Mantis Registers Front-Running Upset In Playfair Feature

Mantis went right to the front over a sloppy track Saturday and cruised to a 4-length victory over heavily favored Flying Huey in the $11,000 Children of the Sun Handicap at Playfair Race Course.

Ridden by Marty Wentz, Mantis covered the 1-mile distance in 1:41-2/5, 6 seconds off the track record but the best time of the season. He paid $7.80 to win. Flying Huey, a superior mudder that had won five straight races at Portland Meadows, was the heavy favorite. Ought To Burn, Playfair’s horse of the meeting in 1995, finished third.

Veteran jockey Frank Best rode five winners on the nine-race program. He matched the best feat of the season and took over fourth place in the standings from Gary Gavica, who is recuperating from serious injuries suffered in a spill last week.

Baseball

Host Lewis-Clark State College and University of Portland heaped the latest defeats on Washington State University’s struggling baseball team Saturday, downing the Cougars on the third day of the Banana Belt tournament at Lewiston.

L-C State (7-1-1) scored all of its runs in the third inning and rolled to a 7-2 victory over the Cougars. Portland (4-3-1) scored three times in the eighth inning to earn an 8-6 victory that left WSU with a 1-14 record.

L-C State improved its tournament record to 3-0-1. Portland has a 2-2 record.

In the day’s other games, Oregon State (8-5-1), 3-1 in tournament play, thumped Canada’s National Baseball Institute 16-6 and dealt Gonzaga (1-1-1) its first tournament loss 5-3.

With WSU leading 2-0, Lewis-Clark State combined three hits, two errors, two walks, a hit batter and two wild pitches for seven runs. Bucky Jacobsen’s two-run double was the big hit in the inning.

Leadoff man Abino Vazquez led Oregon State past Gonzaga, driving in three runs with a single and two triples. Donnie Murrell, Trevor Davis and Rob Pearsall each had two of Gonzaga’s eight hits.

Track and field

Chet Doughty won the long jump and the triple jump at Portland as Whitworth College’s men won a five-way NCIC meet.

The Pirates scored 100 points, 29 more than host Lewis & Clark.

George Fox College led the women with 82 points. Whitworth finished second with 72as Trina Gumm won the shot put, the discus and the javelin.

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