River Dogs tournament opens Friday

EPHRATA — The Columbia Basin River Dogs will be looking for their second tournament title of the summer this weekend when they host the North Corner/Desert Dogs Series at Ephrata High School.

The River Dogs, an 18-and-under Babe Ruth baseball team, have compiled a 23-7 record heading into the tournament, which gets started at 10 a.m. Friday. Other teams competing in the round-robin tournament include Othello, Brewster, North Corner Tribe of Everett and the Desert Dogs, a Basin-based team of all-star players.

The River Dogs open play Friday at 3 p.m. against Othello, and play later that day against North Corner at 8 p.m. On Saturday, the River Dogs take on Brewster twice, the first game getting under way at 12:30 p.m. and the nightcap at 5:30 p.m. The championship game takes place Sunday afternoon.

After winning the season-opening Memorial Classic, finishing second at Pullman's Palouse Summer Series and taking third at the Bandits Bash Tournament in the Tri-Cities, the River Dogs figure to be very competitive this weekend.

Randy Boruff manages the River Dogs, assisted by Sam Boruff, Chuck Hansen and Jerry Henderson.

Players include Curran Redal, Derrick Webb, Cory Hitchcock, JR Jarrell, Mark Garza, Austin Chamberlin, Chase Hunter, Drew Mannen, Zack Swart, Chris Sattler, Edward Rodriguez, Justin Burton, Brady Harris, Tyler Lesko, Troy Stephens, Brett Fredericksen, Travis Ruffin and Blake Thomas.