing with a third inning, 2RBI triple against the Mercy Warriors Friday evening. PHOTOS BY CHIP THOMPSON — DAILY NEWS Mercy's Jonathan Ross flashes the leather with a diving catch in center field for the second out in the second inning Friday evening against the Los Molinos Bulldogs. By Curtis Pashelka Bay Area News Group LOSANGELES The Sharks know exactly how physical the Los An- geles Kings are going to try to be for however long the West- ern Conference quarterfinal se- ries lasts. The Sharks feel they can with- stand whatever their rivals dish out, and have no issue respond- ing in kind. "I think we have a lot of guys that can give it back, too. We ex- pect that from them," Sharks de- fenseman Brent Burns said. "It's part of the battle. You take it, and give it when you can." There was no mistaking the Kings' intentions in the opening minutes of Game 1 as they tried to establish a physical presence. The teams combined for 10 hits in the first three minutes, 23 hits in the first nine minutes and 68 for the game. The Sharks countered the Kings' physicality as the game went on, with Tommy Wing- els credited with a team-high seven hits and Tomas Hertl add- ing four. The Sharks, though, limited the effectiveness of the Kings' forecheck with clean break- out plays, as they tried to buy themselves some time to make a play up ice before they absorbed a hit. Several official NHL stats can't always be taken at face value, but the Sharks officially had eight giveaways compared to 20 for the Kings, with just one of those San Jose miscues com- ing in the third period. "You could tell guys were finishing their checks. There's weren't man fly-bys that way for both teams," Pavelski said. "But NHL Sharks know how to withstand Kings physicality REDDING The Red Bluff Spar- tans golf team finished sixth over- all at Thursday's Riverview Golf Tournament hosted by Enterprise High School. Nathen Pregoso had the low round for the Spartans with an 86, followed by Derek Runnels with an 88, Dawson Hopper at 92, Cameron Purdue and Ben Crain at 97 and Kaden Catrell at 107. Shasta's Jaykob Caples was the low individual round at 68, fol- lowed by Pleasant Valley's Noah Norton at 70, Shasta's Zack Ca- ples at 73, Chico's Brayden Russo at 74 and Pleasant Valley's Ronak Singh at 77. The Spartans earned two points on the front nine and one on the back nine and moved into a tie with the Enterprise Hornets with seven points on the season. The Spartans are next sched- uled to play at 1 p.m. Thurs- day, April 21 at Butte Creek Golf Course in Chico. Their home tour- nament is set for 1 p.m. April 28 at Wilcox Oaks Golf Club. GOLF Spartans finish sixth at Riverview tournament By Diamond Leung Bay Area News Group OAKLAND Fresh off a record- breaking 73-9 regular season, the Warriors enter the playoffs not thinking too much about re- cent history. Warriors coach Steve Kerr said that among the team there hasn't been discussions about 73. The focus is on the Houston Rockets, who the Warriors face in Game 1 of a first-round West- ern Conference series at Oracle Arena on Saturday. And despite the Warriors hav- ing defeated the Rockets in 12 of their past 13 meetings including the Western Conference finals when they won the series in five games, those past performances are not what they're hanging their hats on, either. "I think for any team it'd be a daunting task to face a team you're (1-12) against," Warriors guard Klay Thompson said of the Rockets on Friday. "But at the time, all that goes out the window. It's a new season. That's a clean slate, 0-0 right now. "We can't look back in the past and just be depending on that." Stephen Curry after dazzling in the finale with enough 3-point- ers to reach 402 for the season will now get a large dose of de- fense from top Rockets perime- ter defender Patrick Beverley, who missed last season's playoff series due to injury. "He's just relentless," Kerr said of Beverley. "He's a guy that can get under your skin. He's quick. He's strong. He just stays after it." Said Rockets interim coach NBA PLAYOFFS Warriors focused on Rockets BASEBALL PAGE 2 WARRIORS PAGE 2 SHARKS PAGE 2 MERCY PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, April 16, 2016 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1