Brooks Hatch mentioned it at the bottom of his blog post on Friday. 

They've been tossing it around on internet message boards.

Nate Yeskie is the new Oregon State volunteer assistant coach.

But wait. Where is David Wong going? 

Yeskie comes to Oregon State from UNLV where he was an assistant coach. A paid assistant coach. Why he's giving up his paycheck to volunteer his services doesn't quite make sense. And why he's the guy we want in Corvallis, I don't know either.

Yeskie pitched in the Minnesota Twins organization until injuries ended his playing career. Before that, he was one of the nation's best high school pitchers in 1993 and pitched for UNLV between 1994 and 1996. He has experience coaching at both UNLV and Nevada.

Hopefully, once the paperwork is cleared, Pat Casey will give us some answers. Right now, this seems wishy-washy. 

--JB--

Corvallis police say that the three OSU Baseball players-- John Wallace, Anton Maxwell, and Jorge Reyes-- were involved in fired .22-caliber rifle bullets into a neighbor's house - one into a bedroom - during some late-night target shooting on March 18. The bullets also struck a car parked behind that house in a neighborhood north of campus.

Wednesday, Cliff Kirkpatrick broke the news that Wallace and Maxwell will serve 15 days in jail. Reyes also has been charged and is expected to enter into a plea agreement at his next court appearance on Aug. 26.

Two people were in the house when it was struck by bullets, but neither was injured. 

While 15 days in jail for firing a gun may seem harsh, just think of what could have happened if the people in that house would have been struck by a stray bullet. I'm sure the three have learned their lesson from the incident, but if not, they definitely will in their two weeks behind bars. 

From Michael Collins' article in the Gazette-Times:In

In addition to jail time, Wallace and Maxwell will be on probation for a year and must serve 20 hours of community service by Nov. 30. They also must attend a firearms safety class.

Defense attorneys John Rich and Kirk Tibbetts both described their clients as good citizens who made an error in judgment.

District Attorney John Haroldson agreed with Rich and Tibbetts' characterization of Wallace and Maxwell and said they were both very cooperative, willing to take responsibility, and they did not intend to shoot the house. But he added that the seriousness of the potential for injury - or worse - made this a crime that calls for a jail sentence.

Judge Locke Williams will allow both to serve their sentences in two time periods. They were ordered to report to the Benton County Jail on Wednesday through July 21, and then would be released until July 25, when they will return and serve the remainder of their sentences.

The request to break up the jail sentence, agreed upon by attorneys, was granted due to scheduling conflicts Williams deemed to be appropriate.

Wallace is playing baseball with the Corvallis Knights, an activity his attorney, John Rich, called "a productive thing." Maxwell's attorney, Kirk Tibbetts, said Maxwell has returned to school and is working for his landlord after an injury sidelined his baseball career.

Both Wallace and Maxwell apologized to the court for their part in the incident.

Again, you can read Kirkparick's blog entry or Collins' article for more information.

--JB--

The NCAA Baseball Rules committee has done some tinkering to the rule book, and although these changes are not official yet, (The committee's actions must be considered by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel before final implementation) it's worth a look. The following comes from the official NCAA release:

Ultimately, the committee again decided to reinforce several rules in place to address the pace of play. In particular, enforcing time limits (a pitch must be delivered within 20 seconds with no runners on base), the batter's box rule (the batter must generally keep one foot in the box during an at-bat), handling of conferences (defensive and offensive) and speeding the time between innings and during pitching changes were areas the committee identified as areas of possible improvement.

Speeding up the game? I can live with that. But enforcing a NBA-esque pitch clock? I'm not for that. Every pitcher has their unique delivery, their unique pick-off moves, and their superstitions. Yes, some guys are fast to the plate, and yes, some guys are slow to the plate, but that's baseball. 

It seems like the batter's box rule has always been there, but is hardly ever enforced. The way I see it, the batter has to step out somehow to receive the signs, so that's going to take time anyway. Those extra five steps to walk out of the box and the five steps to get back in might add five minutes if every batter is doing it. Is it really that big of a deal?

If we're going to enforce any rules, I say we need to make the coaches run to the pitcher's mound during visitations. If they don't make it to the hill in ten seconds, they lose a visit. That would be awesome, but it's all about strategy, and it's all about giving that pitcher in the bullpen a little bit longer to warm up.

Along the lines of sportsmanship, the committee also made a point of emphasis for umpires and coaches to be aware of the consequences of some team celebrations, particularly during a live ball. In some cases, players from the dugout have entered the field to support a teammate - which the committee does not necessarily view as a bad practice. However, when the ball is live, it can create a potential interference or obstruction scenario. Additionally, when a home run is hit, particularly at a critical point in the game, celebrations can create an intimidating and potentially volatile situation.

Yeah, yeah, yeah..... players will celebrate no matter what. What fun would baseball be if you couldn't do that.

In the area of safety, the committee approved a proposal to protect base coaches, who often are not focused on the batter - particularly with runners on base. This season, all base coaches are required to wear a helmet when coaching the bases. This rule is in line with the requirement put in place last season by Major League Baseball.

Although it's not traditional, this might be a good thing. The chances of being hit in the head while coaching a base might be as rare as winning the lottery, but you never know when it's going to happen. But this is the kind of thing that's going to save one person's life every few years.

The committee also believes that, in some cases, fields are not being lined properly before play begins. In particular, the batter's box is occasionally too close to home plate and the coaching box is too close to the foul line or home plate. The committee plans to outline the proper procedures for conferences and institutions to follow when lining fields to ensure proper compliance. Additionally, the committee is asking umpires to pay closer attention to field markings before starting play

From my experience, the batter's box is not visible after the first inning, and coaches never stand in the boxes. So what's the big deal?

Your thoughts are more than welcome.

--JB--

In this installment, the class of 2008: Robertson, Stutes, Hopkins, Lechelt, Keller, Ogata.

Daniel Robertson/ Eugene Emeralds (Padres)

Daniel is beginning to prosper with the Emeralds, as his .373 batting average leads the team. He's played in fifteen games, and is 22-59 at the plate. He's hit one home run but has nine RBI's and ten runs scored. He's struggled with left hand pitching, which is interesting since he hits right handed (correct?). His batting average is .419 against right handed pitchers, and .250 against left handers. Daniel is still leading off and playing center most of the time. In the Northwest League, his team is 7-9, two games behind the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes.

Mike Stutes/  Williamsport Crosscutters (Phillies)

Stutes has started three games for the Crosscutters and has an 0-1 record with a 0.82 ERA. He's started three games, has allowed 7 hits and 2 runs, and has recorded 11 strikeouts. Opponents are hitting .175 against him. In his first start on June 22, Stutes picked up the loss after going 2 innings, only giving up a run and a hit with four strikeouts. In his second start, he went four innings, allowing no runs on three hits. And on his most recent start on June 2 (yesterday), Mike threw five innings, allowing no runs on three hits with two walks and six strikeouts. I don't really understand why Mike is  being pulled so early in these games, except for the fact that it's the minor leagues and they want to cycle their players.

Chris Hopkins/ Auburn Doubledays (Blue Jays)

Hopkins has played in 11 games with the Doubledays, but is 7-38 at the plate and is hitting .184. The good news is that he has the third highest average for outfielders (two outfielders are hitting even worse than him), so Chris isn't exactly sinking to the bottom of the pond. He's still playing a lot of center field, but a few innings in right or left field isn't out of the ordinary. He does have 10 strikeouts in 38 at-bats, so he'll need to improve that number as the season goes on.

***

Lechelt, Ogata, and Keller after the break.

Continue reading this post »

After two fulfilling games of the Championship Series, it all comes down to a final game, Game 3. The NCAA College World Series champion will be decided tonight, which means the Beavers only have a few hours left as defending National Champions. The Beavers will hand over their "green jacket" to either the Fresno State Bulldogs or the Georgia Bulldogs tonight:

Here's why both teams are desirable recipients of the trophy:

Fresno State

• Everyone always wants the underdogs to win. It's the way Oregon State got to the national scene. Fresno has a great story, winning their regional as a #4 seed, much the same way Oregon State won their regional last year as a #3 seed.
• They're from the west coast. Other east coast and southern powers like Miami, North Carolina, Rice, and LSU couldn't get to the finals. But Fresno persevered. We're all tired about hearing about the east coast when the west coast is just as talented.

GO BEAVERS!

--JB--

I've been thinking about this a lot the last few days... I've decided to ask your opinion.

As much as I want Fresno State to come from behind and win the series, I wouldn't be upset if Georgia won the championship. After all, we did beat Georgia in a series this year. And a pre-season matchup between Georgia and the Beavers, a matchup of National Champions, has a nice ring to it.

However, it would be good to keep the trophy on the West Coast.

But those are just my thoughts.

Vote!

The Beavers continued to steamroll through Omaha with their win in Game 1 of the Championship series. After losing in Game 1 of the series the year before, it definitely felt good to get the first win in the books early. 

Jorge and JoePa led the Beavers to victory on the mound, with Jorge going 6.1 innings and JoePa finishing up the final 2.2. Jorge gave up three runs on eight hits, striking out three. It should be noted that Reyes gave up a double to Reid Fronk on the first pitch of the game, but bounced back to hold the Heels scoreless until the fifth. Patterson allowed a run on four hits with two strikeouts in his time on the hill.

And the Beavers certainly shared the love offensively: Chris Hopkins was 2-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI. Joey Wong was 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Lissman was 1-for-, Canham was 1-for-2, and Barney was 1-for-4. All three of those players scored runs as well. Barney's single came in the sixth inning, and it tied Jacoby Ellsbury for the most career hits at Oregon State with 236. Scott Santschi went 1-for-3 with a run and an RBI. Lennerton was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI's, thanks to his ninth home run of the season.And Lonnie Lechelt went 2-for-3, hitting ninth.

Continue reading this post »

The Beavers ended UC Irvine's marathon run through Omaha on June 20, 2007 with a 7-1 victory over the Anteaters. The game drew the second largest crowd in College World Series History, with 29,921 people on hand at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha. 

The 'Eaters started their week off with a tough 5-4 loss to Arizona State. They bounced back by beating Cal State Fullerton in 13 innings two days later, the longest game of College World Series History. The game lasted five hours and forty minutes.

From there, the 'Eaters rallied once again in extra innings to beat Arizona State 5-4 on a single by Ollie Linton in the tenth inning, eliminating Arizona State from the College World Series. 

The win over Arizona State matched the 'Eaters up with the Beavers, a match-up of West Coast heavyweights for the bracket championship. To advance to the championship series, UC Irvine would have had to beat the Beavers twice in a row. However, the Anteaters pitching staff was depleted after three games in four days, two of those going extra innings. 

Read the rest after the break.

Continue reading this post »

It's only been fifteen days since the start of the 2008 MLB Draft, but many of the former Oregon State players that were drafted have started their professional careers. Not all of these players have played a game with their teams yet, but at least we'll get an idea of how they're doing:

Daniel Robertson/ Eugene Emeralds (Padres)

Following in the footsteps of Mitch Canham, Daniel is starting his professional career in the Padres organization with the local Eugene Emeralds. Daniel has played three games with the Ems so far, leading off and playing center field in each of those games. In his professional debut, Robertson went 0-5 with the wooden bat. He has picked up three hits over the last two games, putting him at 3-12 for a .250 average. The Emeralds are in Boise tonight for the fourth game of a five game series.

Mike Stutes/  Williamsport Crosscutters (Phillies)

Stutes signed with the Phillies on the 12th of this month, but has yet to receive a uniform number or playing time according to the Crosscutters official website. 

Chris Hopkins/ Auburn Doubledays (Blue Jays)

Chris has logged two games with the Auburn Doubledays, and is one of the team leaders in batting average already. Through two games and nine at-bats, Chris has four hits and is hitting .444. Hopkins led off and played center field in his first game, then hit second and played left field last night in his second game. The Doubledays have a 3-0 record and will visit the State College Spikes tonight in the first of a three game series.

Lechelt, Ogata, Keller, and Grbavac after the break.

Continue reading this post »

In what was, is, and probably will forever be the most surreal sporting event I've ever attended, the Beavers surprised the nation with a 12-6 victory over Arizona State on June 18, 2007.

Keep in mind that the Sun Devils swept  the Beavers in a weekend series in Corvallis during the regular season by an aggregate score of 15-4. Collectively, the Beavers batted .110 for the series. The Beavers did beat the Sun Devils at home in a pre-season tournament, but the Beavers couldn't do anything in the Pac-10 series.

But yet, the Beavers basically dominated the Devils in Omaha.

Picture being at the game. You've been hearing all the hype around Rosenblatt. A Pac-10 rivalry in the heart of the country. Arizona State swept the regular season series, but the defending National Champs are looking to knock the perennial powers into the loser's bracket. You get to your seat well in advance of game time. Gundy is in the house:

So is Erin Andrews:

You're feeling optimistic about the Beavers chances. Then, Oregon State scores two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Then four more runs in the bottom of the second. Then one run in the third, fourth, and fifth innings. Then three in the sixth. Before you know it, the Beavers are up 12-1 through six on one of the best teams in the country.

In that stretch of six innings, amazing happened. 

I could go on forever; in the game, Chris Hopkins was 3-for-6 with 3 runs scored and a double. Joey Wong was 3-for-4 with a run scored, 3 RBI's, and a double. Mike Lissman was 3-for-4 with 2 runs scored, 4 RBI's, and a three run home run. Jason Ogata was 3-for-4 with 1 RBI. Jordan Lennerton was 2-for-5 with 2 runs and a home run. And Lonnie Lechelt was 2-for-5 with 2 runs scored, a RBI, a double, and a triple.

Mike Stutes pitched exceptionally well until he ran out of gas in the seventh inning. He held the Sun Devils, who were hitting .348 as as team with 78 homers in 62 games to only three hits, and left in the seventh innings with the bases loaded. When all was said and done, Mike was responsible for four runs. 

After the sixth inning, the offensive production slowed down, and the Beavers started hoping that the Sun Devils wouldn't have the guts to mount an eleven run comeback. They started to make a comeback in the seventh which caused Stutes to exit the game in favor of Blake Keitzman. Keitzman allowed two hits and a run and struck out one in the few batters that he faced. Grbavac came on in releif of Keitzman and couldn't get the job done, allowing a walk to the only batter he faced. It was then that the Beavers turned to their go-to guy, Joe Patterson, to get the job done. Patterson got the Beavers out of that inning, and would up going the distance.

Stutes would get the win, moving him to 11-4 on the season. 

Besides moving the Beavers into the drivers seat of their pool, this game gave the Beavers a huge confidence boost. Basically, if you can beat Arizona State, you can beat anybody. And that's just what they did the rest of the week. Those stories coming up later in the week.

My personal photos from the game follow. There's even more than last time.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

GO BEAVERS!

--JB--

P.S.: Here's a video I took after the game. It's pretty crappy quality, but it shows you how business-like the Beavers were after the win. That was easily the best win of the season to-date, yet the Beavers show little emotion: