Dekker Smith, No. 46, and Jordan Harlow, with ball, shown during agame earlier this year, helped lead Baker to a 47-0 Greater Oregon League win over La Grande Friday. (Baker City Herald File Photo/Kathy Orr)

The win means Baker can claim the GOL championship and a first-round state bye with a victory over Mac-Hi Friday at Bulldog Memorial Stadium.

“It’s for the league championship,” said Baker coach Dave Johnson about the match-up with the Pioneers.

“That’s been our goal all season. We’re telling our guys that Mac-Hi is one of those groups you don’t want to let hang around or they could be trouble.”

At La Grande, Baker’s offense sputtered early, but the Bulldog defense made up for it.

“We were a little ragged to begin with,” Johnson said.

Dallas Defrees scored half of Baker’s goals Saturday in a Special District 7 girls soccer win over Riverside at the Sports Complex. (Baker City Herald File Photo/Kathy Orr)

The win improved Baker’s league record to 9-1 and 12-1-1 overall. The Bulldogs now await their first opponent in the Class 4A/3A/2A/1A state playoffs Nov. 4. Baker will host the winner of Saturday’s Western Mennonite-Cottage Grove match.

“We’re hoping it will be Western Mennonite,” said Baker coach DeeDee Clarke. “We’d like a little revenge for what they did to us two years ago in the playoffs.”

Western Mennonite nipped the Bulldogs 1-0 on a controversial goal under rainy conditions in that playoff matchup.

Baker, which saw its hopes for an undefeated season go away Thursday at La Grande, rebounded with a flourish Saturday.

Tigers win 2-0, spoiling Bulldogs’ perfect league mark

The Baker girls’ soccer team’s steamrolling route through the Special District 7 schedule skidded off the path Thursday at La Grande.

The Tigers shut out the Bulldogs 2-0.

The loss put the first blemish on Baker’s District record.

The Bulldogs are 8-1-0.

La Grande improved to 4-4-2.

Baker JV spikers split a pair

Baker’s junior varsity volleyball team split a pair of matches recently, losing 25-19, 15-25, 15-7 at La Grande then bouncing back to defeat Ontario 25-8, 25-10.

Against Ontario, Shelby Colton had eight digs, Camas Ekman was 8-for-8 passing, and 11-for-12 serving, Darryn McCauley had nine kills, Tori Brown seven kills, and Shelby Prowell was 12-of-13 serving.

Bulldog JV loses at Ontario

ONTARIO — Baker’s junior varsity football team lost 20-7 at Ontario last week.

Quarterback Jesse Brown scored Baker’s only touchdown on a 2-yard run. Brown and Ty Parry each had an interception for the Bulldogs. Baker lost 2 interceptions and 2 fumbles.

Baker coach Erik Johnson said James Smithson broke both bones in his lower leg, and had surgery Friday to put a rod and plate in his tibia.

Baker hosts La Grande today at 4 p.m.

Bulldogs open the Greater Oregon League season with convincing 35-14 victory over Tigers

Baker Bulldogs Dekker Smith (No. 46), Robert Gardner (No. 50), Kevin Fraser (No. 76) and Walker Kaseberg (No. 15) raised their helmets in celebration after beating Greater Oregon League rival Ontario 35-14 in Friday’s homecoming game at Bulldog Memorial Stadium. (Baker City Herald/Kathy Orr)

The Bulldogs (5-2 overall and 1-0 in the GOL) delighted the Homecoming crowd at Bulldog Memorial Stadium by easily handling the visiting Tigers.

“The kids carried it out exactly the way it was drawn up,” Johnson said.

The Baker coach said Friday was a perfect night to play football. And, that that was good because he wasn’t sure what to expect after Thursday’s practice.

“Friday was just right,” Johnson said. “It was a great night weatherwise, it was a good game, good competition, and a great result.”

LA GRANDE — La Grande all but ended Baker’s hopes of a Greater Oregon League volleyball championship Thursday after handing the Bulldogs a 25-20, 27-25, 25-18 loss at La Grande.

The win gives La Grande a 6-1 GOL record, and drops Baker to 5-2. La Grande defeated Baker two of three league matches and holds the tie-breaker. For Baker to win the GOL crown, the Bulldogs will have to win their final two matches and hope La Grande loses their final two. Both teams play Ontario and Mac-Hi in their final regular-season matches.

A 3-0 victory over over Ontario improves the Bulldogs’ Special District 7 mark to 8-0

8-0 and 11-0-1 are very good marks indeed.

Those are the Special District 7 and overall records the Baker High School girls soccer team now sports following a 3-0 victory over Ontario Thursday at the Baker Sports Complex.

The victory clinched a second straight Special District title for the girls squad.

“(Team members) are pretty set on finishing undefeated, and they can do it if they put their minds to it,” coach DeeDee Clarke said. “They were very excited to win the league title two years in a row.”

Baker has just two more games before beginning the state playoffs. The Bulldogs travel to La Grande for a 1 p.m. contest against the Tigers Thursday, then close out their regular season by hosting Riverside beginning at noon Saturday.

Thursday’s game proved to be the struggle Clarke thought it might be. Baker’s high-powered offense had 14 shots in the first half, but only Dallas Defrees’ bank shot off a pass from Ashley Shively found the back of the net.

Baker boys are third in Thursday’s Baker Cross Country Invitational

The Union High School boys cross country team showed its prowess at the Baker Cross Country Invitational Thursday, sweeping the top 5 spots to post a perfect score of 15 in the four-team boys field.

The Baker boys finished third, with 83 points. La Grande was second with 46 points, and Burns placed fourth with 91 points.

As the only team to field a full squad of at least five runners, the Baker girls also came in with a perfect score of 15.

Melissa Clarke was the first Baker girl across the finish line. Her time of 21:40 was good enough for first place.

She was followed by teammates Felicia Schneider (23:04, 7th place), Kori Rayborn (24:43, 9th place), Annika Yates (25:21, 11th place), and Charlotte Bowers (25:25, 12th place) to round out the Baker girls scoring.

The rest of the Baker girls finished like this: Mary Bulger, 13th, 26:52; Ellen Jampolsky, 16th, 28:39; Haley Adams, 17th, 28:40; Anna Clarke, 18th, 29:13; Emily Miller, 19th, 29:30; Hazel Hanson, 20th, 29:42; and Laura Borgen, 21st, 34:55.

Baker’s had two weeks to prepare for 11th-ranked Ontario

When the 4-2 Baker Bulldogs take to the field for Friday’s Homecoming game against their fiercest regular-season rival, the 5-1 Ontario Tigers, there will be much more at stake than mere bragging rights.
The winner will probably have a relatively smooth path to the Greater Oregon League title, with only La Grande and Mac-Hi (combined records: 5-7) standing in their way. Friday’s winner will also no doubt break into the Class 4A Top-10 rankings. Ontario enters the game ranked 11th; Baker is 12th.
“It has been a great rivalry over the years,” said Baker coach Dave Johnson. “They’ve got great team speed, they’re well-coached and they play hard.”
“But we’ve been doing a lot of things well, too,” Johnson said. “We’ve run (the football) well, thrown it well and caught it well.”
Johnson makes no secret of the offensive approach he favors for Baker’s biggest game to date.
“Our plan is to go right at them, to slug them in the mouth, then throw it a little, try to control the tempo and throw the occasional deep pass,” he said.

Bulldogs get another crack at La Grande Thursday

Fresh off a key victory last week over Greater Oregon League rival La Grande, Baker High School’s volleyball team struggled at times before defeating GOL opponent Mac-Hi Monday night at the Baker gymnasium.

The scores were 25-10, 25-14 and 25-2.

Baker now sports a league-leading 5-1 mark in the GOL as it prepares for a road match against La Grande Thursday.

Coach Marcy Hayes’ squad could be excused for perhaps looking past Mac-Hi a bit Monday.

“We had a hard time getting motivated to play tonight,” Hayes said. “It was a slower-paced game and the girls had a hard time getting going.”

Hayes said she ran different lineups throughout the evening and overall was pleased with the result.

“Everyone played well tonight,” she said. “We are looking forward to our game on Thursday against La Grande.”