Ben Wetzler Arrested And Released

Oregon St. senior pitcher Ben Wetzler was arrested and released Saturday, hours after pitching Oregon St. to a 4-2 win over UCLA Friday night in the opener of the Beavers' weekend series against the Bruins.

Wetzler, 22, (legal name Benjamin Holmes) was charged with second-degree criminal mischief as well as first- degree criminal trespassing, both Class A misdemeanors, after mistaking the wrong house for his own, and attempting to enter the wrong house in the 400 block on Northwest 14th St.

By Sunday afternoon, the Corvallis police department still had not explained the actions, with Lt. Benjamin Harvey saying only that department public information officer Dave Henslee, who aparently was not even involved in the incident, would finally answer questions about it on Monday.

Wetzler was booked and released on a total bail of $37,500, and was in uniform at both Saturday night and this afternoon's games. Wetzler has a court date on Monday, June 9, the last day of Super Regional weekend.

It was the second incident to come to an unsatisfactory outcome in just the last week involving local law enforcement with Oregon St. athletes.

On Tuesday, May 6, redshirt sophomore linebacker Caleb Saulo was arrested for failure to appear in court for not completing the conditions of his probation in connection with a misdemeanor theft charge involving a stolen bicycle last summer.

Saulo had pleaded no-contest to that charge, and was sentenced to 12 months of bench probation and 10 days on a work crew.

Turns out Saulo though he had completed the work crew assignment, but it also turns out Saulo didn't receive credit for the 10th day, after supposedly damaging a tree on the courthouse lawn with a shovel on that 10th day.

Benton County court then issued a show-cause motion for Saulo to explain why he didn't complete the work crew obligation. The arrest warrant was issued after Saulo didn't show up for an April 28 hearing.

Neither baseball coach Pat Casey nor football coach Mike Riley have addressed the issues either.

We'll see what comes out this week, and whether the Wetzler situation will have an impact on next's showdown series with Washington, which will likely decide the Pac-12 championship, or Oregon St. in the post-season.