Beaver Baseball Signs 12

Oregon St. Baseball Coach Pat Casey announced a slate of 12 players who have signed a National Letter of Intent for the 2011 Baseball season.

We have signed four or five student-athletes who are utility guys. They are guys who are position players, who can play more than one position, and who may also pitch. You have to decide where they're going to go once they get here.

If you look at our class, you have some players who are very talented in more than one area. We're looking to fill some positions where we can use a position-type guy, and we've signed some kids who are capable of doing that. From both this year's recruiting class, and next year's, we will need players to come in and play immediately due to the numbers lost to the draft.

The class comes from five western states, and includes four in-state recruits.

The signed players are: pitchers Dan Child (Rocklin, Calif.), Adam Duke (Spanish Fork, Utah) and Scott Schultz (Gig Harbor, Wash.), utility players Cole Baylis (Los Altos, Calif), Cameron Booser (Milton, Wash.), Brandon Drury (Grants Pass, Ore.), Ian Kendall (Ashland, Ore.), Brian Pointer (Reno, Nev.) and Tom Zarosinski (Lake Oswego, Ore.), outfielder/pitcher Ben Holmes-Wetzler (Clackamas, Ore.), infielder/catcher Jake Rodriguez (Elk Grove, Calif.) and outfielder Drew Vettleson (Kitsap, Wash.).

Baylis comes to Oregon State after lettering three years for Saint Francis High School in the Bay Area. In 2009, he was 2-0, just a year after posting a 2-1 record and 2.10 ERA as a sophomore. That campaign earned him league honorable mention honors. Most recently, this past summer, Baylis played for both the Atlanta Braves and San Francisco Giants scout teams.

Booser signed a letter of intent after lettering two years at Fife High School in Milton, Wash. He's rated as the No. 4 high school player in the state of Washington by Baseball Northwest. He batted .481 as a junior and hit six home runs while going 5-1 with a 1.73 ERA on the mound. That earned him 2009 league MVP honors and a 2009 2A All-State selection. As a sophomore, Booser batted .417 and was also 5-1 with a 1.25 ERA.

Child will come to Corvallis from Jesuit High School in the Sacramento area, which has also produced current Beavers Andrew Susac and Danny Hayes. Child, a 6'5" pitcher, did not have a record his junior year, striking out 10 in 6 2/3 innings. As a sophomore, he went 2-0 with a 1.14 ERA and struck out 20 in 12 1/3 innings of work.

Drury is an infielder from Grants Pass High School in Southern Oregon. He is rated as the No. 8 high school player in the state of Oregon by Baseball Northwest and for good reason as he hit .440 with 10 home runs, 11 doubles and 35 RBI as a junior. That earned him first team all-league honors and he was also selected second-team all-state. That came a year after he batted .363 with three home runs and six doubles as a sophomore.

Duke comes to the Oregon State program from Spanish Fork High School in Utah. A 6'3" right handed pitcher, he was named first team all-state (5A) and state MVP his junior year after going 7-1 with a 2.46 ERA in 57 innings. He struck out 91 and allowed just 14 walks, posting four complete games in the process. Through his first two years, he compiled a combined 18-6 record with 163 strikeouts, earning him all-league honorable mention honors both his freshman and sophomore campaigns.

Holmes is an in-state Beaver who hails from Clackamas High School and is a 6'1" left-handed outfielder. He's lettered three years at Clackamas, and was named the top high school player in the state by Baseball Northwest after his junior year. Holmes batted .467 with two home runs, 12 doubles and 20 stolen bases as a junior, and was 9-1 with a 0.47 ERA in 13 games on the mound. That earned him all-league honors as both an outfielder and a pitcher.

Kendall was a teammate of current Oregon State pitcher Sam Gaviglio at Ashland. A utility player, Kendall is rated as the No. 6 player in the state of Oregon by Baseball Northwest. He was named the Southern Sky Conference's Player of the Year as an outfielder his junior campaign after batting .478 with six home runs and 28 RBI. He also pitched, going 6-1 with a 1.36 ERA.

Pointer is a Reno, Nev., native who has starred at Galena High School. In 2009, he was an Area Code Games invitee by both Cincinnati and Milwaukee. As a junior, he hit 11 home to go along with 41 walks, 14 stolen bases and 33 RBI, earned him first-team all-league honors. He was also named to the first team his sophomore season.

Rodriguez is another Beaver from the Sacramento area, hailing from Elk Grove. He's lettered three years in baseball for Elk Grove High School, where he batted .522 as a junior, collecting five home runs, 10 doubles, four triples, 12 stolen bases and 47 RBI. That earned him all-conference honors for the third straight year. He was also named the Cal-Hi Sports California Player of the Year, which he also earned as a sophomore after batting .536 with a home run, four doubles, seven triples and 21 RBI.

Schultz will join the Beavers after his tenure at Gig Harbor High School in Washington, where, thus far, he has lettered his sophomore and junior years. He earned team MVP honors after his junior season in which he went 4-5 with a 1.62 ERA in 47 2/3 innings. Opponents batted just .154 against him and he posted 56 strikeouts. Schultz, a 6-foot-2 right-hander, went 1-0 with a 1.40 ERA his sophomore season.

Vettleson is an ambidextrous outfielder who hails from Central Kitsap High School in Washington. He has the ability to throw as both a left-hander and right-hander, and was named the 2009 Gatorade Washington Baseball Player of the Year. He has been rated as the No. 1 player in the state of Washington by Baseball Northwest and is the No. 25 high school prospect for the 2010 MLB First-Year Player Draft by Baseball America. He went 4-2 his junior season, posting 1.60 ERA while striking out 45 in 38 innings with two no-hitters. He also batted .415 with five home runs and 20 RBI as an outfielder.

Zarosinski rounds out the baseball signees for the 2011 season and will come to Corvallis from Lake Oswego High School with the ability to play a corner infield position and pitch. A 6-foot-1 right-handed pitcher, he went 8-3 with a 1.02 ERA in 12 appearances his junior season. Zarosinski struck out 76 in 68 1/3 innings and threw 10 complete games. He was named first-team all-league as a pitcher and third-team all-state, also as a pitcher.