Pine-Eagle wrestlers earned two individual firsts, and Baker one Saturday at the annual Pine-Eagle Invitational in Halfway.

Pine-Eagle’s Kyle Dennis (160 pounds) and Richie Gonzales (171) earned individual firsts for the Spartans.

Andrew Porter (130) was Baker’s individual champion.

Dennis drew two byes before pinning Ismahel Mendoza of Homedale in the semifinals. Dennis then won by 16-1 technical fall over Adrian’s Daniel Lode in the title match.

Gonzales drew a first-round bye before defeating Melba’s Fabian Medrano by 20-8 tech fall. Gonzales then defeated Baker’s Wyatt Duncan 7-1 in the semifinals before topping Middleton’s Lane Chadwick 16-9 in the championship match.

Porter also drew a first-round bye before pinning Melba’s Alex Webb in the first round. Porter also pinned Crane’s Cody Davis in the first round in the semis. Porter then defeated Middleton’s Joe Roseberry 9-0 to win the championship.

Baker had eight other wrestlers place in their weight, and Pine-Eagle seven.

About a dozen young Baker pitchers learned the art of pitching Saturday morning at the Baker Bulldog Winter Pitching Clinic.

The clinic was conducted by Rob Hippi, pitching coach at Lower Columbia Community College in Longview, Wash.

Hippi has spent 22 years at LCC and has been part of four championship teams and seven runner-up squads. Under Hippi, the Devils have led the NWACC in strikeout/walk ratio in all but two of the past 14 seasons.

Hippi played collegiate ball at Central Washington University, and pitched professionally in the New York Yankees organization from 1969-1972.

He also has coached two Longview teams to the Babe Ruth World Series.

Hippi has worked at several camps and speaks at clinics throughout the Pacific Northwest.

“If I know my mechanics then I’m going to throw more strikes,” Hippi told the young hurlers.

UNITY — The Burnt River girls split and the boys lost a pair of games last weekend in the final regular-season games of the High Desert League season.

Burnt River traveled to Adrian Friday. The girls had trouble from the start. The Antelopes’ press often kept Burnt River from getting the ball down the court and held the Lady Bulls to just two points in the first quarter.

With the preasure called off in the second half, Burnt River was able to get back into the game. Final score was 56-32 Adrian.

The Burnt River boys kept the game close for the first half, down by only four at halftime, but foul trouble and inability to score in the third quarter allowed the Antelope to pull away and win 63-36. Caleb Andrews and Harry Szu-Yao Su led the Bulls with 15 points each.

Baker had to shuffle its lineup due to three wrestlers being ineligible because of grades, and another not making weight.

“We’re our own worst enemy,” said Baker coach Brandon Young.

“With three guys ineligible and another not making weight we had to change our lineup around.

“We knew it was a matter of time before it caught up to us. Hopefully we can rebound quickly. And, we were wrestling a top-notch team in Mac-Hi,” Young said.

Baker’s lone victory came at 112 pounds where Zach Valentine defeated Mac-Hi’s Jordan Leinbach 6-0.

Baker pulled ahead late in the first quarter then held Nyssa off the rest of the way.

Nyssa jumped out to a 10-4 lead before Baker battled back.

Derek Blankenship hit a three-pointer to pull Baker within 10-7. Then, after Nyssa scored again, Baker ran off 10 unanswered points to take the lead.

Blankenship led the way with five points. Jesse Brown added three and Dekker Smith two as Baker built a 17-12 lead. The Bulldogs led 17-14 at the break.

Four more points by Blankenship, two by B.J. Quintana, and one by Smith  opened the second period with a 7-0 Baker run to increase the lead to 24-14 with 4:55 left in the half.

Nyssa remained close the rest of the half, pulling to within 28-24 at the break.

Nyssa continued to hang around until 5:42 remained in the third period. That’s when Seth Glenn injured his ankle making a jumper from the corner that pulled Nyssa to within 34-28. Glenn was helped to the locker room, and did not return.