Three Beavers Freshman All-Americans

The Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American honors for 2015 have been announced, and an unprecedented 3 Oregon St. players were named.

KJ Harrison not only claimed the first baseman job right away, he quickly cemented himself as one of the Beavers' best bats. Come the end of the season, he continued what is now a 4 year run of Oregon St. producing the Pac-12's leader in RBIs, following Michael Conforto in his Freshman All-America run in 2012, and then Dylan Davis the last 2 years.

Harrison also hit .309 for the season, and coupled with his 60 RBIs and 10 home runs earned him the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honor, as well as now Freshman All-American status.

All Drew Rasmussen did was establish himself as the #2 starter in the Beaver's formidable rotation, and of course, throw the first perfect game in the long history of the program. A 7-4 record and 2.80 ERA made him impossible to overlook as a starting pitcher on the Freshman All-American list.

Mitch Hickey should be graduating from high school just about now, and possibly pitching in a CIF section championship game.

Instead, the early enrollee became Oregon St.'s closer, with 11 saves, 6th most in program history in a season, and 4 wins, an ERA of 2.28, and an opponent's batting average of .204 in 27 appearances, nearly half of the games this season.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com