Quick Links: Kevin Abel To Return, Oregon State Football Begins Voluntary Workouts & More

• After going undrafted in the 2020 MLB Draft, Oregon State pitcher Kevin Abel announced his intentions to return to school on Twitter on Monday.

Abel was one of the Beavers stand-out performers that helped clinch their 2018 College World Series title, back during his freshman campaign in which he finished with an 8-1 record and a 2.88 ERA.

• Oregon State’s football team is prepared to begin voluntary workouts (as well as COVID-19 testing) this week, as the Pac-12 has green-lighted the return of student-athletes to campus. Athletic director Scott Barnes went on to add the use of small group sizes, specific usage of sections of the facility, proper face masks and sanitizing, temperature tests and more. Barnes also went on to say he believes the precautions alone at the facilities will cost (at an early estimate) “around half a million dollars”.

• The Beavers basketball programs were well represented when the Pac-12 handed out their Tom Hansen Conference Medal Winners, as men’s team forward Tres Tinkle and women’s team star Mikayla Pivec both claimed the honor for the school. The medals are “awarded annually to each member institution’s outstanding senior male and female student-athlete based on the exhibition of the greatest combination of performance and achievement in scholarship, athletics and leadership”. This past season, Tinkle broke the Oregon State all-time scoring record, while Pivec was a recent third-round draft pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft.

• The 2021 recruiting class’s second-ranked all-purpose running back Damir Collins will be making his college decision on Wednesday (June 17th) at 3 PM. Collins is ranked as a three-star recruit out of Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon and measures in at 5’ 9” and 185 pounds. At the moment, all six of 247 Sports experts, including National Recruiting Editor Brandon Huffman and National Recruiting Analyst Greg Biggins, expect Collins to stay in the Beaver State and choose Oregon State as his future home.

• And finally, some news that could affect Oregon State football’s week one opponent in Oklahoma State splashed into the mainstream on Monday, when Cowboys head coach Mike Gundy was seen in an online photo from a recent fishing trip wearing a t-shirt with the logo of One America News (OAN) on it, a far-right conservative news outlet. The image sparked immediate backlash on social media from current Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard, who threatened to not “do anything for Oklahoma State until things change.” Later in the day, Gundy and Hubbard made a joint statement via an online video addressing the matter and promising a positive improvement going forward.

ICYMI

• 2020 MLB Draft: Christian Chamberlain Drafted By The Kansas City Royals
• 2020 MLB Draft: Mick Abel Drafted By The Philadelphia Phillies
• OSU Basketball: Beavers Add UTSA To Their 2020-2021 Non-Conference Schedule
• OSU Football: Hamilcar Rashed Jr. Named 2020 Walter Camp Preseason All-American
• OSU Basketball: Beavers To Play Iowa At South Dakota’s Sanford Pentagon