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Oregon State’s longtime Pitching Coach Nate Yeskie is leaving to become the Pitching Coach and Associate Head Coach at Arizona, according to Kendall Rogers of d1baseball. Yeskie has been connected to many head coaching vacancies in college baseball, but has stuck with Oregon State during Pat Casey’s tenure.
COACHING SCOOP: In a move certain to create buzz on the West Coast, @ArizonaBaseball has hired @BeaverBaseball’s Nate Yeskie as its Associate Head Coach/Pitching Coach, sources tell @d1baseball. Yeskie spent the last 11 years w/ the #Beavs and gives UofA a shot in the arm. #Pac12
— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) July 22, 2019
After Casey’s departure, Yeskie was considered to be one of the top candidates to take the Oregon State coaching job, before Pat Bailey was given the interim position. After one season under Bailey, Yeskie again interviewed with the Beavers for the head coaching job. Ultimately, former OSU catcher and Minor League coach Mitch Canham was given the job, and rumors began to swirl that Yeskie would look for another opportunity to advance his career.
In his 11 years at Oregon State, Yeskie has coached some incredible pitchers. Andrew Moore, Matt Boyd, Jace Fry, Luke Heimlich and Kevin Abel are only some of the players that emerged under Yeskie’s tutelage. The Beavers must now look to replace one of their most important team leaders. Some early names, according to Rogers, are former Beaver Kevin Gunderson, who was on the 2006 College World Series team and now owns the Gunderson Pitching Academy which trains student athletes, and Dan Spencer, who was an Assistant Coach at Oregon State for 11 seasons and is currently the head coach at Linfield College.
Kevin Gunderson and Dan Spencer are two names I’ve been told the past few minutes, but is still very early for Mitch Canham and Co. https://t.co/YVNJ29kgXk
— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) July 22, 2019
He now joins an up and coming Arizona team that has reached the NCAA Tournament twice, and reached 30 wins in every season under Head Coach Jay Johnson. The 2020 series between the Beavers and Wildcats is going to be one to watch.