Ex-Tri-Cities Dust Devils pitcher picked up by Seattle Mariners

The Seattle Mariners claimed right-handed pitcher Walker Lockett off of waivers Sept. 1, just three days after the New York Mets designated him for assignment.

Ironically, Lockett picked up the victory earlier that day for the Mets.

The Mariners activated Lockett on Sept. 3, and he’s been with Seattle since.

Tri-City Dust Devils fans may remember Lockett from 2015, when he went 3-0 in 11 starts for the team.

In fact, Lockett ended up making the Northwest League All-Star that year.

In 2018, he made his Major-League debut for the San Diego Padres.

The Mariners is Lockett’s third MLB team.

More sports news

• Cody Kehl (CBC) finished his summer college baseball season for the Western Nebraska Pioneers in the Expedition League.

Kehl played in 33 games for the 18-34 Pioneers, batting .239 (27 for 113) with six doubles, one home run and 12 RBIs.

• Southridge has lost 6-foot-3, 280-pound lineman Wyatt Reid, whose family has moved to South Dakota and where Reid is currently playing football in the fall. Reid is with the Brandon Valley Lynx.

• Kamiakin junior quarterback Henry Mercado has had the University of Maryland’s football program reach out to him and show him they are interested in him.

The Terps, who play in the Big Ten Conference, will keep track of Mercado’s play these next few seasons.

Last season, as a sophomore, Mercado was a second-team selection for the All-Mid-Columbia Conference football team.

He helped lead the Braves to a 7-3 record, and he had a 146.2 pass efficiency rating.

Mercado was 137 for 253 for 2,169 yards, with 22 touchdown passes against 11 interceptions.

• New Columbia Basin College men’s basketball coach Anthony Owens keeps adding to that roster, which was started by interim coach Bryan Edwards (now Owens’ assistant).

Owens has signed guards Donovan Cooper, who spent last season at Knox College in Illinois.

The 5-foot-8 Cooper saw limited action, and he comes from Ames Academy of West Valley City, Utah.

• Kennewick running back Myles Mayovsky and Chiawana quarterback JP Zamora, both juniors this coming season, have received invitations to play in the UCReport Elite Underclassmen Showcase, set for this Saturday, Sept. 12, in Las Vegas.

The game is set to showcase 50 of the nation’s top underclassmen football players.

Hockey

• Former Tri-City American Malte Stromwell has signed a one-year contract extension to play for Sochi again in Russia in the Kontinental Hockey League.

Last season, Stromwell played in 52 games, scoring 21 goals, 18 assists and 39 points.

He was Sochi’s leader in goals, assists and points.

The left winger from Sweden has spent most of his career playing professionally in his home country.

In the two seasons he spent with the Americans (2011-13), Stromwell played in 130 games, scoring 32 goals and 61 assists for 99 points.

• Former Tri-City American Brandon Carlo left the NHL bubble in Toronto last week after his Boston Bruins lost their Eastern Conference semifinals series to the Tampa Bay Lightning 4 games to 1.

Carlo actually scored his first Stanley Cup Playoffs point in that series with an assist.

The 23-year-old defenseman played in 67 regular-season games this season, scoring 4 goals and 15 assists for the Bruins.

• Another former Am, 21-year-old center Jadon Joseph, signed a tryout contract in August with Boden Hockey in Sweden.

Joseph spent the 2019-20 season with three Western Hockey League teams — the Moose Jaw Warriors, the Kelowna Rockets, and he finished the season with the Americans.

In 27 games played for Tri-City, Joseph scored 4 goals and 10 assists.

• Former Ams center Krystof Hrabik, whose contract is owned by the San Jose Sharks, is being loaned to Bili Tygri Liberec of the Czeck Extgraliga.

Hrabik had been with the Sharks’ American Hockey League affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda.

The 6-foot-4 Hrabik played two seasons with Tri-City from 2018-20, playing in 105 games and scoring 35 goals and 47 assists.

Racing

• It’s been a rough year for the Walden family, who runs Hermiston Raceway.

The track has been on again, off again this season, depending on what the status is in Umatilla County under the COVID-19 situation.

In July, Greg Walden and his family were able to open the track with a limited number of patrons for Saturday racing doubleheaders.

It was a success.

But ever since Oregon’s Gov. Kate Brown opted to move Umatilla County back into a modified phase after coronavirus cases increased, the track hasn’t been able to run.

Umatilla County’s appeal to move into Phase 2 was denied by the Oregon Health Authority on Sept. 2.

That meant that Hermiston Raceway’s big Labor Day schedule had to be canceled.

Track officials are hopeful that there can be some type of racing within the next two months.